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Privileged Logics 2024 Conference: Highlights from a Research Ethics Workshop

  At the Privileged Logics 2024 Conference, various participants shared what was being done at their institutions regarding research ethics. Training ranged from nothing and bare minimum CITI modules focused on compliance for those with federally funded grants, to monthly town halls and resources provided across campus. Some included weekly face-to-face trainings to supplement CITI required courses for all researchers, whether or not they are federally funded. The most comprehensive program resulted from disciplinary action by a federal granting agency. Examples of research ethics topics most directly related to privilege included sexual harassment and Indigenous student mentoring. But there was wide agreement that the orientation to understanding and addressing privilege was largely absent from most institutional training. A narrow focus on research integrity ignores the social benefits of research and equity and generally leads to rather superficial topics and a focus on com...
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The Impact of Learning Communities on Equitable and Quality-Driven Research Cultures

Learning communities can be built around both institutional and inter-institutional goals and target populations. Within institutions, current voices can be supplemented by purposive expansions through cohort hires and other strategies to foster inclusive, and usually, interdisciplinary conversations. In addition to multiple disciplines, multiple institutional roles are often usefully present in the learning communities that effect institutional change. The dialogue across, rather than among, supposed interests also encourages plain speaking and a focus on “facts” of the situation. Strategies for avoiding the reproduction of inequities in learning communities include: intentionally bring in a variety of experiences and views; make sure there’s a seat for everyone, open dialogue, identify and address barriers to participation (e.g., provide financial or in-kind compensation like time off work or course release time). Possibilities for impacting change include: creating new policies and ...

How Current Scientific Cultures and Metrics Reproduce Privilege

At the Privileged Logics 2024 conference, there was broad agreement that metrics currently used are unfair and reproduce privilege. Reasons include adherence to a competitive scientific culture, perceptions that these metrics are objective, their usefulness in appealing to outsiders for engagement and recruitment, and inertia and/or mistaken notions of rigor from those who have been at the institution for a long time and don’t want to change the way things are done. Examples of metrics that have affected outcomes for individuals due to privilege included: The demand for novelty and transformation (although there can also be an anti-innovation bias denying merit to delivery modes such as podcasts as well as to core expanding substantive areas and a focus on community impact) over replication and incremental gains Statistical significance as a measure for worthwhile research Tenure as a status attached to financial stability Grades as measures of learning and achievement Differential tre...

Neuroscience, Inclusion, Resilience: A Summary of the 2024 Conference's Keynote

This one-day conference was held on February 25, 2024 , at the end of the APPE Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. The conference consisted of a keynote presentation, three workshop sessions, a working lunch focused on discussion of barriers to change, and a concluding session prompting participants to identify one action drawing on the day’s conversations that they could try at their own institutions or organizations .   Keynote   Dr. Sarina Saturn provided the keynote with themes that included neuroscience ; DEI terminology ; holistic mindfulness ; contemplative resilience , self- regulation and stress ; a multi-faceted and grounded attention to well-being ; allyship based at least in part on compassion ; and, of course, privilege .  Dr. Saturn ’s presentation also focused on men torship, particularly reciprocal mentorship , and the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility.   The following notes provide more detail from the pre...

Introducing the Privileged Logics Blog

Welcome to the Privileged Logics Blog!  Purpose of the Blog: Welcome to the Privileged Logics blog! Our blog serves as a platform for continued conversations surrounding privilege in STEM research and research ethics training . Our goal is to foster a community where researchers, educators, administrators, and stakeholders can come together to share resources, ideas, and insights on promoting equity and inclusion in STEM fields and in research ethics training.  About Privileged Logics 2024: Privileged Logics 2024 was a one-day conference held on February 25, 2024, funded by the National Science Foundation (Award Number 2316197). The conference examined the foundations of privilege in STEM research and research ethics, explored promising practices, and inspired participants to redefine research quality, ethics, and opportunity in STEM fields.  Privilege is a complex system of power that can manifest in various aspects of STEM research, from biases in peer review to dispa...

WMU Ethics Center Announces Keynote Speaker on Privilege in Research Ethics

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University’s Center for the Study of Ethics in Society has announced the keynote speaker for a National Science Foundation-funded conference Feb. 25 in Cincinnati. Sarina Saturn , Ph.D., editor of the ADVANCE Journal for Individual and Institutional Transformation for Social Justice, will headline the one-day conference focused on privilege in research ethics titled “Privileged Logics: Interrogating Foundations and Practices in Research Ethics.” NSF awarded the Ethics Center $49,792 for a one-year grant to plan and host the conference in cooperation with the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics . A neuroscientist and social justice advocate, Saturn devotes her time educating communities on LGBTQ2SIA+ and other minority groups’ trauma healing and growth. She currently serves as the director of strategic partnerships at OEA Choice Trust. She has extensive education and research experience as an associate professor at the University of Port...