The Society strives to be accessible, inclusive and encourage diversity in all that we do, however we recognise that there is still much work to do. The Society has established a group to work on our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility (EDI&A) policies and review all the activities of the Society. This group meets regularly, and launched their first Working Document at the 2022 RMS AGM meeting. Minutes of the meetings and the policies produced will be published here.
Updates
We have been quietly working on implementing many of the objectives we set out in the original document, however, we will begin to highlight some of these activities on this page.
December 2023 - We are pleased to announce that the successful Care and Support Grants bursaries that were implemented for mmc2023, are now in place for RMS Members in 2024. These grants are designed to help with the additional caring or childcare costs that are incurred when trying to attend a meeting or conference.
RMS EDI&A Working Document
You can now download the first EDI&A Working document.
This is a working document which will be reviewed and updated as and when required.
This initial review, that is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive is intended to develop and progress over time. It covers governance, committee/group membership, events, and Society membership in some depth. In future updates we will also focus more closely on Society awards, RMS employees, Publications, Outreach, Education and professional development and communications and marketing.
We welcome discussion and scrutiny of our proposals and developments and aim to be transparent and open in all of our policies and our actions.
RMS EDI&A working doc v1 Sept 2022.pdf
We have begun a review of our activities and have made some changes to our processes and procedures, including, but not limited to:
- checking the dates of our events to avoid all major religious holidays
- ensuring that the venues we use are inclusive and can cater for dietary and accessibility requirements
- adding inclusive titles, as well as the option not to select one at all, to our website forms
- ensuring we have internal processes in place for changes to names, however we are aware we need to communicate this more effectively with our members
- looking at how third parties we interact with handle data
- adding the option to include attendees pronouns on name badges at events
- updating the 'Gender Equality Resource' to the 'Equity in Microscopy Resource' to make it more inclusive
- live streaming Annual General Meetings to make them more accessible
- making accessibility information for our virtual and in person events more readily available on our web pages, emails and programme booklets
- adding closed captions and transcripts to online meetings and events
- running accessibility checks on our promotional materials and programme booklets
- running a virtual event programme as well as an in-person programme
- having open calls for committee membership
The list above is not exhaustive and will continue to be developed.
We will be producing a full policy that will include details of our current processes and procedures but will also look to the future of what the Society can do to promote and further EDI&A in all of our activities and support our community.
Our commitment
- We are committed to embedding EDI&A best practice into all of our activities
- We are committed to this ongoing process and recognise that it will develop and evolve
- We are committed to communicating more effectively with our community
- We are committed to supporting the needs of the microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry communities and developing initiatives that can support them throughout their careers
- We are committed to promoting a culture where everyone is respected, heard and valued
If you would like to join or engage with this group please email Victoria Masters.
Feedback Received
What is the RMS Policy on Masking at Events?
We received the following comment:
Someone recently attend the RMS AGM and were unhappy to see that no-one was wearing a mask. They wanted to wear one, but felt that as no-one else was, this would render it pointless. They have highlighted other non-RMS events that have mandated for people to wear masks and wondered what the RMS's position on this was?
Our response:
The RMS has decided not to mandate the wearing of masks at our events, in line with current government guidance on Covid-19.
Attendees are very welcome to wear masks to our events and we will ensure there are masks available at the Welcome desk, should anyone decide they would like one at any time during the event.
We will make this clearer on the information tabs of our event pages, in event promotion, in the event booklet and on the detailed attendee email that is sent out prior to the event.
added 28/10/2022
International Microscopy Lecture Series Speaker Diversity
We received the following comment:
With the latest annoucement for the International Microscopy Lecture Series, it seems that 8 of 9 microscopists given that distinguished platform are male, and few BAME/ publically LGBT+ or disabled.
Are the selection panel for the lecture series considering EDI&A in their invitation processes? It would be nice for a comment on how diversity and representation is considered to appear on the lecture series webpages
Our response:
At the RMS, EDI&A is considered during the selection and invitation process of our events and we have plans in place to improve this. This is included in the first version of our RMS EDI&A Working Document.
The International Microscopy Lecture Series was created to capture the life-time achievements of founders and pioneers in modern microscopy. The organisers from the collaborating societies put together a long list of potential speakers, from all areas of microscopy, cytometry and imaging, highlighting pioneers in those fields. Many of those pioneers are now retired and we are respectful of ensuring that the process of recording the interviews and giving the lectures is a positive experience for them and also is done at a time of their choosing, with an interviewer of their choice. The current scheduling reflects the availability of our chosen speakers and their interviewer.
We acknowledge that currently 8 out of the 9 speakers are male and that it may not appear that they are particularly diverse. This is something that the collaborating societies are aware of and are working towards improving. This comment will be fed back to them, and an explanation of how speakers are selected will be added to the IMLS page.
added 28/10/2022
Comments & Suggestions
We welcome comments, suggestions and feedback using the form below. You can comment anonymously, or if you would like to include your details we will respond in due course.
