Table of Contents

Reporting Grantee Demographics for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Neuroscience

  1. Neil K. Aggarwal2
  1. 1Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0G4, Canada
  2. 2New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Centre, New York, New York 10032
  1. Author contributions: S.C. and N.K.A. performed research; S.C. and N.K.A. wrote the paper.

Abstract

Professional neuroscience organizations have recently pledged their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion in examining institutional discrimination; to raise questions about how to train underrepresented scientists; and to recruit underrepresented subjects for a more equitable scientific enterprise in the 21st century. Studies have illuminated racial disparities in funding, likely because of implicit bias in the review process and differential access to resources. We propose that one concrete way to monitor and redress these disparities is to collect and publicize data on grantees by gender, race, ethnicity, and location from neuroscience funding agencies. Beyond remedying historical disadvantages, disseminating funding more equitably across recipients would be an empirical solution that can improve the very quality of neuroscience.

  • Received August 31, 2020.
  • Accepted September 2, 2020.