Driven by the values of collaboration, leadership, and excellence, CQDM is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
CQDM’s Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
CQDM recognizes the importance of considerations associated with EDI in the advancement of high-impact research and innovation, as well as in ensuring the biopharmaceutical research ecosystem achieves its full potential. To this end, CQDM is committed to implementing the principles of EDI in its main areas of activity, particularly governance and recruitment, development and accessibility to funding programs, project assessment and selection, as well as networking and partnership activities.
With this in mind, CQDM invites its collaborators, sponsored researchers, business partners and the entire biopharmaceutical ecosystem to consider and prioritize EDI practices in their environments and their research projects. Together, we will pave the way for new levels of excellence, creativity and collaboration, and we will ensure that we promote and inclusive and collaborative environment, as well as a sense of belonging to CQDM and the Canadian research community.
Action Plan for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
To ensure accountability and progress in relation to the organization’s commitment to EDI, CQDM’s EDI task force, in collaboration with staff members and the governance committee, has developed an action plan guided by the following principal objective:
Creating an inclusive and collaborative health innovation ecosystem, without barriers, which combines various perspectives to maximize the socioeconomic benefits and sustainable development in terms of health in the biopharmaceutical sector in Quebec and Canada as a whole.
Actions aimed at supporting this objective will be implemented in the four fields of activity, increasing the impact on the organization and the CQDM community:
- Collaboration and funding programs
Promote the most promising and most competitive biopharmaceutical innovations available on the market through prosperous collaborations led by a community of exceptional researchers and businesses with a range of backgrounds, approaches and perspectives.
- Governance, decision-making, and assessment
Make fair, impartial, and merit-based decisions that best support the diverse biopharmaceutical research community in order to make advancements with the most promising innovations.
- Talent recruitment and retention
Attract the best talent to CQDM and offer a stimulating work environment where all team members feel safe, creating a sense of belonging and receiving the necessary support to achieve their full potential.
- Communication
Create and implement a communications strategy that demonstrates CQDM’s commitment to EDI, and that contributes to achieving CQDM’s EDI objectives.
Resources for the Research Community
- 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.
- EDI training in university research and grant applications. The Quebec Equity Diversity Inclusion Network, in collaboration with FRQ, the EDI2 Institute, and the Chair for Women in Science and Engineering in Quebec.
- Inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA) good practices for researchers. Canadian Commission for UNESCO. (only available in English)
- Guide to equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in research. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
- Practical examples of equity, diversity and inclusion in research. New Frontiers in Research Fund.
- Guide to organizing inclusive scientific meetings. 500 men Scientists. (only available in English)
- Run the comparative gender analysis course more often. Women and Gender Equality in Canada.
- How to incorporate sex and gender into research. Canadian health research institutes.
- Diversity & inclusion in clinical trials. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. (only available in English)
- Diversity plans to improve enrollment of participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations in clinical trials; Draft guidance for industry. Food and Drug Administration. (only available in English)
- Identifying and supplying EDI resources and training opportunities to all team members on a variety of subjects such as the EDI principles, raising awareness about unconscious bias, EDI in research, inclusive environments, discrimination, etc;
- Expanding team recruitment methods in order to maximize accessibility and awareness among a wide range of potential candidates with a variety of backgrounds, approaches and perspectives;
- Providing the team with a welcoming, safe, inclusive, and accessible workplace;
- Arranging inclusive, diverse, and accessible scientific conferences, seminars, or other events;
- Improving meeting practices to facilitate active participation of all team members in discussions;
- Offering all team members equal access to professional development and a variety of opportunities such as mentoring, networking, publication and resources;
- Applying EDI considerations to all stages of research: study design and preparation, methodology and data collection, analysis, interpretation, and distribution of results;
- Taking into account a variety of resources and perspectives found in literature for research project design;
- Considering diversity in project design and implementation, or in the dissemination of research results;
- Improving the recruitment process for study participants in order to maximize transparency, accessibility, and appeal for all members of the target audience;
- Communicating research results in an inclusive and accessible way.
EDI Task Force
Under the responsibility of CQDM’s Board of directors, the EDI task force’s mission is to ensure accountability and to provide continuous feedback on the action plan and its implementation in order to support achieving CQDM’s EDI objectives.
Chairman
Jorge Puente
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Pleasanton Pharma Ventures
Members
André Darveau
Executive Vice-Rector and Vice-Rector of Human Resources and Finances,Université Laval
Diane Gosselin
President and CEO, CQDM
Falisha Karpati
EDI Consultant
Véronique Dugas
Vice President, Scientific Affairs, CQDM
Sandra Constantin
Project Manager, Scientific Affairs and EDI Manager, CQDM
Do you have any questions about equity, diversity and inclusion?
Write to us in confidence at edi@cqdm.org