What is an URGE Pod?
The URGE pod is a monthly journal club which focuses on learning about race and racism in geosciences by reading mostly academic literature and listening to experts and personal experiences. The pod met online for nine months to discuss a range of topics beginning with understanding the many facets of racism and how it manifests in academia, to learning about schemes that were successful in improving the representation of historically underrepresented groups within the geosciences.
Challenger URGE Pod
The pod met online for nine months to discuss a range of topics beginning with understanding the many facets of racism and how it manifests in academia, to learning about schemes that were successful in improving the representation of historically underrepresented groups within the geosciences. Each month the pod worked towards an implementable policy deliverable (often in collaboration with the Challenger EDIA group) that should lead to actionable progress in improving the representation, experience and retention of underrepresented ethnic groups within marine science in the UK. We produced deliverables relevant to UK marine science which included a code of conduct for Challenger conferences, including an anonymous reporting form, a fieldwork inclusivity strategy, and several sets of compiled and synthesised resources and recommendations focused on topics such as hiring practices.
Deliverables
Session 1: Group Norms and Pod Guidelines
Session 2: Code of Conduct for Meetings and Reporting Form
Session 3: Demographic data for the Challenger Society (long-term goal as part of the Challenger strategy)
Session 4 and 6: Fieldwork inclusivity plan and guidance with a section focused on working with communities of colour (ongoing)
Session 5: Recommendations for hiring and recruitment practices in UK marine science (ongoing)
Session 7: UK focused resource map (ongoing)
Session 8: Dissemination plan (complete)
Latest News
Challenger Society History of Oceanography SIG Webinars
The Challenger Society Special Interest Group on the History of Oceanography will be having a series of zoom webinars in 2025. The talks will be at 5pm UK time on Wednesday evenings (3rd Wed of the month):
Job vacancy
The Ocean Census is actively seeking a Workshop Coordinator to join our dynamic team to manage the workshop and related processes with an international alliance of partners. The deadline for applications is 15th December 2024. Link to further details: https://oceancensus.org/job-opportunity-workshop-coordinator/
Socio-oceanography Workshop sets sights on key climate and ocean challenges
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is calling on scientists and researchers to participate in its fourth annual Socio-Oceanography Workshop, hosted in collaboration with the Marine Social Science Network.
This international event, set to take place at NOC’s Southampton site 26-28 February 2025, will gather experts across natural and social sciences to tackle the pressing issues linking people and the changing ocean.
This year’s workshop will focus on four key themes, including the impact of climate change-driven shifts in marine species distribution and how these changes will affect the way the UK marine environment is perceived, valued, and managed.
Other topics include integrating digital humans into environmental digital twins, addressing biases in research related to marine carbon dioxide removal, and exploring how local communities can engage in participatory environmental monitoring.