Workshop Session Topics

ADVANCEGeo bystander intervention

This interactive session describes academic practices and institutional structures that allow for harassment, bullying, and other exclusionary behaviors to persist, discusses initiatives to address harassment and bullying as research misconduct, and provides training in personal intervention strategies to protect and support targets of harassment. As a result of this session, participants will be empowered to: (1) identify different ways in which exclusionary behaviors can manifest in research environments; (2) intervene safely as bystanders, and (3) utilize resources for cultural change in academic institutions and professional societies.

Communication strategies: Preparing for difficult conversations

The goals of this workshop are to identify strategies to build and promote positive communication in the workplace. Participants will learn preventative and in the moment strategies for navigating difficult conversations. Additionally, participants will practice facilitation skills to be able to create and implement these in their workplace. These strategies can be utilized in a variety of workplace settings, such as departmental meetings, lab groups, fieldwork settings, and research teams.

Addressing microaggressions in the workplace

This training will inform the learner of how microaggressions impact the workplace, interactions with our colleagues, and productivity. The training will also provide resources and strategies to empower participants to recognize different types of microaggressions and become an active bystander to address these behaviors and promote a positive workplace climate.

Developing effective codes of conduct

The foundation of a positive work climate is professionalism. Professionalism refers to the attitudes and behaviors that affect interpersonal relations of all types in the workplace. These relations include concepts of power, trust, respect, responsibility, justice, and fairness. Most institutions are established as social structures with hierarchical and asymmetric power relations. Without clear guidelines and shared values, these social structures create potential for colleagues in positions of power to, knowingly or unknowingly, enable and enrich or abuse and diminish individuals. This can endanger professional and personal well-being, contribute to hostile work climates, and reduce productivity, research, and education outcomes. Ultimately, issues related to hostile work climates can affect program success. This workshop will provide resources to develop a workplace code of conduct that is proactive, preventative and promotes cultural change in office, laboratory, and field settings. A longer workshop would provide time to create a framework and an action plan for personalized codes of conduct.

Implicit Biases: Why we have them and how they impact STEM

Implicit biases are automatic, subconscious cognitive predispositions that silently impact our understanding, actions, and decisions in a wide range of contexts. Left unexamined, these biases can impact our decision-making processes in ways that cause us to act against our own beliefs. For example, did you know that even women geoscientists write stronger letters for male candidates, and were found to prefer equivalent job candidates with male names? This workshop will invite participants to engage in a confidential, respectful environment in which to learn about the concept of implicit biases and the ways in which those biases operate. Several examples will be shared of how implicit biases have negatively impacted marginalized groups in STEM. Most importantly, the workshop will describe concrete, specific steps that individuals can take to minimize the negative impacts of implicit bias in STEM.

Safety in the field

This workshop will invite participants to engage in a confidential, respectful environment to learn about how safety in the field can change based on an individual's identity and experiences. This training will teach participants how to analyze safety through an intersectional framework to better prepare and support ourselves and our colleagues. The training will also provide resources and strategies to empower participants to be better prepared before, during, and after a fieldwork experience.