We prepare an ECGD newsletter, which the LHCb secretariat kindly attaches to the Weekly News that they circulate every Friday afternoon. For ease of access, we also collect these newsletters here below.
Please contact us if you have news that you would like us to include into one of our upcoming newsletters.
2023:
- 15 December 2023
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Practical information for non-binary and transgender colleagues
Thanks to everyone who came to the LHCb week ECGD session. As promised during the session, we share again practical information that is hopefully useful for non-binary and transgender colleagues:
https://lhcb.web.cern.ch/ECGD_Office/nonbinary.html - 1 December 2023
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Gender Balance with Prizes
We’d like to share with you this interesting article on gender balance in prize winning: 'Women, the study finds, comprise only 12% of the recipients of prizes named after male scientists, but they do much better at winning prizes named after female scientists, accounting for 47% of awardees. When a prize is named after both a man and a woman, the average fraction of women is 32%. For awards that are not named after individuals, such as the Breakthrough Prize, women make up 24% of awardees.' Full article:
https://physicsworld.com/a/only-12-of-prize-recipients-for-awards-named-after-male-scientists-are-women-finds-study/ - 24 November 2023
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Upcoming LHCb week session
We look forward to seeing you at the LHCb week ECGD session. We’ll be talking about constructive feedback and how we can improve the way we deliver it.
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1343985/ - 17 November 2023
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Supporting Neurodiversity at CERN
The D and I programme is introducing a new network: SNAC “Supporting Neurodiversity at CERN”, a new initiative aimed at fostering an inclusive environment for individuals with diverse neurological profiles. To kick the initiative off there a webinar. Details below:To kickstart this initiative, we invite you to join our first webinar: “Our Beautiful Minds: An Introduction to Neurodiversity at Work” – Tuesday 5 December. Claire Reynolds, Principal Psychologist at Pearn Kandola will delve into the topic of neurodiversity and its importance in the workplace. Choose the session most convenient to you, one in the morning and one in the afternoon:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1343985/or
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1343989/Interested to join SNAC? Ready to learn, share, support, or stand up and role model your neurodiversity experience? Send a mail to: neurodiversity.contact@cern.ch
- 27 October 2023
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LGBTQ Flag raised at CERN
A historic moment for the LGBTQ+ community at CERN : The LGBTQ flag will be raised on the CERN Esplanade on 17th Nov to celebrate LGBTQ+ STEM day.
- 20 October 2023
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LHC Early Career Mentoring
**ONLY TWO DAYS UNTIL DEADLINE ** We heard at the last LHCb week about the benefits of mentoring and the different currently available schemes. As announced in the session and by email, applications are now open for the 2023/2024 round of the LHC Early Career Mentoring Programme:
https://lhc-mentoring.web.cern.ch - 13 October 2023
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Virtual Company Showroom
The office for Alumni Relations have organised a Virtual Company Showroom event, with a UK-based ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences, located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The event will take place next Friday, 20 October, at 11.00 CET at CERN with the possibility of remote attendance – and you can register here:
https://alumni.cern/events/119899HSE Tool on Stress
The HSE unit have organised interactive sessions to learn about effective tools to apply in our daily lives to better deal with stress. The sessions will be held in both English (11.30 a.m.) and French (1.30 p.m.), on 11 and 18 October at 774/R-013 (Prévessin) and 25 October at 31/3-004 (IT Auditorium). For more information and to register, see:
https://hse.cern/content/mental-health-supportMicrotalk on Ability to Change
HR Learning & Development invites you to a micro-talk on our inability to change. The interactive talk will give practical advice on how to overcome challenges, find new solutions and commit to the change you want to make. Register here:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1279669/ - 6 October 2023
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Follow-up to the coffee machine event
The CERN D and I team are hosting a follow-up to the Coffee Machine event last year – “Coffee Machine: Who Rinses the Cups”, on responding to Gender-based discrimination at work. It will be on Monday 13th November, and more information is available at:
https://lms.cern.ch/ekp/servlet/ekp?CID=EKP000044308&TX=FORMAT1&BACKTOCATALOG=Y&DECORATEPAGE=N - 29 September 2023
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Follow-up on this week's ECGD session on Mentoring
In this LHCb week's ECGD session we heard about the benefits of mentoring and the different currently available schemes. We would like to thank everyone for their participation and input. As announced in the session and by email, applications are now open for the 2023/2024 round of the LHC Early Career Mentoring Programme:
https://lhc-mentoring.web.cern.ch - 22 September 2023
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ECGD session on Mentoring on Tuesday 26 September
The next ECGD session will be dedicated to a topic that is always relevant and growing in popularity: Mentoring. We will hear about the benefits of mentoring in general and about the three currently available schemes at CERN: the LHC-wide mentoring scheme, the CERN Alumni mentoring scheme and the WIT mentoring scheme, as well as feedback from participants. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and share your thoughts and ideas in the discussion. The session will take place during LHCb week next week, on Tuesday 26 September at 16:40-18:10 CET, both in person and on zoom.
