Identity and Empowerment in Science

About the Workshop

The Identity and Empowerment in Science workshop was created through a collaboration between students and faculty in the Systems Biology PhD program at Harvard Medical School. It has been run each year since 2016 and improved over time with feedback. The workshop consists of three 90 minute sessions with writing/reading assignments between each session. Time is split between structured discussion, personal story-telling and analysis of social science literature.

Summary of identity and empowerment in science

The workshop aims to give students a language and a set of concepts to understand how identity affects people's experience of science. It then builds off this understanding to explore strategies for self and mutual empowerment as well as institutional change.

The workshop draws on student's personal experiences and aims to create an inclusive/trusting learning space where students can be vulnerable. At the same time, the discussion is grounded in rigorous concepts from social science literature and draws heavily from peer-reviewed studies (see annotated bibliography). Thus, the overall structure and content of the class is designed to create both emotional and intellectual engagement with the material.

The central theme of the workshop is the "three I's" framework for understanding privilege and oppression. The "I"s are: Interpersonal (how people interact), Internalized (how people view themselves), and Institutional (the “system” and how it operates). Each of the first three modules focuses on one of the “I”s. Below is a summary of each module.

Summary of each module

Identity and Empowerment in Science is composed of three 90 minute modules.

Module 1: The three I's

Module 1 introduces the “three I’s” as a framework for analyzing modes of privilege and oppression in science. In the first half, students brainstorm source of privilege in science and analyze these sources and a set of scenarios using the three I's framework. The second half is a deep-dive into the first “I” (interpersonal), with a focus on implicit bias and unequal speaking time between groups (e.g. men and women).

Module 2: Our stories, ourselves

The second module introduces second “I”, (internalized), with a focus on impostor syndrome and stereotype threat. Students are then given space to share their personal experiences in science, relating them to concepts they learned about in in the first two classes. The class ends with a group discussion on empowerment strategies, where students brainstorm steps they can take to combat interpersonal and internalized forms of oppression in their everyday lives.

Module 3: History and institutions

Students are next introduced to the third “I”, (institutional), learning how norms and institutional practices can advantage groups that were historically overrepresented in science. Two aspects of graduate school – the importance of the PI relationship and the lack of clear structure for success – are analyzed in detail. The class next asks how we arrived at the status quo. We look at two stories: the attempted racial integration of Harvard Medical School (1850) and the history of women in coding (1960s-present). The class ends with a discussion about how scientific institutions can be reformed to promote diversity and inclusion.

Efficacy

In 2019, we sent out an anonymous survey to assess students’ experience of the Identity and Empowerment in Science workshop and got an 80% response rate. 100% of students recommended that the class remain a requirement for first-year students. Based on self-reported knowledge of subjects before and after class, students appeared to learn the key concepts in the curriculum (see figure).

When asked what they enjoyed most about the workshop, students commented on “the empirical studies backing disparities in science”, how “the material was broken down into clear categories,” and the fact that “ it was taught by students instead of faculty creating, a more open environment to discuss these sensitive subjects.” When asked what could be improved for next time, students recommended spending more time discussing what can be done to mitigate these issues, and how they impact mental health.

Google Sites

Report abuse