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Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Why Are We Doing This?
In 2020, less than 5% of Capra speakers were women. With help from the Capra community, the first ever Capra Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team hopes to improve on this participation number. Our mission is to create a welcoming and diverse research community for everyone.
LISA launches in less than 15 years. Diverse teams perform better.
Statement of Inclusion
Capra meetings are open to all researchers regardless of gender, age, race, disability, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, civil status, or family status. We urge all those with an interest in research on self-force and extreme mass-ratio inspirals to register for this meeting and submit an abstract for a presentation. Past and current attendees should encourage a broad spectrum of their colleagues to apply, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups (such as Black and Indigenous People, People of Color, People from Ethnic Minority groups, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Persons with disabilities and Women).
Roles of the Capra EDI Team and Who We Are
Meet the Team:
Co-Chairs:
Lisa Drummond, MIT Kavli Institute, U.S.A.
Alexander Grant, University of Southampton, U.K.
Team Members:
Aaron Zimmerman (Secretary), The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A
Anna Heffernan (EDI Editor), University of Balearic Islands, Spain
Eunice Monyenye Omwoyo, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Senegal
Jake Williams, University College Dublin, Ireland
Jonathan Thompson, Caltech, U.S.A.
Leanne Durkan, The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A.
Lidia Gomes Da Silva (Web Administrator), Queen Mary University of London, U.K.
Rodrigo Panosso Macedo, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Samuel Upton, Astronomical Institute, Academy Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR)
Zachary Nasipak, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, U.S.
Vojtech Witzany, University College Dublin, Ireland
Jonathan Thornburg
Duties of the Capra EDI Team:
Identify barriers for attendees and find ways to overcome them.
Adopt a statement of inclusion, statement of purpose, code of conduct and accessibility checklist, which will be made easily accessible to attendees.
Organize an EDI session and discussion at Capra and update the community on the team’s activities.
Provide resources to participants on how to pursue EDI at their home institutions.
Encourage ideas from participants as to how we can increase diversity at Capra.
Be a clear point of contact to voice feedback or raise issues.
Liaise with the Capra organizing committee.
Monitor feedback and suggestions via the contacts listed below.
Elect new co-chairs at least biannually.
Provide a report on the EDI team’s activities and future suggestions.
Past and Current Projects
The Capra EDI team is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and believe that inclusion statements alone are not enough. In addition to advertising Capra widely, below are a list of additional projects that we hope to pursue in order to ensure equal opportunities at Capra:
Design a demographic survey for attendees to investigate why participants did not sign up to give a talk if they chose not to do so.
Begin tracking Capra participant statistics.
Mapping Capra: create a map showing where all our participants are from to demonstrate our diversity.
Secure funding for those who need financial assistance to attend Capra meetings.
Launch a mentorship program.
Organize a mid-year EDI campaign.
Ideas for Participants
As attendees at this conference, here are 5 recommendations to encourage EDI implementation at your home institute:
Encourage Black and Indigenous People, People of Color, People from Ethnic Minority groups, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Persons with disabilities and Female colleagues to register.
Engage with undergraduate students and outreach activities at your home institutions or local area, or start your own.
Get in touch with other research groups to learn what they are doing to pursue EDI.
Provide feedback to the Capra EDI team.
Read your home institution’s policies.
Check out our resources section for further ideas.
Feedback and Points of Contact
If you have any feedback or suggestions as to how we can ensure a successful and inclusive Capra meeting, how we can do more to provide equal opportunities, or if you have experienced any issues, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
If you wish to provide anonymous feedback, please fill in the form on the Contact Us page.
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