Question: Did you face any discrimination being black in the science field??

Viyaasan Mahalingasivam answered on 19 Jan 2022:

That’s a good question and I don’t have a very straightforward answer.

Not directly – much of the discrimination in university-based science is systemic where people are disincentivised from getting involved in the first place or end up switching career altogether before they can reach a position of influence (e.g. limited research funding, lack of job security, poor pay, inadequate maternity support etc). This can be especially bad for scientists who have migrated to work in the UK. I’ve worked with great colleagues who have struggled to find decent university jobs after finishing excellent PhDs.

There are also barriers which stop scientists from being able to do the research that they want to do to be able to best serve disadvantaged communities, including the communities from which they might have come from. For example, I had difficulties getting research funding for global health research in lower & middle income countries. Similarly, the “best” journals are often not interested in publishing research on cost-effective public health interventions or global health problems, so scientists are disincentivised from building expertise in those important areas. Whereas on the other hand, wealthy drug companies are willing to speculate large amounts of money on research which might only eventually benefit a few people but could generate them massive profits.

So there is a fundamental, systemic power imbalance along the lines of race and class in terms of what science is allowed to get done. This is why it’s important members of the public are involved as stakeholders to try and democratise things as much as possible.