Geographic scale acknowledgment in EDI
Scientists are human and so they are more prone to focus on local
factors that affect the academic success of individuals in their working
environment. The reason why most of the discussion on EDI from the
Global North is about D is that local variations in T,L, and N are not large enough to spark a debate. When we
discuss EDI from a global perspective, say Global North vs. Global
South, T, L, and N become the main drivers of variation in
academic success. Therefore, we should realize that D occurs
everywhere in the world (local dominant groups are typically
advantaged), whereas disadvantages in T, L, and N are
localized (some countries struggle more than others). True inclusivity
should not be partial and EDI discussion should integrate a geographic
scale when invoking ‘diversity’ to highlight whether the discussion is
about local or global diversity.
Here, we distinguish between the microdiversity ─ people living in the
same place, sharing the same scientific infrastructure, having different
genders, skin colors, sexual orientations, disabilities, etc., and
macrodiversity ─ the sum of microdiversities across the globe, including
a plethora of institutions and people from different countries,
ethnicity, and backgrounds (Fig. 2c). Having such stratification of
diversity acknowledges the ‘existence’ of a huge diversity of people
outside our working environment that we do not see and interact with but
share the same objectives and go through immense barriers to reach them.