Diversity Survey in the Excellence Cluster Science of Intelligence

Best Practices in Promoting Diversity: Insights From Our Diversity Survey in the Excellence Cluster Science of Intelligence

At the Excellence Cluster “Science of Intelligence” (SCIoI), we conducted a diversity survey between December 2023 and January 2024. This initiative aimed to engage members in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), highlight areas for improvement and gain insights into workplace diversity from the members’ perspectives.

The survey’s success stemmed from the early and active involvement of many members and teams within the cluster. This collaboration brought rich, interdisciplinary input, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive survey. The Diversity and Equal Opportunities Manager developed the early stage of the conception. The Equal Opportunities Committee, which includes researchers from all levels in the cluster (doctoral students, post-docs, and PIs), played a major role in editing, discussing, and finalizing the questions. The expertise of the lab management was instrumental in selecting an appropriate tool that guarantees data safety and user-friendliness. Additionally, the academic coordination and communication teams along with many sociologists contributed their expertise. Above all, the project received approval from the Executive Board, which is essential for the success of all diversity measures.

Designed to ensure anonymity and voluntary participation, the survey took 10-15 minutes to complete. It aimed to gather qualitative insights rather than demographic data, with diverse aspects presented alphabetically to avoid bias.

Participants received a short introduction defining diversity and emphasizing the broad perspective required for workplace diversity, acknowledging how different aspects can imply privilege, power, or challenges, potentially leading to underrepresentation or exclusion.

The final 13 questions were grouped into four main categories:

• Self-definition demographics: Included only gender, spoken languages, and position at SCIoI to ensure anonymity.
• DEI in everyday work life: Questioned the key aspects of diversity at SCIoI in general, individual challenges and strengths, ways to communicate these challenges, and the most needed measures. A further open question about the individual role of each member aimed not only to collect data but also to increase awareness of the impact each individual can have, regardless of their position. This may encourage more active contributions to DEI efforts.
• Diversity in scientific research: investigated the relevance of diversity to SCIoI research.
• Feedback: Collected general feedback on the survey and diversity initiatives.

All of this led to a successful survey with an almost 65% participation rate, providing a solid data foundation for developing future measures.

Our next step will be to support the quantitative data we collected with qualitative data, which we aim to gather through workshop formats. The conception and coordination of this workshop will also follow a collaborative and participative format from the early stages, aligning with quantitative data collection and with our participative diversity strategy at SCIoI in general that aims for long-term sustainable engagement of everyone at the cluster.