CQDM's Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
CQDM recognizes the importance of EDI considerations in the advancement of impactful research and innovation and the achievement of the full potential of the biopharmaceutical research ecosystem. As such, CQDM is committed to implementing EDI principles across its main areas of activities, including governance and hiring, funding programs’ design and accessibility, project evaluation and selection as well as networking and partnering activities.
In this regard, CQDM invites its collaborators, funded researchers, partner companies and the overall biopharma ecosystem to consider and prioritize EDI practices in their environment and research projects. Together, let’s pave the way for new levels of excellence, creativity and collaboration, and make sure we promote an inclusive and collaborative environment as well as a sense of belonging both within the CQDM and in the Canadian research community.
Action Plan for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
To ensure the accountability and progress towards the organization’s commitment to EDI, the CQDM EDI Working Group, in collaboration with the staff and governance committees, designed an action plan guided by the following overarching objective:
Create a barrier-free, inclusive, and collaborative health innovation ecosystem that unites diverse perspectives to maximize socioeconomic impacts and sustainable health developments in the biopharmaceutical field in Quebec and Canada.
Actions to support this objective will be implemented in four activity areas, facilitating impact across CQDM’s organization and community:
1. Funding Programs and Collaborations
Stimulate the most promising and market-competitive biopharmaceutical innovations through prosperous collaborations driven by a community of outstanding researchers and organizations with diversity of identities, approaches, and perspectives.
2. Governance, Decision-making, and Evaluation
Make equitable, unbiased merit-based decisions that best support the multifaceted biopharmaceutical research community resulting in the advancement of the most promising innovations.
3. Talent Recruitment and Retention
Attract top talent to CQDM positions and provide an inspirational work environment where all team members experience safety, belonging, and support to achieve their full potential.
4. Communications
Develop and implement a communications strategy that promotes CQDM’s EDI commitment and contributes to the successful achievement of its EDI objectives.
Resources for the Research Community
Discover a curated collection of resources on EDI from a variety of sources and creators. Updated February 2023.
- How diversity makes us smarter. Scientific American.
Making the case for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.
- Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter. Catalyst.
- The business case for diversity in the workplace is now overwhelming. World Economic Forum.
- Intersectional inequalities in science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- Cultural diversity drives innovation: Modeling in the global pharmaceutical industry. International Journal of Innovation Science.
- Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions. Neuron.
- Our disabilities have made us better scientists. Scientific American.
- Recommendations for empowering early career researchers to improve research culture and practice. PloS Biology.
- EDI in AI. IVADO.
- Workshop on EDI in Academic Research & Grant Applications. Réseau interuniversitaire québécois en équité, diversité et inclusion, in collaboration with the FRQ, the Institut EDI2 and the Chaire pour les femmes en science et en génie au Québec
- Inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA) good practices for researchers. Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
- Guide on integrating equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in research. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
- Best Practices in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research. New Frontiers in Research Fund
- Guide to organizing inclusive scientific meetings. 500 Women Scientists.
- Gender-based analysis plus. Women and Gender Equality Canada.
- How to integrate sex and gender into research. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
- Diversity & inclusion in clinical trials. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
- Diversity plans to improve enrollment of participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations in clinical trials; Draft guidance for industry. Food and Drug Administration.
- Identify and provide EDI resources and training opportunities to all team members on different topics, such as EDI principles, unconscious bias-awareness, EDI in research, inclusive environment, discrimination etc;
- Expand the team recruitment methods to maximize the accessibility and reach out to a wide range of potential candidates with diverse identities, approaches and perspectives;
- Provide a welcoming, safe, inclusive and accessible workplace for the team;
- Organize inclusive, diverse and accessible conferences, seminars or other scientific events;
- Improve the meeting practices to facilitate the active participation of all team members in discussions;
- Offer equitable access for all team members to professional development and diverse opportunities, such as mentoring, networking, authorship, and resources;
- Apply EDI considerations in all steps of the research: study conception and design, methodology and data collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of results;
- Consider diverse resources and literature perspectives to design the project research;
- Take into account human diversity in the development and implementation of projects or in the dissemination of research results;
- Improve the recruitment process of participants in the studies to maximize transparency, accessibility and appeal for all members of the target population;
- Communicate the research results in an inclusive and accessible way.
CQDM EDI Working Group
Reporting to the CQDM Board of Directors, the mission of the EDI Working Group is to provide accountability and ongoing feedback on the action plan and its implementation, therefore supporting the successful achievement of CQDM EDI objectives.
Chairman |
Members |
|
Jorge Puente |
André Darveau |
|
Diane Gosselin |
|
|
Véronique Dugas |
|
|
Sandra Constantin |
|
|
Falisha Karpati |
Have questions about equity, diversity, and inclusion?
Write to us in confidence at edi@cqdm.org