- 15 September 2023
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Study shows that AI tools fail to reduce recruitment bias
There is growing interest in new ways of solving problems such as interview bias. The use of artificial intelligence is becoming widespread - but a study deemed its analysis of candidate videos or applications "pseudoscience" and found it does not reduce bias or improve diversity.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63228466 - 8 September 2023
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CV Writing Tips
The CERN Women in Technology group is organising an event with some useful tips on how to write a good CV. Everybody is welcome to attend on Tuesday 12 September 2023 at 12:30 on zoom:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1314488/Micro-talk: Diversity IS Quality
This talk explores the paradigm shift on the concepts of diversity and competence and invites you to think through the opportunities that this shift represents for CERN. It will take place on Friday 15 September at 14:00 online:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1264831/ - 1 September 2023
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Why Peer Mentors Are Crucial for Women in STEM
Women pursuing STEM fields feel more confident and supported when they make connections to peers, according to one physicist.
https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/04/28/why-peer-mentors-are-crucial-women-stem - 4 August 2023
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CERN tours for newcomers
The LHC Early Career Scientists Fora are offering free walking tours of the CERN Meyrin site for newcomers who work on LHC experiments, in order to help them find their way around the CERN sites and give them useful practical information.
- 14 July 2023
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New Diversity and Inclusion website
The CERN Diversity and Inclusion has a new website, and it is the first CERN website designed to be accessible to persons with visual impairment. Check out its content and resources:
https://diversity-and-inclusion.web.cern.ch/ - 7 July 2023
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CERN's 25 by 25 initiative has new results on gender balance
Recent statistics on new arrivals at CERN are encouraging and show an increase in the proportion of women hired over the last five years. The percentage of women among newly recruited MPEs for roles in STEM grew from 15.5% in 2018 to 23.3% in 2022.
https://home.cern/news/news/cern/gender-diversity-right-track-cern - 30 June 2023
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How I managed my intense burnout
An interesting account from a physicist about experiencing burnout and dealing with it:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01625-6 - 23 June 2023
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How to tackle the childcare–conference conundrum
Primary caretakers of dependent children face inequitable hurdles to fully attending and participating in conference activities because of responsibilities related to pregnancy, breastfeeding, and caretaking. Research reveals that this “baby penalty” negatively affects women’s, but not men’s, career mobility. The authors suggest that collective and structural ideas, going beyond measures that some conferences have taken thus far, could lead to more impactful, efficient, and equitable solutions that help women with children thrive in science.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1803153115/ - 16 June 2023
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Digital Accessibility Workshop
This introductory workshop to Web/Digital Accessibility at CERN offers the opportunity to discuss web accessibility, common issues and tools to resolve them. It will focus on how to make online text and interfaces more accessible in a wider range of situations, as well as how people who use assistive technologies can access information online. The workshop will be held on Monday 26 June at 9:30 CET.
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1293028/WIT talk with the Fermilab Society of Women Engineers
The CERN Women in Technology (WIT) group is hosting a WIT talk with the Fermilab Society of Women Engineers (fSWE), with the opportunity to meet members of fSWE and learn more about their mission, activities, and plans. The event will be held on Thursday, June 29 at 16:00 CET on zoom.
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1290564/ - 9 June 2023
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Follow-up on this week's ECGD session on work-related stress
With researchers reporting high rates of anxiety and depression, calls are growing to fundamentally change science before it’s too lateIn this week's ECGD session we had a fruitful open discussion on different aspects of work-related stress in the LHCb collaboration, how we can reduce it and what we can do as a community to improve our work environment. We also heard the comments, concerns and suggestions gathered in the short survey circulated beforehand. Many interesting issues and constructive suggestions came up during the discussion and we will look into how they can be implemented effectively in our collaboration. We would like to thank everyone for their participation and input. The jamboard comments are now attached to the session’s agenda in indico.
