Many facets, from high competitiveness, to publish-or-perish philosophy and precarious careers can lead to poor work-life balance and place additional stressors on researchers with underlying psychological conditions. Geoscientists also face additional mental stressors, for example challenging field work or climate grief. Hostile working environments, abuse of power, sexism and discrimination further exacerbate the complexity and intersectionality of these issues leading to unwelcoming and toxic environments. Depression and anxiety are more prevalent in women and transgender researchers. The mental health crisis in the geosciences thus intersects with the lack of diversity in academia and low prioritisation of equality and inclusion. In spite of being a widespread issue, mental health is seldom present in the discourse about EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) in academia. Very few researchers feel safe to speak openly about mental disorders or chronic illness due to fears about future career perspectives, or lack of understanding and judgement by peers.
Here we want to discuss the challenges and opportunities in opening the discourse on mental health and wellbeing in the geosciences. How do lack of awareness, misperceptions and stigma on mental illness shape our current working environments? How do stressors change across the different career stages? And what are those specific to geosciences? How much is this crisis caused by a lack of diversity in academia and how might this lack of representation in turn fuel this crisis because of increased attrition rates among under-represented groups? Can a more positive and inclusive academic environment contribute to stopping the decline in disruptive and innovative research and promote EDI in the geosciences?
We will invite experts in mental illness and stigma research, and colleagues who will share their stories, challenges and success stories in dealing with and overcoming stigma in their workplace. With this, we aim to stimulate a broad discussion to identify needs, best practices and ways forward for a more humane geosciences research community.
Nicolas Rüsch is Professor of Public Mental Health and consultant psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry II, University of Ulm/BKH Günzburg, Germany. He spent two years as EU Marie Curie Fellow with Prof. Corrigan, Chicago, working on mental illness stigma. His interests include stigma and unemployment, disclosure decisions and interventions such as the peer-led Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) program. He will contribute to the discussion with his expert knowledge on stigma and mental health and experience supporting people in disclosure decisions.
Lucía María Cappelletti has finished her PhD at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2024. She conducted research on the increasing flooding of Argentina's agro-productive plains, using multiple lines of evidence. Currently she is working at Fundar, an NGO dedicated to the research and design of public policies focused on the development of a sustainable and inclusive Argentina. She will contribute with her perspective on mental health challenges for early career researchers in the geosciences and provide examples of collective organization of ECS for mental health support at the University of Buenos Aires.
Timo Vesala is Professor of Meteorology in University of Helsinki. His main research fields are biosphere-atmosphere interactions, ecophysiology and carbon and water cycles in forests, wetlands and lakes and greenhouse gas exchange. Vesala has contributed to public debate on climate impacts of forestry. He has promoted and produced several pieces of art combining art and science. He has run a film club with Dr. Eija Juurola since 2009 and has prepared two cinematographic lectures with personal reflections upon climate change, forests and related films, using film excerpts. He will contribute with his perspective on mental health in the geosciences across career stages, examples of support structures at the University of Helsinki.
Anita Di Chiara is a Researcher in paleomagnetism at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) of Rome (Italy). She has been active in EGU for several years, having been elected Union-level Early Career Scientist Representative in 2022 and being currently a member of EGU's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Anita will contribute with her perspective on how diversity matters intersect with mental health in the geosciences, and provide an overview of the support structures available at EGU.
Speakers
- Nicolas Rüsch, Ulm University, Germany
- Lucía María Cappelletti, FOUNDATION FOR ARGENTINEAN DEVELOPMENT, Argentina
- Timo Vesala, University of Helsinki, Finland
- Anita Di Chiara, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy