Diversity under the microscope: Lessons for building belonging in interdisciplinary spaces from the Women in Imaging + Industry bootcamp

Abstract

As scientific projects and labs benefit from increasingly interdisciplinary expertise, students and trainees find themselves navigating a myriad of academic spaces, each with its own workplace culture and demographics. A clear example is the interdisciplinary field of optics and biological microscopy which bridges biology, physics and engineering. While Biology PhDs are now >50% women, men in physics and engineering fields still significantly outnumber women, resulting in an imbalance of gender representation among microscopists and other 'tool innovators' in the interdisciplinary field of biological microscopy and biomedical optics. In addition to the cultural and cognitive whiplash that results from disparate representation between fields such as Biology, Engineering, and Physics, indifference from institutional leaders to implement equity-focused initiatives further contributes to cultures of exclusion, rather than belonging, for women. Here we elaborate on the motivation, structure, and outcomes of building a specific affinity-based bootcamp as an intervention to create an inclusive, welcoming learning environment for women in optics. Considering the presence of nonbinary, trans and other gender minoritised scientists, we recognise that women are not the only gender group underrepresented in biological microscopy and biomedical optics; still, we focus our attention on women in this specific intervention to improve gender parity in biological microscopy and biomedical optics. We hope that these strategies exemplify concrete paths forward for increasing belonging in interdisciplinary fields, a key step towards improving and diversifying graduate education.