Let’s Tweet on Equity and Diversity among Child Health Researchers

For over a decade, the (http://www.cchcsp.org or @CCHCSP on Twitter) has worked to develop the careers of health care professionals interested in pursuing a research-intensive job profile. CCHCSP is expanding the discussion and professional guidance by hosting its second Twitter chat on the important issues of equity and diversity among child health researchers. The chat will happen on Twitter on Tuesday, November 14th from 9-10 pm EST, using the hashtag #CCHCSP. This second Twitter chat follows the highly successful first CCHCSP Twitter chat last fall where we tackled the topic of “Launching Your Research Career”.

The Twitter chat will use the hashtag #CCHCSP and will be hosted by Dr. Christine Chambers
(@drcchambers) from the IWK Health Centre and Dr. Eric Benchimol (@ericbenchimol) from CHEO, and will include special guest Dr. Imogen Coe (@RySciDean), Dean, Faculty of Science, Ryerson University. Dr. Coe is an expert on equity, diversity, and inclusivity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The Twitter chat will touch on many issues related to promoting equity and diversity among child health researchers and clinician-scientists. It will be interactive and open to all interested parties, whether clinical researcher, basic scientist, young or old, trainee or graduated.

During the #CCHCSP Twitter chat we will tackle the following topics/questions:

Q1. What is the scope of the problem when it comes to equity and diversity in science? #CCHCSP
Q2. What are some of the biggest current challenges to embracing equity and delivering diversity in science? #CCHCSP
Q2. Is it time to move beyond solely focusing on gender inclusivity in STEM and examine other forms of diversity? #CCHCSP
Q3. How do we get members of the dominant groups engaged in the conversation to change culture? What does it mean to be an ally? #CCHCSP
Q4. What are the leading practices?  Do currently used common practices have evidence to support their continued use? #CCHCSP
Q5. What tools and strategies do we need to effect cultural change and who is responsible? #CCHCSP
Q6. What can individual scientists do to embrace equity and deliver diversity? #CCHCSP

The conversation will flow organically along these themes to the topics attendees wish to discuss, and will hopefully spark future collaborative efforts towards embracing equity and delivering diversity. CCHCSP has worked to integrate these important issues into their formal curriculum, presented to approximately 100 trainees on an annual basis. Expanding the discussion on social media allows for those outside of the regular training program to provide insight and expertise.

We encourage you to attend and participate in the second #CCHCSP Twitter Chat. Again, the chat will be held live on Thursday November 14 th 2018 from 9-10pm EST. Use and follow hashtag #CCHCSP on Twitter to participate. Please feel free to contact us on Twitter for more information.