Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Geoscience (EDIG) initiative: A time to listen, learn, and act.

The Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Geoscience (EDIG) initiative was created to better understand the experiences of the geoscience community with respect to prejudice, inequity, bias, exclusion, sexism, and discrimination. EDIG aims to provide a platform for learning for the wider geoscience community and promote progressive action to make geoscience more inclusive and equitable.

As part of our initiatives, we organised the virtual EDIG conference in December 2020 entitled: A time to listen, learn, and act. This virtual event aimed to facilitate learning on equality, diversity, and inclusion related topics relevant to the geosciences. It hosted sessions on where we have come from, where we are now, and where we are going. The conference especially focused on raising awareness around the challenges experienced by minoritized geoscientists, helping to involve more people in these conversations. The conference hosted 17 speakers on a range of different topics, from the history of diversity in geoscience, to how we can become more inclusive, to how we can move forward together, as well as a workshop on unconscious bias sponsored by the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI) and the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geology (iCRAG).

Prior to the EDIG conference, we launched a global survey to carry out research on equality, diversity, and inclusion in the geosciences. The survey asked people about their own experiences (or lack of) around EDI related topics. The survey received a large response, with 708 participants from 58 countries. The main themes from the survey data were used to structure our conference programme.

We will present the results of this survey, and our experiences of the EDIG conference. With these and future events we hope to bring together several online initiatives, establish a community of support and learning, and to help us all come together to make the geosciences more welcoming, accessible, inclusive, and equitable.