Beyond Good Intentions: Diversity in Scientific Settings

What it can do is more than you expect

When we discuss diversity in scientific settings, we often focus on visible cultural differences. Recognizing such is essential to work in a multicultural workplace. To work effectively together, collaboration is needed; mutual respect is required.

A Japanese research director once spoke this to me. Pointing to his eyes during our conversation, he said, "To maintain this direct eye contact — in Japan, it's brave." But in the west, it is associated with honesty, attentiveness, and confidence. In Japan, it is untraditional and sometimes confrontational to hold such a gaze with your boss.

Without cultural awareness, a brief meeting between American and Japanese researchers could end with both silently offended—the American thinking "they won't look me in the eye" while the Japanese note "they stared aggressively throughout."

This would kill collaboration before it begins. So instead, we observe these differences with an open mind — we become aware of the distortion that is caused when we interpret what we see only by what we know.

Just as we must separate raw data from our theoretical frameworks in research — to observe the reality of an experiment as it is — rather than what we think it to be. So too we must distinguish cultural behaviors from our instinctive judgments about them. This is why diversity itself becomes a scientific tool: it trains the open, observational mind.

When I observe the current climate within the US — I note the elimination of diversity teams from institutions and private organizations. I note the shrinking public trust of the experimental method. I note the rapidly diminished public support — reflected by many NIH grants being denied or canceled.

To effectively counter this trend, we can shift the discourse on diversity from abstract moral arguments to pragmatic utility. By demonstrating concrete benefits and showing how diversity tangibly improves scientific outcomes, we may transform it from a fleeting belief to an enduring value. Values persist, while fashions fade.