Letter to the Sunday Times
[this is a longer version of the letter submitted to the Sunday Times - and published here and here)
Dear Mr Adams,
We are writing to question the “big bang theory” of Alessandro Strumia, accompanied with the headline “the data doesn’t lie — women don’t like physics”. His perspectives are based on a biased interpretation of the "data" and are at odds with evidence that the best science is done by the most diverse teams.
This community of scientists challenge Strumia’s claim that citation count can be used as a metric for scientific aptitude and that ‘scientific age’ can be used as a proxy for career stage. This is inaccurate, and does not account for individuals who take time out to raise families or come to research careers later in life. As evidenced in several scientific journals, the peer review process itself favours male, western scientists. Male scientists are also significantly more likely to cite other men, and themselves, than to cite women. Further, an article in The Times on March 9th 2019, pointed out that this gender bias not only impacts peer review, but also the allocation of funding and equipment time; cornerstones of scientific research. Contrary to the ‘silencing’ that Strumia proposes, scientists have rigorously investigated the “greater male variability hypothesis”; a recent study of 1.6 million people found that it could not be used to explain the overrepresentation of men in science.
Every day, women are forced to leave scientific careers due to sexual harassment, bullying, unconscious bias and active discrimination. When these women speak up, their scientific careers are put at risk. Rather than highlighting these problems, The Sunday Times instead chose to give conscious bias an international platform. We are concerned that by interviewing Strumia, rather than providing a news article on the issue, The Sunday Times has erred from the usual standards of research integrity and treated the question of gender in STEM not as a factual subject, but one consisting only of opinion. Whatever the motivation for the article, the portrayal of anyone so misguided is detrimental to the scientific community and science itself.
Yours,
Dr Jess Wade, Imperial College London
Dr Ben Britton, Imperial College London
Prof Rachel Oliver, University of Cambridge
Dr Michael Sulu, University College London
Angela Saini, Award Winning Science Journalist
Prof Cathy Abbott, University of Edinburgh
Dr Ifty Ahmed, University of Nottingham
Dr Riaz Akhtar, University of Liverpool
Ms Deanna Arsala, MeTooSTEM Leadership Team
Prof Mete Atature, University of Cambridge
Dr Clara Barker, University of Oxford
Dr Joanna Barstow, UCL
Dr Christine Beavers, Diamond Light Source
Dr Kate Black, Chair of LivWiSE, University of Liverpool
Jake Blackmore, Durham University
Dr Dimitra Blana, Keele University & Aparito
Dr Jessica Louise Boland, University of Manchester
Juliane Borchert, University of Oxford
Prof David Bowler, University College London
Dr Helen Brand, Australian Synchrotron
Dr Ceri Brenner, Central Laser Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK Research and Innovation
Hope Bretscher, University of Cambridge
Catherine Breslin, Machine Learning Specialist
Harriet Brown, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Claire Burke, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Andrew Cairns, Imperial College London
Dr Elisa Carboni, University of Oxford
Dr Alfredo Carpineti, Chair of Pride in STEMM
Dr Emma Chapman, Imperial College London, The Royal Society, The 1752 Group
Dr Jessie Christiansen, California Institute of Technology
Noelle Colant, University College London
Prof Serena Corr, University of Sheffield
Dr Paul Coxon, University of Cambridge
Dr Djuna Croon, TRIUMF
Dr Anna Cupani, Imperial College London
Hannah Dalgleish, Liverpool John Moores University
Anuradha Damale, MInstP. Chair, UKSEDS. Science Policy Research Unit
Dr James R Darling, University of Portsmouth
Zoë E Davidson, University of Strathclyde
Prof Anne-Christine Davis, University of Cambridge
Luke Kristopher Davis, University College London
Dr. Vanessa Diaz, University College London
Bluebell Drummond, University of Cambridge
Dr Meghan Duell, University of Western Ontario
Emma Dunne, University of Birmingham
Prof David Dye, Imperial College London
Dr Ariel Edesess, Liverpool John Moores University
Prof. Stephen Eichhorn, University of Bristol
Dr Josh Einsle, Imperial College London
Dr Sonia El Hedri, Ecole Polytechnique
Dr J.J. Eldridge, University of Auckland
Dr Katerina Falk, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Dr Anna Ferrari, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Dr Joshua M. Fessell, Bethesda
Dr Brenda Finney, Head of Molecular Pathology, Propath UK
Dr Johanna Folk, MeTooSTEM Leadership Team
Kate Furnell, Liverpool John Moores University
