Where do I start?
The present is a good time to begin contextualising the curriculum. Students are demanding, and deserve, these changes. We recognise that colleagues are experts in their respective biological fields, and may not be familiar with the social, political, and historical contexts that many of these wider discussions are taking place in. Nonetheless, in wanting to start redressing some of the historical injustices, we can begin with what we teach to our students, as knowledge transmission is one of our key roles and a major factor contributing to perpetuating injustices.
General guidance for teaching
Examine the history and philosophy of the topic you teach, and present a balanced & informed history in your teaching. Include thorough context and background for key figures in your field (e.g. who they were, where they were from, and what was it about them/the political climate at the time that shaped their thinking). Acknowledge all the contributions to an idea or discovery (checking that you have not omitted any)
Self-audit your modules to reflect on whose research you talk about. Whose names do you mention? Do they reflect a diversity of scientists and other contributors to the field from other geographic regions, age groups, and genders? If possible, add photos of the researchers whose work you discuss as a visual aid. By actively seeking out and reviewing your content each year to include recent advances and new perspectives, you can introduce students to excellent work being produced in other parts of the world (outside of North America and Europe).
Critically consider power relations (e.g. between Global South and Global North countries, or between researchers and the researched) in the content you teach. Are these power relations driving the problems that you present as localised? For example, rural people in Global South countries are often portrayed as the cause of environmental degradation (e.g. deforestation or hunting), however, these are partly colonial narratives that have persisted and partly outcomes or choices not of their making, due to colonial legacies (Dominguez and Luoma, 2020).
Avoid ‘hero worshipping’ individuals or using terms such as “founding father” - this contributes to impressions that science is based on individual, rather than collective effort, undermining the collaborative environments that science is based on. Further, without presenting the socio-economic and political factors that enabled them to do their science, it ignores power imbalances (who gets to go on expeditions and make "discoveries", or has the financial means to conduct experiments) that are often rooted in racism and sexism
Avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes and narratives in the examples you provide
If appropriate, bring in other forms of knowledges that are relevant to your topic, and acknowledge Indigenous perspectives into field course teaching. (e.g. Saami perspectives on landscape management and change around Abisko, Sweden, Quechua in the Andean landscapes, Batwa in the Congo basin, Aboriginal Australians etc.).
In tutorials and level 3 ‘issues in’ modules, include discussions about papers concerned with anti-racism and decolonisation within your subject area.
Engage positively with students and other stakeholders who help develop content. We have established a group of undergraduates to identify problematic areas in the curriculum. Any suggestions or criticisms made of lecture content should not be seen as condemnation but as an opportunity to address something that has been missed.
General guidance for research
Lead conversations, for instance through journal clubs or in lab meetings, to discuss these ideas and how they relate to your work. Encourage your students to consider and reflect on these concepts throughout their study.
When developing collaborations with partners from the Global South, take time to understand the questions your partners are interested in, and the solutions they are seeking, rather than pursuing only your agenda. Is the collaboration truly a partnership? Do your partners have equal say in discussions on setting the research questions and agenda?
In working with partners in the Global South, reflect on the power dynamics. If you’re honest with yourself, are you using your partners as cheap and convenient data collectors, or is it a collaboration of equals, in which work is acknowledged fairly and credit shared appropriately?
Considering not just academic partnerships in the Global South but also those who help carry out the field work, without whom your research could not proceed, are their efforts adequately recognised and in appropriate ways (whether as inclusion in academic authorship or monetary renumeration)? Are your research outputs shared with those with whom you did research, in a language and manner that is accessible to them?
Consider actively integrating the philosophy of decolonising science into your training, for example including a chapter or reflection in your PhD thesis or conducting a research project addressing how these topics impact your field.
Question who you are choosing to cite. Science publications are heavily skewed towards Western institutions and white scientists (Cooke et al. 2021). Following such bias through the stages of funding, publication and citation, it is easy to see how small unconscious biases are amplified through our publication system. Remember to judge the quality of science on the science and not on the journal or institute.
Please let us know what changes you have made! These can be shared as examples of best practice and allow us to chart progress in our school.