- 26 May 2023
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A mental-health crisis is gripping science — toxic research culture is to blame
With researchers reporting high rates of anxiety and depression, calls are growing to fundamentally change science before it’s too late.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01708-4 - 19 May 2023
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ECGD Survey on Work-Related Stress
The next ECGD session at the LHCb week in June will be dedicated to a discussion on work-related stress. In preparation for the session, everyone is invited to complete a short survey to help us better understand stress within the collaboration. Survey results will be kept anonymous, but text will be shared to aid discussion. Please complete the survey by Monday 29th May - it should take less than five minutes:
https://forms.office.com/e/BCpCzJSh43 - 12 May 2023
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Saying ‘no’ in science isn’t enough
When women refuse requests to do unrewarded tasks, another female colleague often gets asked instead.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03677-6Women more often volunteer for tasks that hinder their promotability
Research shows that women are held back more often in job promotions compared to men because they are more likely to perform low-status tasks.
https://www.gendereconomy.org/women-more-often-volunteer-for-tasks-that-hinder-their-promotability/ - 5 May 2023
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LHC Soft Skills Workshop: Effective Teamwork in Large Collaborations
The LHC Early Career Scientist Fora are organising the next LHC Soft Skills Workshop on the topic of Effective Teamwork in Large Collaborations. The event will comprise a panel discussion followed by Q and A breakout rooms, in which participants can directly ask their questions to the panellists in smaller groups. The workshop will take place online on Tuesday 16th May. For more information and registration:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1273413/ - 28 April 2023
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LHC Job Matching Event Spring 2023 - registration open for early-career researchers
The LHC Job Matching Event aims at bringing early career researchers and recruiters from the LHC collaborations together to discuss open academic job positions on an LHC experiment. It will be held remotely on the Wednesday 3rd of May. During the week, there will also be talks by motivational speakers who have achieved tenure-track/tenured positions. Registration is now open for early-career researchers until Tuesday 2nd May:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1269746/registrations/During the registration you will be asked to specify the open positions that you are interested in.
- 21 April 2023
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Talk on Challenging excellence: Bias as a threat to meritocracy
Freedom from personal biases, perspectives, value judgments and personal interests are often understood to be critical traits for objectivity and the pursuit of scientific and academic excellence. The talk will look at what bias is and how it is a threat to excellence and meritocracy and will focus on the interrelation of bias and poor behaviour, and what this means for CERN. It will be held on Friday 28 April at 14:00 CET in the Council chamber, with live webcast.
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1256328/ - 14 April 2023
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LHC Early Career Scientists Fora Job Matching Event Spring 2023
The LHC Early Career Scientist Fora (ECSF) present the upcoming edition of the LHC ECSF Job Matching Event, to be held remotely on the 3rd of May. The event aims at bringing early career researchers and recruiters from our collaborations together to discuss open academic job positions on an LHC experiment. At this stage the registrations are open for senior researchers who are offering positions. An invitation email for job seekers will be sent out in due course. Senior researchers are encouraged to advertise PhD and postdoc positions, as well as other HEP positions on an LHC experiment, such as technical, engineering, and junior/senior physicist positions. For information and registration:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1269746/ - 31 March 2023
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Graduate students speak out about racism
A Nature survey finds that bias and discrimination are rife in graduate programmes worldwide.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04237-8 - 24 March 2023
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Women in Technology mentoring programme
The WIT group mentoring programme, running from May to December 2023, pairs experienced CERN or CERN Alumni professionals with those looking to build their careers, and creates opportunities to exchange personal and professional experiences. It is open to everyone at CERN regardless of their gender, age or professional background. The call for applications is open until 2 April 2023 (mentees) and 23 April (mentors):
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1246888 https://wit-hub.web.cern.ch/mentoring/ - 17 March 2023
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IUPAP International Conferences on Women in Physics
The IUPAP International Conferences on Women in Physics will be held virtually with India as the host country on 10-14 July 2023:
https://icwip2023.hbcse.tifr.res.in/The value of a physics identity
Being able to see themselves as physicists can make or break students’ ability to thrive in the field:
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-value-of-a-physics-identity - 10 March 2023
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Mothers in Science: global action and a plan for funding agencies
Mothers in Science is a global movement of individuals and organizations with a common goal: to demand immediate action from our leaders to support mothers in science and promote policies to eliminate systemic inequalities and increase the retention of women in STEMM. MiS created a report outlining policies for funders that will banish the long-standing discrimination against scientist-mothers and overall gender bias in the scientific enterprise.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00252-5 https://www.mothersinscience.com/ - 3 March 2023
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Follow-up on this week's ECGD session on Academic Pathways for Early-Career Researchers
In this week's ECGD session we had a fruitful panel discussion on different aspects of post-doc jobs, how to get them and how to succeed in them. We also heard the comments and concerns gathered in the short survey circulated beforehand. We would like to thank the panelists, audience and those who filled in the survey for their participation and input, and we hope the discussion has provided some useful guidance to early-career colleagues. The agenda is now updated with the jamboard comments, Marcel's slides and a link to the LHC mentoring programme.
