Recent EDI Activities at CRAQ Member Institutions: Outcomes & Lessons Learned

Carolina Cruz-Vinaccia ( Université McGill )


Fostering and sustaining an equitable and inclusive environment —one which recognizes the diversity of backgrounds, identities, and expectations— strengthens our community and our research. Professional societies such as CRAQ play an important role in shaping the culture of scientific disciplines, and as such are in an optimal position to lead the way by showing that equity and inclusion are valued.


In this talk, we will highlight some of the EDI activities that CRAQ members have undertaken at their institutions in the past two years. We will provide summaries of the work currently being done by the EDI committees at iREx and MSI to identify & address areas of underrepresentation, build EDI into our activities, and create spaces for discussion of EDI and workplace climate issues. We will also provide an introduction to the activities of Parité Sciences, a provincial campaign supported by CRAQ that works with colleges to increase the enrolment rate of women in bachelor’s degrees of science programs.


Throughout this talk, we will emphasize both outcomes and the lessons learned along the way. In doing so, we hope to provide insight that CRAQ’s newly formed EDI committee can then draw on when developing CRAQ’s EDI strategy.