This interactive session describes academic practices and institutional structures that allow for sexual harassment, bullying, and other hostile behaviors to persist, discusses initiatives to address harassment as research misconduct, and provides training in personal intervention strategies to protect and support targets of harassment. As a result of this session, participants will be empowered to: (1) identify different ways in which sexual and other types of harassment can manifest in research environments; (2) intervene safely as bystanders, and (3) utilize resources for cultural change in academic institutions and professional societies.

ADVANCEGeo is a partnership of representatives from the Earth Science Women’s Network, Association for Women Geoscientists, and the American Geophysical Union to address the problem of sexual harassment and other exclusionary behaviors that lead to hostile working and learning climates in the earth, space and environmental sciences. Together, we have developed bystander intervention education training through a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program.

We take a multi-level approach to transform workplace climate: at the institutional level, by addressing academic cultures through the leadership of scientific societies and on campus efforts; structurally, through policies and processes that guide professional conduct and response to sexual and other types of harassment; and individually, through education and empowerment of all members of our community. In addition to bystander intervention training, we offer additional trainings on implicit bias, microaggressions, developing codes of conduct, and bullying.

Time: 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM