How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference
ABSTRACT Despite growing awareness of the importance of researcher diversity, barriers to inclusion and equity persist in science and at academic conferences. As hosts of the 37th International Ethological Congress, “Behaviour 2023”, we studied gender disparities that unfold during question‐and‐answ...
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| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71588 |
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| author | Rebecca S. Chen Tuba Rizvi Ane Liv Berthelsen Anneke J. Paijmans Avery L. Maune Barbara A. Caspers Bernice Sepers Isabel Damas‐Moreira Isabel Schnülle Jana Könker Joseph I. Hoffman Joelyn deLima Jonas Tebbe Kai‐Philipp Gladow Lisa deVries Marc Gilles Nadine Schubert Nayden Chakarov Peter Korsten Petroula Botsidou Sabine Kraus Stephen M. Salazar Svenja Stöhr Wolfgang Jockusch Öncü Maraci |
| author_facet | Rebecca S. Chen Tuba Rizvi Ane Liv Berthelsen Anneke J. Paijmans Avery L. Maune Barbara A. Caspers Bernice Sepers Isabel Damas‐Moreira Isabel Schnülle Jana Könker Joseph I. Hoffman Joelyn deLima Jonas Tebbe Kai‐Philipp Gladow Lisa deVries Marc Gilles Nadine Schubert Nayden Chakarov Peter Korsten Petroula Botsidou Sabine Kraus Stephen M. Salazar Svenja Stöhr Wolfgang Jockusch Öncü Maraci |
| author_sort | Rebecca S. Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Despite growing awareness of the importance of researcher diversity, barriers to inclusion and equity persist in science and at academic conferences. As hosts of the 37th International Ethological Congress, “Behaviour 2023”, we studied gender disparities that unfold during question‐and‐answer (Q&A) sessions using observational and experimental behavioural data and surveys. We further used the surveys to investigate broader equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) issues at conferences in general. Attendees perceived as women asked fewer questions than those perceived as men because they raised their hands less often to ask questions, and not because they were chosen less often by the session host. Self‐reports indicated that self‐identified women felt more comfortable asking questions when their own gender was represented (in the audience, by the speaker, and/or by the host) and when the setting was smaller. However, this pattern was not reflected in the observational data as perceived women asked fewer questions regardless of the situation. We report potential reasons why women asked fewer questions using survey data, and experimentally tested whether we could reduce gender disparity in question‐asking. Our results indicate that session hosts cannot mitigate the gender disparity in question‐asking by actively selecting perceived women to start the Q&A session. We addressed further inclusivity barriers of underrepresented minorities beyond gender in a post‐congress survey, which showed that underrepresented minorities did not have a more positive or negative congress experience but did perceive EDI issues as more severe. We conclude by providing recommendations for organising more inclusive scientific events. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d3417f42c73a4f28ada87464095fcd05 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-d3417f42c73a4f28ada87464095fcd052025-08-20T03:58:44ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-07-01157n/an/a10.1002/ece3.71588How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International ConferenceRebecca S. Chen0Tuba Rizvi1Ane Liv Berthelsen2Anneke J. Paijmans3Avery L. Maune4Barbara A. Caspers5Bernice Sepers6Isabel Damas‐Moreira7Isabel Schnülle8Jana Könker9Joseph I. Hoffman10Joelyn deLima11Jonas Tebbe12Kai‐Philipp Gladow13Lisa deVries14Marc Gilles15Nadine Schubert16Nayden Chakarov17Peter Korsten18Petroula Botsidou19Sabine Kraus20Stephen M. Salazar21Svenja Stöhr22Wolfgang Jockusch23Öncü Maraci24Department of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Biology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyThe Teaching Support Center & Center for Learning Sciences The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne SwitzerlandDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Animal Behaviour Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyGerman Institute for Adult Education Bonn GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyJoint Institute for Individualisation in a Changing Environment (JICE) Bielefeld University and University of Münster Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Life Sciences Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth UKDepartment of Evolutionary Population Genetics Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Animal Behaviour Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyDepartment of Animal Behaviour Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyBerliner Akademie für Mediation Und Interkulturelle Kommunikation (BAMIK GmbH) Berlin GermanyDepartment of Behavioural Ecology Bielefeld University Bielefeld GermanyABSTRACT Despite growing awareness of the importance of researcher diversity, barriers to inclusion and equity persist in science and at academic conferences. As hosts of the 37th International Ethological Congress, “Behaviour 2023”, we studied gender disparities that unfold during question‐and‐answer (Q&A) sessions using observational and experimental behavioural data and surveys. We further used the surveys to investigate broader equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) issues at conferences in general. Attendees perceived as women asked fewer questions than those perceived as men because they raised their hands less often to ask questions, and not because they were chosen less often by the session host. Self‐reports indicated that self‐identified women felt more comfortable asking questions when their own gender was represented (in the audience, by the speaker, and/or by the host) and when the setting was smaller. However, this pattern was not reflected in the observational data as perceived women asked fewer questions regardless of the situation. We report potential reasons why women asked fewer questions using survey data, and experimentally tested whether we could reduce gender disparity in question‐asking. Our results indicate that session hosts cannot mitigate the gender disparity in question‐asking by actively selecting perceived women to start the Q&A session. We addressed further inclusivity barriers of underrepresented minorities beyond gender in a post‐congress survey, which showed that underrepresented minorities did not have a more positive or negative congress experience but did perceive EDI issues as more severe. We conclude by providing recommendations for organising more inclusive scientific events.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71588chilly climatediscriminationdiversityinclusivityquestion‐askingunderrepresentation |
| spellingShingle | Rebecca S. Chen Tuba Rizvi Ane Liv Berthelsen Anneke J. Paijmans Avery L. Maune Barbara A. Caspers Bernice Sepers Isabel Damas‐Moreira Isabel Schnülle Jana Könker Joseph I. Hoffman Joelyn deLima Jonas Tebbe Kai‐Philipp Gladow Lisa deVries Marc Gilles Nadine Schubert Nayden Chakarov Peter Korsten Petroula Botsidou Sabine Kraus Stephen M. Salazar Svenja Stöhr Wolfgang Jockusch Öncü Maraci How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference Ecology and Evolution chilly climate discrimination diversity inclusivity question‐asking underrepresentation |
| title | How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference |
| title_full | How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference |
| title_fullStr | How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference |
| title_short | How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference |
| title_sort | how can we make scientific events more inclusive insights from q a sessions and surveys from an international conference |
| topic | chilly climate discrimination diversity inclusivity question‐asking underrepresentation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71588 |
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