Getting Started

Addressing Structural Racism

We are committed to addressing structural racism across at the department, school and university levels. Within our research, this work spans from reporting on NIH required categories to engaging in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), which is a fully idealized methodology for engaging with communities as partners. The graphic below depicts one example of a continuum leading towards becoming a fully inclusive antiracist multicultural organization.

Wherever you are at this point in your career as a researcher, there are ways to become more engaged in antiracist research. Some suggestions are below.

Before beginning this work, it is also essential to examine your own place in a racist society, your own biases, and your motives for doing antiracist work. We offer this guide for self exploration:

Hitting the "checkboxes":

If you are at the very early stages of thinking about antiracist research, you may be engaging in research by "hitting the checkboxes" for race and ethnicity. This may look like meeting the NIH mandated reporting requirements for race and ethnicity.

If you are here, we recommend starting by reading some of the "Recommended Books". Meaningful antiracist research cannot be undertaken without hearing about lived experiences of historically marginalized communities, including Black people, Indigenous people, Asian people, Latinx/Hispanic people, and many others.

Undertake individual work as a time to more deeply understand racism, and to grapple with the extent to which racism is embedded in our society, institutions and structures. Work to understand and identify racial inequities and disparities, especially as they apply to your research area. Acknowledge and work to understand the racist ideas that you hold, or have held in the past (with the understanding that we all internalize racist ideas). Understand how your antiracist research intersects with other work, such as gender studies, sexuality and ethnicity.

Engaging in Change:

If you are actively engaging with antiracist research, we recommend starting with the "Checklist" page. This may identify areas for continued engagement in your research.

Fully Idealized:

The fully idealized antiracist researcher will regularly engage with the community with full participation and shared power across racial, cultural and economic groups. These relationships are ones of shared power, and true partnership.