Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative – Delivery Plan
Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative – Delivery Plan
The first 18 months of the DiPSI project have come to an end in Spring 2021, and the first stage report of this project is now available. The below table lists out the main outputs and activities created by the initiative between September 2019-March 2021. The detailed key-outcome evaluation is available from page 5 of the first stage project report.
| TIMELINE | OUTCOME | ADDITIONAL NOTES |
| MARCH-DEC 2021 | Underrepresented students connecting programme – Polar Horizons 2021 | Delivered online |
| OCT 2020-FEB 2021 | Race Impact survey and report October 2020 – February 2021 | Full report available via DiPSI website |
| MARCH 2021 | Underrepresented students networking event – Polar Horizons March 2021 | Delivered online |
| OCT-NOV 2020 | Support and engagement for inaugural Polar Pride Day November 18th | Polar Pride social event for polar community |
| 2020 | Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative logo and the ‘line of diverse polar people’ graphic | Visual assets created by BAS communications team |
| AUG 2020 | Presentation and chair of panel session at Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) conference—Hobart | Delivered online: DiPSI Research analyst invited as panel chair |
| MARCH 2020 | Presentation to Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) conference—Iceland | DiPSI Research analyst invited as keynote speaker |
| SUMMER 2020 ONWARDS | Supporting UK polar committees and groups with EDI expertise | UK Polar Network (UKPN), among others |
| MARCH-DEC 2020 | Engage with key role models and keynote speakers for seminar series – Dr Karen Salt, Ben Merrick, Dr Ana Pereira-O’Callaghan, Dr Melissa Burt, Nicole Logan-Park, Dr Stephen Roberts, Camilla Nichol | Recorded talks available on the DiPSI website |
| MARCH-DEC 2020 | Underrepresented students’ engagement programme – Polar Horizons 2020 | Online seminar programme |
| SPRING 2020 | Polar funding starting points document | |
| SPRING 2020 | Polar community contact list | Available on DiPSI website |
| SPRING 2020 | Underrepresented students’ engagement programme – Polar Horizons 2020: Launch & shadowing | Launch day delivered in person at BAS |
| DEC 2019 | Development of EDI 101 values and language presentation for BAS and polar community | |
| DEC 2019 | Citizen science project to target local BAME students – ‘Seals from Space’ | Delivered in person at BAS |
| OCT 2019 | Polar interest and inclusion calendar for engagement | See appendix A |
| SEPT 2019 | Data research comparison to UK Higher Education Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students and UK Society | |
| SEPT 2019 | Data analysis from BAS Head count |
Check out our other publications and outputs on the Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative resource page.
Our delivery plan includes a series of events and activities to promote and explain opportunities in UK Polar Science. The Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative engagement campaign aims to tell personal polar stories that will help attract and engage a wide range of people at a series of events, webinars and citizen science activities including:
Promoting career opportunities
You do not have to be a scientist to have a successful career in polar science. There are a multitude of opportunities for scientists, engineers, technicians, support staff and administrative roles. We will publish guest blogs and videos to showcase the people behind the jobs. Our aim is to demonstrate the wide variety of backgrounds and skills across the polar science community and give you a glimpse of how some people have progressed their careers. We want to inspire people who are about to make career choices.
Polar Horizons – events and talks series
Launched in March 2020 at British Antarctic Survey’s Aurora conference centre, twenty-two STEM students and early career researchers from currently under-represented groups joined scientists and engineers from BAS and the Scott Polar Research Institute to discover the breadth of opportunities in polar science. Read the event report here. Access to BAS Cambridge is restricted because of Covid-19, however, as series of inspirational webinars will run throughout the initiative. Special guests tell their stories and answer audience questions.
Contact Donna Frater for details of upcoming talks.
Watch
Ben Merrick, Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory, shared the experiences of his journey as a blind person and leading disability role model in ‘Diversity, Leadership and how to bring people on the journey with you – even to Antarctica’
Working with partners
Our colleagues at UK Research & Innovation share our ambition to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion. Watch this video to find out more.
Citizen science – counting seals from space
PhD student Prem Gill counts seals from space. In December 2019 ten UK undergraduate students took part in a volunteering project to count seals from space. Social media and non-traditional pathways were used to reach out to BAME STEM students who had not been in touch with polar science before, and invite them to participate.
Monitoring Antarctic seal populations can indicate changes in the Antarctic ecosystem’s status and health. Using a database of satellite images of sea ice and seals, a group of non-expert volunteers conducted seal counts. They were compared to the expert counts to determine variance and confirm the suitability of applying citizen science at larger scales. Find out more about the research here.
