Working towards a better tomorrow...

The Biology Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee is a student-led group established to promote EDI in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa! The committee is led by the EDI Coordinator from the BGSA Council. Within our biology community, and beyond, it is vital that we challenge anti-Black racism and other forms of discrimination against people from under-represented groups.
Only together can we tackle the barriers to equitable access, opportunities, and resources faced by those who are a part of equity-seeking groups. We recognize that each group has its own unique set of issues that require care and attention, but we hope that through our efforts, we can start to move towards reconciling and improving the Biology Department and the Faculty of Science.
Below, we invite you to read a letter to students in the Faculty of Science from grad and undergrad associations...
letter_to_science_students.pdf
File Size: 73 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Our Goals: 
  1. Promote the culture of EDI awareness and open discussion
  2. Conduct activities on racism awareness to combat personal biases
  3. Support under-represented minority groups
  4. Produce a department code of conduct
  5. Demystify the undergraduate-to-graduate transition 
  6. Provide guidance on updating course curricula to include scientific contribution from under-represented groups
  7. Institute more equitable hiring, including less 'colour-blind' hiring criteria and EDI-explicit job ad wording
It's time for ACTION! Because transparency and accountability are very important to the Biology EDI Committee, anyone can take a look at the most up-to-date list of actions taken to meet the committee's goals. The list can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16hNOrmyGXtKDVYrI6zdX-KEhVppxB8sDDb71RPjdwEk/edit

Join In & Use Your Voice!
These are only the first steps, and so the committee asks for interested graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff to join in and provide their voice to this initiative. If you have any questions or want to join the Biology EDI Committee, send us an email at uobioedi@gmail.com or fill out the form below!