Opening Up the Research Enterprise

By Risha RaQuelle

This fall, AAG got good news: The National Science Foundation has awarded AAG and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) a collaborative grant to confront and address implicit bias in the research enterprise, broadly defined as the research activities across and within institutions. This grant will strengthen AAG’s pursuit of an ethos of care within the discipline of geography and scientific disciplines.

In 2024 and beyond, we will work with members and partners, especially at emerging research institutions, drawing on our collective knowledge, skills, and talents to reform research practices with a culture of care in mind, from proposal and principals to study design and participation, all the way to final results. A forum of up to 30 participants will take place September 19-20, 2024 to bring together our body of knowledge and determine specific, scalable steps toward change.

Our work will build on the insights of our co-PI in the grant, Emily Skop of UCCS, and her co-authors who wrote a call to the discipline and to all in the research community in an article for Inside Higher Ed in 2021. In particular, we aim to bring to life the central principles of belonging, access, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (BAJEDI) literature to galvanize the research enterprise community.

We are seeking collective answers among scholars of all backgrounds, ages, and experience to inform this project. Outreach to find participants will start in 2024.

This month, I’d like to focus the JEDI Office Hours on the vital questions and observations on creating an ethos of care within the research enterprise. Do you have insights to share, ideas to explore? Please take a moment to sign up for a time to chat about creating a culture of care in the research enterprise.

JEDI Committee Updates

Here are highlights from among our seven subcommittees. Here is a glimpse into the activity of three AAG JEDI subcommittees this month.

Focused Listening

Our focused listening subcommittee chair is convening a panel discussion at the Race, Ethnicity and Place Conference October 11-13, in collaboration with our JEDI Chair, and committee members this month, and is exploring how to engage with members through focused listening sessions at annual and regional meetings.

Governance

The governance subcommittee is seeking additional members to support a more diverse representation on the governance subcommittee and is developing a workplan with three dimensions focusing on: utilizing an equity lens to review policies, practices, and procedures in AAG governance; while identifying opportunities to support inclusion; and continuous improvement (ex. quick, response, annual review, and protocol for equity auditing).

Advocacy

The advocacy subcommittee is focusing on developing a workplan to address the following deliverables:  enhancing geography as a discipline, applying collective expertise and skills; and supporting policy issues at the intersection of Geography and JEDI advancement.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0142

The AAG Culture of Care column is an outreach initiative by the AAG JEDI Committee. Don’t forget to sign up for JEDI Office Hours. The theme in November is An Ethos of Care in the Research Enterprise.