- 24 February 2023
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ECGD session during LHCb week next Tuesday
At the 107th LHCb week next week we will have the ECGD session on Tuesday 28th February, 16:15-17:45 CEST, both in person and on zoom. The session is dedicated to the topic of academic pathways for early-career researchers and will host a panel discussion on academic career advice on how to apply for and succeed in post-doc positions with panellists from the collaboration. There will be opportunities to ask questions and have a discussion, in addition to the questions we already received in the survey.
- 17 February 2023
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Next Coffee with… event, Tuesday February 21
The registration for the next "Coffee with …" event is now open. This is an opportunity to spend half an hour chatting with nice people, some of whom you might have never met otherwise. It will take place next Tuesday, February 21st, between 13:30-14:00 CET (right before the Tuesday meeting). Register at:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1255579/by Monday evening (just before the event) at the latest. We take the list of all registrations, split it "randomly" into small groups of participants and assign each group to a separate zoom room. We'll send you the link to your zoom room on Tuesday morning. We hope to see you there with us!
Survey on Early-Career positions
The anonymous survey on early-career position experiences is still open:
https://forms.office.com/r/9ZrUXSciweThe idea is that answers will be shared in slides at the next ECGD session, dedicated to academic career advice for early-career researchers. There is also the opportunity to submit questions in advance for our panel discussion on this topic.
CERN Women In Technology mentoring programme
The CERN Women In Technology community (WIT) is announcing the launch of a new mentoring exercise in 2023. The programme is open to associated and employed members of CERN personnel. There will be a WIT Mentoring 2023 Information Meeting on Tuesday 21 February to introduce the mentoring scheme:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1246912/To learn more about WIT Mentoring:
https://wit-hub.web.cern.ch/mentoring/ - 10 February 2023
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Survey on Early-Career positions
The next ECGD session at the February LHCb week will be dedicated to academic career advice for early-career researchers - e.g. what is a postdoc position? how to apply for a postdoc position? In preparation for the session, we are looking to collect feedback on how collaboration members experience or have experienced this career stage. We have a very short survey here:
https://forms.office.com/r/9ZrUXSciweThe survey is anonymous, though the idea is that answers will be shared in slides at the LHCb week session. There is also the opportunity to submit questions in advance for our panel discussion on this topic - so we also encourage current students to fill in the survey.
International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11th February
Tomorrow, 11th February, is celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. For more information:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day https://www.womeninscienceday.org/index.htmlMental Health workshop
The ATLAS Early Career Scientist Board is organizing the second Mental Health workshop at 16:00 on 15th February in the Main Auditorium. All CERN-associated early career scientists are welcome to participate. The interactive workshop will be run by Sarah Speziali, a therapist and life coach. Further info and registration:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1196592/ - 3 February 2023
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International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11th February
This year’s theme for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11th February is: Innovate. Demonstrate. Elevate. Advance. Sustain (IDEAS: Bringing everyone forward). If you are interested in learning more about the February 11 initiative and activities
https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day https://www.womeninscienceday.org/index.htmlThe Hidden Force: Women in physics and in history
CERN will host the public event The Hidden Force at the Globe on Wednesday 8 February 2023 from 8pm to 9:30pm. Details and registration at:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1228843/The Coffee Machine: an interactive theatre piece on sexism at work
The CERN D and I programme, the LHCb ECGD and the ALICE and CMS Diversity Offices are co-hosting an interactive theatre piece on sexism at work at the Globe on 9 February from 2pm to 4pm. Details and registration at:
https://indico.cern.ch/e/coffee_machine - 27 January 2023
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Interactive theatre piece on sexism at work
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, in association with the other LHC collaborations and the CERN Diversity and Inclusion office, we are co-hosting an interactive theatre piece on sexism in the workplace. While we have not seen the production ourselves, we are reliably informed that the event is interesting and thought-provoking. The Coffee Machine theatre piece will take place at the Globe on 9 February from 2pm to 4pm. Places are limited and registration is at:
https://indico.cern.ch/e/coffee_machine - 23 January 2023
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Parenting in Physics
Scientists discuss the challenges of being mothers and fathers in physics and some ways they have seen the field change for the better:
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/parenting-in-physics - 13 January 2023
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Feeling lonely in research? You’re not alone
Advice for anyone starting out in research, particularly first-generation students and those moving to a new place:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02801-w - 6 January 2023
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2023 stress-less stress management workshop
If you are at CERN, you can start the year with a “stress-less” stress management workshop on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 13:30. Whether stress is a daily issue for you or a time-to-time feeling, the workshop offers a simple tool to manage quickly and efficiently your stress response. Register at:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1232513/