• Question: Many female and people of colour are looked down upon how did it feel to be known as a scientist?

    Asked by salma on 27 Jan 2022.
    • Photo: Prabs Dehal

      Prabs Dehal answered on 27 Jan 2022:

      I love being a scientist and my parents, family and friends are proud of what I do. Sexism and racism (and homophobia, ableism, etc.) are a problem in science because science is part of society and these are societal problems.
      Any of us that are not mainstream do therefore have extra obstacles in our careers. I don’t know how to fix this, but I do what I can by participating in discussions with senior management, helping anyone who asks for my help (where I can, it’s important to have limits) and trying to rise above it. It’s not easy but it helps to know I’m not alone. I’m going to keep being me.

    • Photo: Valerie Vancollie

      Valerie Vancollie answered on 27 Jan 2022:

      I almost always worked on teams that were pretty well balanced in terms of gender and most of the time they’ve actually been lead by women. That said, when you look towards the top it can often only be white men. But I have definitely seen a change in recruitment these last few years with far more people of colour coming and more diversity and visibility in general. Which I think is fantastic.

    • Photo: Chris Budd

      Chris Budd answered on 27 Jan 2022:

      Whilst I am neither of colour or female I have a great team which is very diverse with many great women and people from all over the world. I could not be more proud of them. The group of scientists that I work most closely with in my Covid work is 3/4 female and they are quite fantastic! In science we celebrate the work done by people regardess of their race, gender, or anything else.

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