DiversiChem: Training a Diverse Workforce for the Green Transformation in the North

In much of the Western world, the STEM fields, in many ways the backbone of the ongoing Green Transition, are characterized by poor gender equality as well as poorer inclusion of LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, black/brown and other minoritized groups. Proposed herein are three, somewhat interrelated initiatives (hereafter numbered I, II and III) to significantly ameliorate these problems in chemical and materials sciences education at UiT. Initiative I will support approximately 6 Visiting Scholars who serve as role models for academic excellence, gender equality, and diversity and inclusion. Spending approximately 2 weeks to 2 months at UiT, the scholars will participate in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, present departmental students, and act as mentors to students and early career scientists. Initiative II – which we view as the innovative heart of the project – will employ carefully designed undergraduate research experiences and graduate-level projects to nurture women, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse and other minority students in a laboratory environment. This initiative builds on a growing body of literature suggesting that a laboratory setting provides a more inclusive and nurturing environment for women and minoritized groups compared with a classroom setting. Under initiative III, students engaging in undergraduate and graduate research will present their findings and experiences to elementary, middle and high school students, conveying a sense of "life in the laboratory" and emphasizing the importance of diverse individuals and viewpoints to the success of research endeavors. Through the three initiatives, the project seeks to reestablish UiT's chemical and materials sciences milieus as a bastion of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion and thereby attract higher numbers of students to these critically important fields.