The equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) presentations and receptions are part of an expansive program which, at SPIE Photonics West this year, included an executive women's meetup, an LGBTQ+ social, an interactive Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, and a variety of lunchtime discussion sessions: Equity in Industry; Managing Unconscious Bias; Creative, Inclusive Cultures; Growth Mindset Leadership; and Diversity in the Workplace.
As part of the EDI presentation and reception at Photonics West, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini, the critically acclaimed author of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and Superior: The Return of Race Science, presented the keynote address.
Drawing from both of her books, Saini spoke about gender, race, and power in science, addressing issues of structural patriarchy, injustice, bias, sexism, and racism that continue to inaccurately and misleadingly shape some of today's science. "Journalists play an interesting role in society because we are a kind of bridge," she noted. "We're not really within the sciences, we're not fully outside the sciences. We're a critical voice, as well as working with scientists to understand their work and disseminate it to other people. My work in particular is to understand where science goes wrong and where mistakes are made and where bias creeps in."
"My journalism is about speaking truth to power. For us science journalists, the power that we're speaking to is the scientific establishment, it's actually you. The industry and establishment of science holds, even though it may not always feel like it, enormous power in shaping our lives and how we understand ourselves."
