ISTOCK, VDVTUTUnconscious bias can lead to inequitable outcomes in grant-funding competitions, especially when applicants’ leadership potential is explicitly evaluated, a new study preprint published on December 12, 2017, in bioRxiv shows. But unconscious bias training for reviewers can mitigate this effect and lead to a more equitable allocation of funds, the science funding organization found. That may pave the way for strategies and policies to improve equity in science at the highest levels—a stubborn problem in spite of the large number of women and minorities entering science graduate programs.
In 2009, women made up about 12 percent of full professors in natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities, about 20 percent of associate professors, and 28 percent of assistant professors, according to a National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) report (see Fig 3.10). From 2010 to 2016, the number of female full professors across all academic disciplines rose 28 percent and the number of female associate professors rose 18 percent, but the number of female assistant professors fell by 12 percent, according to a Statistics Canada report.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) analyses show that overall, women and men experience comparable success rates in CIHR grant competitions, but gender inequities exist in certain CIHR programs. (The data for funding-success rates in ...
