Matthew Sinton, @mcsinton, University of Edinburgh
The first time I wore my rainbow lanyard at work, I felt so nervous, wondering what people would think. Would they think that I was attention seeking? Would they question why I was making myself stand out? As it happens, the only thing I heard was compliments and people asking where they could get one. The problem though was that I felt trepidation in the first place, about making myself visible as a gay man, not just to those I trusted but to anyone who saw me in the workplace. This isn’t an isolated case either. An Institute of Physics (IOP) survey found that feelings of isolation or feeling anxiety about openly identifying as LGBTQ+ are common in the STEM community, and many people don’t feel able to be open at work. I think it’s time for a change! The Pride in STEM group have made massive efforts to start changing this. They spearheaded the creation of LGBT STEM Day, to celebrate our community and to increase visibility.
I followed the first LGBT STEM Day avidly on Twitter, seeing people participating from across the world. People of all sexualities and genders who were completely open in their STEM-based workplaces. Over time, this got me thinking about the experiences of the Scottish community, so I started asking questions. I performed a small survey of the LGBTQ+ STEM community in Scotland, which highlighted similar feelings to those highlighted in the IOP survey, so I started planning how we could build a network and increase visibility for the LGBTQ+ STEM community in Scotland. A hop, skip and a jump from there, The STEM Village was born.
Getting something like The STEM Village off the ground is a fair bit of work, so I managed to get a couple of amazing people on board: Sammie Le Sommer and Brynley Pearlstone. Sammie is a biologist at the University of Aberdeen, working on leukaemia and diabetes. Bryn is a physicist who worked on the LIGO gravitational wave project, and he also set up the SciCurious podcast.
Bryn had this to say about working with the LGBTQ+ STEM community: “Finding the LGBTQ+ STEM community is like walking into the Wonka factory. It’s full of kooky and wonderful people, with more going on than you might think, and surprises around every corner. I have loved contributing to that community, first with SciCurious, and now working with The STEM Village!”
The STEM Village has two main goals: 1) to create a supportive network for the LGBTQ+ STEM community in Scotland; 2) to showcase LGBTQ+ people in STEM and celebrate their work. The second goal arose because many people still think of scientists as white, old, lab coat-wearing men. We want people who are interested in STEM to see people that they can relate to and talk to about their work and careers. To this end, we’re running rotated curation of our Twitter account (which means a different person tweets each week), to tell the world about who they are and what they’re doing. If you’re interested in participating in that, please get in touch through email or on Twitter (details below).
Together with Bryn and Sammie, we’ve come up with a plan to host a symposium on 5 June 2020, bringing together members of the LGBTQ+ STEM community from across Scotland. We hope that by coming to the event, people will learn about the exciting research that is being performed across Scotland, as well as forging new connections. We also want to have a discussion with people, to find out directly about their experiences and the challenges that they face, so we can figure out what is needed from this network. Of course, we’re also planning for it to be a fun day and for people to let their hair down, so after talks and posters we’re going to have a Science Ceilidh.
If you’re interested in finding more about The STEM Village and the symposium we’re going to be hosting, you can find us on Twitter (@theSTEMvillage), on our website (www.thestemvillage.co.uk) or you can drop us an email at thestemvillage@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you, and we’re happy to answer any questions. Registration is now open for the symposium in June, so snag a spot before it is booked up!