Abstract
Research in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) plays a key role in understanding and intervening in our current environmental and climate crisis. Although anthropogenic stressors and climate change continue to disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) individuals, their valuable scientific voices are shockingly underrepresented within EEB. To underscore this problem, we present a case study on EEB PhD graduates in the US (1994-2018), which illustrates that BIPOC scholars are significantly underrepresented in their cohorts. We recommend key steps that the EEB Academy should take to increase representation of BIPOC scholars in EEB, including anti-racism education and practice, increased funding opportunities, integration of diverse cultural perspectives, and a community-minded shift in PhDs. Importantly, this advice is directed at those who wield power in the Academy (e.g., funding agencies, societies, institutions, departments, and faculty), rather than BIPOC scholars already struggling against inequitable frameworks in EEB.
Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) communities are disproportionately affected by the impacts of anthropogenic stressors and climate change (IPCC, 2014). Already, for example, increased rates of extreme weather events and air pollution negatively affect the health of many Black Americans (Sarfaty et al. 2014) and threaten the food security of Northern Indigenous populations (Ford 2009). Such disproportionate effects are a consequence of the exacerbation of existing societal inequalities, largely due to the intersection of racial inequality and socioeconomic disparity (Cutter & Finch 2014). Furthermore, the vulnerability of individuals to the impacts of climate change is strongly linked to the strength of their political voices - and through voting suppression, incarceration, and wealth inequality, BIPOC voices have, and continue to be, systematically silenced (Brookset al. 2005; Richomme 2014).
Given the disproportionately large and negative effects of ongoing environmental and climate crises on BIPOC communities, we and others (Halsey et al. 2020; Tseng et al. 2020) are concerned by the lack of diversity that we see in our PhD cohorts in Western universities. As EEB (ecology and evolutionary biology) students, scientists, and technicians, we are at the forefront of developing knowledge that tackles issues of biodiversity, ecosystem function, conservation, and human health, among numerous other global problems. PhD graduates in particular hold unique positions in society; they are be responsible for producing primary EEB research, for creating or influencing environmental policy, and represent the pool of candidates from which advanced EEB educators emerge. Further, compelling evidence indicates that racial diversity itself is beneficial to the quality, quantity, and impact of research (Hong & Page 2004; Freeman & Huang 2014; Hofstra et al. 2020). In light of current ecological crises and widespread concerns regarding racial representation in Academia, there is a clear and urgent need to leverage and include the voices of BIPOC scholars in EEB research.