Lab Values

As a result of discussions during the ShutDownSTEM Strike4BlackLives, the Bertrand Lab has collectively agreed on lab values that outline actionable steps for combatting inequalities in our field. As a lab we aim to:

Amplify the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ scientists and other underrepresented groups in STEAM by:

• Reading and citing articles by these researchers

• Critically evaluating the values and practices of journals we publish in, conferences we attend, and societies we support

• Lowering financial barriers by ensuring that all work in the lab is for pay or University credit
  
  

Contribute to efforts to decolonize science by:

• Ensuring that our field work respects indigenous perspectives and knowledge

• Recognizing that academic systems are inherently colonial and actively seeking ways to undermine that

• Recognizing Two-Eyed Seeing (the notion that both western scientific principles and indigenous principles are valuable)
  
  

Work to make science more accessible by:

• Developing and participating in targeted outreach activities

• Participating in community activism as a group

• Using accessible language and techniques

• Only publishing our work in open-access formats when possible

• Making all our data are publicly available

• Ensuring all our papers and presentations are accessible to those with color-blindness

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Build a safe, healthy, respectful, and diverse workplace by:

• Learning from and being accountable for our words, actions and mistakes

• Understanding that silence is complicit in acts of racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia

• Acknowledging, questioning, and unlearning stereotypes created by the white, hetero-normal and colonial systems of society

• Listening, engaging, and growing from difficult and uncomfortable discussions inside and outside the lab

• Supporting the health, safety, and well-being of our colleagues in the lab, office, department and field

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