How has science historically been influenced by racism?
To what extent has science helped advance racist views?
Is there a biological meaning to race?
What are our responsibilities as researchers with respect to the relationship between science, race, and racism?
Tal Scully, PhD Student studying Systems Biology, Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the leadership SCi team, has worked with the Social Issues in Biology group on Race in Biosciences: A Journal Club Series. This series consists of five main journal club modules along with additional action-based modules which grapple with the above questions. Each module comes with assigned readings, a slideshow and a facilitation guide.
The goal of these modules is to provide a space to explore, engage and challenge our current understandings and relationships with Race and Racism in biosciences. We believe this resource will lower the activation energy for groups to host these challenging discussions within their departments. Through these modules, the team hopes to enable a bottom-up cultural shift, empowering individual labs and social groups to engage deeply with their understanding of Race in Biosciences and Academia at large.
About Social Issues in Biology
The Social Issues in Biology (SIIB) journal club at Harvard Medical School (HMS) was founded by a group of graduate students in 2019. The group aims to provide a space for community discussion among students, postdocs and staff of how science impacts society and on how society impacts science.