Committee Members
Stephanie Ling
Stephanie is an Associate Principal Scientist of the Imaging and Data Analytics group in AstraZeneca, with a focus on the integration of different imaging modalities and data-rich technologies to explore complex tissue biology. She leads the implementation of the Imaging Mass Cytometry platform within AstraZeneca and cross-functional teams for its integration with Histology and Mass Spectrometry Imaging to understand the cell types and phenotypes underlying heterogeneity of drug delivery, response and resistance. The power of the approach is exemplified as part of the Rosetta CRUK Grand Challenge to create a Complete Cartography of Cancer. The Imaging and Data Analytics group is a global capability encompassing imaging capabilities from in vivo radiomics, histopathology, multiplexed tissue imaging, mass spectrometry imaging, at sites in the UK, Sweden and US. These sit alongside data science hubs with expertise in machine learning, AI, bioinformatics, multi-omics analysis, cheminformatics, modelling, computer vision and image analysis to support projects from across the AstraZeneca portfolio. In her previous role in the High Content Biology group, Stephanie specialised in the development of high content immunofluorescence imaging and advanced image analysis to reveal greater insight from high throughput screens for mechanism of action of genotoxicity and DNA damage response. Before joining AstraZeneca, Stephanie completed her undergraduate Masters at the University of Oxford, and her PhD at the Institute of Cancer Research, working in the Cell Communication and Cancer Biology labs of Dr Claus Jorgensen and Professor Chris Marshall, and in collaboration with the Dynamical Cell Systems team lead by Professor Chris Bakal using Mass Spectrometry Proteomics and High Content Imaging to study Tumour-Stroma signalling in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.
Greg McMahon
Greg McMahon received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Metallurgical Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario Canada. Following a brief stint in industry where he was seconded to the Materials Technology Laboratory/CANMET in Ottawa, in 1990 he decided to pursue his Ph.D in Saarbrucken, Germany in the group led by Prof. Herbert Gleiter, who were leading the field in studying the unique properties of nanocrystalline materials. His thesis was on the study of the microstructural and optoelectronic properties of nanocrystalline ZnO solids exhibiting quantum size effects using an array of microscopic and microanalytical techniques (SEM/EDX, TEM, XRD, Mossbauer spectroscopy, luminescence). After graduating in 1994 he returned to MTL/CANMET as post-doc and subsequently research scientist in charge of the Cameca ims 4f facility and later went on to work with Fibics Inc. using FIB and quadrupole SIMS as well as maintaining the 4f lab for MTL. In 2004 the call of the prototype Cameca NanoSIMS took him to Boston where he was the Assistant Director to Prof. Claude Lechene at the Natural Resource for Imaging Mass Spectrometry (NRIMS) at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s hospital, introducing him to the field of biological sciences. After 4 years there he went on to become Electron Microscopy facility manager at Boston College prior to moving to the UK in 2015 to be part of the NanoSIMS group at University of Manchester and finally to Principal Research Scientist in NanoSIMS imaging at the National Physical Laboratory.
Alice Pyne
Alice Pyne is a Lecturer in Polymers/Soft Matter & MRC/UKRI Innovation Fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Alice has over a decade of experience in scanning probe microscopy, spanning high-speed and high-resolution imaging, probe development and cantilever sensing. Alice’s current research aims to understand how variations in DNA structure can affect fundamental biological processes such as replication and transcription. She uses high-resolution AFM to observe variability in structure and conformation in individual DNA molecules and to understand how these variations influence interactions with oligonucleotides and proteins, with a long-term view to improved development of therapeutics.
Liam Rooney
Liam is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Liam has a background in mammalian cell and molecular biology but developed his skillset as an optical microscopist and microbiologist during his PhD. Since 2016, Liam has focussed his research on the development and application of optical microscopy methods to study how bacteria interact with each other and their environment. His research involves various bacteriological phenomena; from understanding bacterial gliding motility, visualising colonisation behaviours using transparent soil, observing nutrient transport channels in bacterial biofilms, and super-resolution imaging of bacterial and fungal cell-to-cell interactions. Liam’s current research focuses on developing open microscopy solutions for the life sciences. He is the current Chair of the RMS Early Career Section and has sat on the RMS Life Sciences Section Committee since 2018, and is also heavily involved in the Microbiology Society.
Natasha Stephen
Natasha is a Lecturer in Advanced Analysis (Earth & Planetary Sciences) within the School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences at Plymouth University, and assists with the management & development of Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre; the university’s flagship, multidisciplinary analytical suite. She completed her PhD at Imperial College London & the Natural History Museum London in 2014, focusing on the geology & surface mineralogy of Mars, and moved to Plymouth University straight afterwards. Natasha’s research focuses primarily on the use of meteorites to ground-truth spacecraft data at Mars (including Mars rovers and orbiters) as well as asteroids (Vesta, Itokawa etc.), by using various non-destructive analytical techniques. Natasha manages the Plymouth Planets research group, is an avid public speaker, heavily engaged in outreach activities, and an active member of the Meteoritical Society & Royal Astronomical Society.
Rebecca Thompson
Rebecca is Facility Manager and senior cryo-electron microscopy (EM) support scientist at the Astbury Biostructure Laboratory, University of Leeds. Her research interests include imaging a broad range of biological specimens, from whole cells to macromolecular complexes, to high resolution using cryo-EM, and integrating data from EM with other microscopy techniques.
Victoria Masters
victoria@rms.org.uk
01865 254769
Contact Victoria for RMS Event Hosting, Corporate Member Hosted events and RMS EDI&A queries.
