Stephen Curry, Imperial College London: "Excellence or equality in research? We need both."
Date: 29 June 2023, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm (get-together 6:30 - 7:30 pm)
Venue: HARBOR, seminar room, building 610, Campus Bahrenfeld
Directions: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/onTEAM/campus/index.html?loc=i1553009543
Note: The keynote talk is open for all scientists, equal opportunity enthusiasts, and everyone else who is interested to learn more about the interlinked challenges of research assessment reform and dismantling structural barriers to equality.
Abstract: The claim that “we just hire the best people” is heard often in universities and research institutes across the world. If this claim is true, why do the demographics of the academy not mirror the societies that it claims to serve? Are universities, which have long been hierarchical organisations, destined to be centres of inequality? For many women, that is precisely their experience. The same can be said for many scholars from ethnic minorities, or from the LGBT+ community, or who are disabled.
Does this matter for science? What do molecules or the laws of physics care for the machinations of human society? To the extent that science matters for society, society should matter for science. That means that universities and research institutions should strive to represent society and to challenge, rather than to reproduce, the inequalities that degrade the daily experiences of so many. In my talk, I will explore the critique of ‘excellence’ and discuss practical measures being taken at DORA and at Imperial College to address the interlinked challenges of research assessment reform and dismantling structural barriers to equality.
Biography: Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College where he also serves as Imperial’s first Associate Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. As a researcher he has worked for over three decades on molecular aspects of protein-drug interactions and on the replication of RNA viruses. His transition into the Assistant Provost role in 2017 was the culmination of a burgeoning interest in the social and culture of science. Stephen has written regularly on his Reciprocal Space blog and at the Guardian, covering a wide range of topics including open access, research assessment and science policy.
An active campaigner, Stephen was a founder member of Science is Vital and from 2012-18 he served on the board of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, organizations that make the case for public investment in R&D. He was a member of the UK government-convened group which in 2015 produced the Metric Tide report on the use of metrics in research assessment (which he was involved in updating in 2022). He is currently chair of the steering group of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) which is actively promoting reform of research assessment worldwide.
More info: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.curry
