The Pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, or Coronavirus, put a strong toll on our society. The pandemic highlighted and amplified the inequalities and discrepancies worldwide and the long-term consequences are still to be assessed.

In this video, the ALBA Ambassadors discuss the impact of the pandemic on women and underrepresented groups' research and working conditions in this panel discussion on "Working in research and academia in times of COVID-19".

Speakers:

• Dr. Carmen Sandi, EPFL, CH - Chair of the ALBA Network

• Dr. Diane Lipscombe, Brown University, US

• Dr. Elisabeth Binder, Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry, DE

• Dr. Elaine Del Bel, FORP - University of SaoPaolo, BR

This panel discussion was organised by the ALBA Network during the 33rd ECNP virtual Congress (12-15 Sept 2020).

The impact on brain research

With universities and laboratories closing down, many brain research projects had to be postponed for months or cancelled. In the meantime, the pressure to publish increased as the scientific funding sector assumed researchers would have more time on their hands to work on publications for their grant extension or renewal. Having to face these problems in sometimes less than ideal environments, researchers from financially challenged backgrounds, ethnic minorities and women were particularly impacted.

A Nature survey on STEM principal investigators shows that scientists working in fields relying on hand-out laboratories and time-sensitive experiments, such as neuroscience, reported the largest declines in research time during the pandemic. A survey made by the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) shows that one third of the researchers could renounce their career in neuroscience as a direct consequence of the pandemic-related difficulties; even more so for scientists from under-represented groups

“It’s like we’re going back 30 years”

Mobility & careers

Aside from the local effects, the impact of COVID-19 is also global. During the lockdown, many researchers had to choose between staying in the country of their work or returning to their home country to take care of elderly relatives, thus putting at risk their academic position. Additionally, in the coming years, the travel bans and visa restrictions imposed by many countries will block the access to high-level universities for international students and researchers. As mentioned in this Nature Career Feature article: “It’s like we’re going back 30 years”.

Impact on women

In her WorldView Nature article “The pandemic and the female academic”, Alessandra Minello, PhD, draws up the portrait of her life as a female academic and a mother during the COVID-19 lockdown. She describes the difficulties of being scientifically productive while taking care of her children after the schools and nurseries had closed. In her view, the “Mom penalty”, worsened during the pandemic, could block the career advancement of women who had to put aside their scientific productivity for increased caregiving and domestic responsibilities.

The Inside Higher ED and Scientific American articles confirm Dr Minellos’ conclusions and show that while journals received a higher amount of submission during the lockdown, they also observed a strong reduction of article submitted solely by women.

What can be done to tackle these issues? 

Nature asked journal editors, funders and academic leaders how to close this gap created by COVID in their article “The career cost of COVID-19 to female researchers, and how science should respond”. The article suggests that funding bodies offer grant extensions and include the possibility to mention the impact of COVID-19 on applicants’ progress in their forms. Hiring committees and academic departments are advised to increase their effort in diversity hiring, with in mind the obstacles faced by under-represented groups during the pandemic.

Further solutions can be found in the 500 Women in Stem Association’s webinar on the topic and in their list of actions and recommendations to minimize career penalties for Parents in STEM fields during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• COVID-19, stress, and inequities in (neuro)science, NeuroView
• Anxiety and the onset of COVID-19: Examining concerns of historically excluded scholars, International Studies Perspectives
• COVID-19 Survey Shows One-Third of Researchers Could Leave Neuroscience, BNA survey
• Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists, Nature Human Behaviour survey
• ‘It’s like we’re going back 30 years’: how the coronavirus is gutting diversity in science, Nature Career Feature
• The pandemic and the female academic, Alessandra Minello, PhD
• The Mom Penalty, Inside Higher ED
• No Room of One's Own: Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity, Inside Higher ED
• Women in Science May Suffer Lasting Career Damage from COVID-19, Scientific American
• The career cost of COVID-19 to female researchers, and how science should respond, Nature Career Feature
• "Fighting the Mom Penalty in the COVID Era: How to…”, Webinar Co-Hosted by 500 Women Scientists
• Gender Differences in Academic Productivity during COVID-19, Lab Manager
• Minimizing career penalties for Parents in STEM fields during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Take Action & Recommendations by 500 Women Scientists
• The impact of COVID-19 on women scientists from developing countries: Results from an OWSD member survey
• Covid-19 and gender equality resources, European Institute for Gender Equality
• Series of webinar investigating the potential Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in STEMM by the National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medecine (NASEM):
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Boundary Management, Work/Life Integrations, and Domestic Labor for Women in STEMM
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing of Women in STEMM
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Collaboration, Mentorship and Sponsorship, and the Role of Networks and Professional Organizations for Women in STEMM
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Tenure Clocks, the Evaluation of Productivity, and Academic STEMM Career Trajectories for Women in STEMM
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Academic Leadership and Decision-making for Women in STEMM
• 7 of the most surprising facts about global gender gaps
• COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak
• Coronavirus pandemic: Impact on gender equality (Factsheet)