Over half of OHBM conference attendees are women scientists (according to data from OHBM Executive Staff), and many of them continue to face gender-specific barriers in their work as human brain mappers. To enable members to learn from one another and mutually support career success, we created the Women in OHBM Special Interest Group (SIG), officially recognized as of March 2023.
The product of a 2-year informal consultation process, the Women in OHBM SIG was motivated by a group of mid- and early-career OHBM women scientists with shared interests and challenges around gender equity in terms of scientific impact, career development and work-life balance, among other topics. The SIG aims to provide a community for OHBM women to network, promote mutual career development and facilitate scientific exchange amongst women scientists.
Some of our SIG events and activities will be for women faculty only, and some will be open to the wider community of women and allies in OHBM. We take an inclusive view of the term “faculty” here – every country uses different terms and has different norms. If you are on a K99/R00, supervise graduate students, or otherwise associate with the “faculty” role, go ahead and select that category! (We also look forward to updating these details as trainee members transition to their first faculty position!) Also, when we state “women”, we include any and all who identify as such.
Motivated by our fellow OHBM members involved in the consultation process, as well as the ever-growing literature and awareness on the gender gap in academia (Casad et al., 2021; Jebsen et al., 2022; Keng, 2020; Romano, 2021), this SIG will augment the OHBM’s efforts in diversity and inclusion. We will set targets that will promote women’s achievements and provide networking events for women scientists. We will also complement the OHBM Student and Postdoc SIG in enhancing mentorship for women members and taking mentorship to higher career stages.
We are a SIG for supporting women in the OHBM, with the main focus on women in academia as faculty members or scientists. We are inclusive of OHBM members across all gender identities in the service of channeling support for increased gender equity from everyone in academia. Our success depends on advocacy and support from all genders!
You can help us grow and evolve. If you are interested in finding out more, please check out our Get Involved tab on this website as we have have a number of volunteering opportunities.
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