Joaquín García de la Cruz, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Allison Gardner, Women Leading in AI, Keele University
Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay, University of Glasgow
Dr Baptiste Gault, Imperial College London & Max-Planck-Institut für Eisemforschung GmbH
Sam Gibson, Durham University
Dr Sam Giles, University of Birmingham & Christ Church, University of Oxford
Dr Sarah Greene, University of Birmingham
D. Stacey Habergham-Mawson, Liverpool John Moores University
Stephanie Hamilton, University of Michigan
Dr Tom Hasell, University of Liverpool
Laura Holland, Rosalind Franklin Institute
Dr Joby Hollis, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory & Universities Space Research Association
Natasha G. Holmes, Cornell University
Dr Tanvir Hussain, University of Nottingham
Dr Seyda Ipek, University of California, Irvine
Dr Nabil Iqbal, Durham University
Prof Christopher Jackson, Imperial College London
Akhila K Jayaram, University of Cambridge and Co-President at Cavendish Inspiring Women
Dr Izzy Jayasinghe, University of Leeds
Julie Jebsen, University of Wolverhampton
Prof Jan H. Jensen, University of Copenhagen
Dr Helen Jermak, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Sarah D. Johnson, Simon Fraser University
Prof Richard Johnston, Swansea University
Stephanie Keyes, Linn Benton Community College & Oregon State University
Ilaina Khairulzaman
Tamara Kohler, University College London
Celeste R Labedz, California Institute of Technology
Prof Chris Lintott, University of Oxford
Dr Rachael Livermore
Muath Natsheh, New York University
Dr Elizabeth MacDonald, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Prof Anson Mackay, University College London
Dr Lewis E. MacKenzie, Durham University
Dr Ted Mackereth, University of Birmingham
Dr Jill Madine, University of Liverpool
Dr Candice Majewski, University of Sheffield
Dr Marie Martig, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Stewart Martin-Haugh, Particle Physics Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC, UK Research and Innovation
Dr Helen Maynard-Casely, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Prof Gail McConnell, University of Strathclyde
Dr Tom McDonald, University of Liverpool
Dr Laura McKemmish, University of New South Wales
Dr BethAnn McLaughlin, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Founder MeTooSTEM
Nikki Miller, Keele University
Dr Helen Mulvana, University of Glasgow
Katie Mummah, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr Claire Murray, Diamond Light Source
Dr Clara Nellist, University of Goettingen
Prof Andy Newsam, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Erinma Ochu, University of Salford
Dr Kathryn O’Donnell, In-Space Missions Ltd
Prof Alexandra Olaya-Castro, University College London
Dr Amy Palubinsky, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, MeTooSTEM Leadership Team
Dr Brian Patton, University of Strathclyde
Dr Susan Percival, Liverpool John Moores University
Phoebe Pearce, Imperial College London
Dr Daniel Perley, Liverpool John Moores University
Simon Pfeifer, Liverpool John Moores University
Fran Poodry, Vernier Software and Technology
Dr Ana Maria Porras, Cornell University
Prof Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, University of New Hampshire
Dr Andrew James Princep, University of Oxford
Dr João Quinta da Fonseca, University of Manchester
Conor Ransome, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Rosti Readioff, Keele University
Dr Anna Regoutz, Imperial College London
Dr Ian Sandall, University of Liverpool
Prof Pearl Sandick, University of Utah
Dr Rachel Saunders, University of Manchester
Prof Eleanor Schofield
Dr Annela Seddon, School of Physics, University of Bristol
Dr Kierann Shah, National Space Academy
Prof Nausheen Shah, Wayne State University
Dr Manisha Shrestha, Liverpool John Moores University
Prof Brian Shuve, Harvey Mudd College
Dr Ashley Spindler, University of Hertfordshire
Dr Natasha Stephen, University of Plymouth
Tricia Sullivan, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Teresa Swanson, University of Washington, Seattle, MeTooSTEM Leadership Team
Kirsty Taggart, Liverpool John Moores University
Prof Tim M.P. Tait, University of California, Irvine
Dr Joshua Veitch-Michaelis, Liverpool John Moores University
Madina Wane, Imperial College London
Ms Britteny Watson-Ivey, Business Manager, MeTooSTEM Leadership Team
Dr David J. Weir, University of Helsinki
Dr Graham White, TRIUMF
Dr Hannah Williams, Imperial College London
Prof Helen Wilson, University College London
Prof Tien-Tien Yu, University of Oregon
Dr Maryam Zaringhalam, 500 Women Scientists
Dr Ying Lia Li, UCL Women in Physics Group, University College London
Dr Ines Pineda-Torra, University College London
Kaja Milczewska, University of Reading
This letter was coordinated by The Inclusive Group for Equity in Research in STEMM (TIGERS) @TigerInSTEMM, who have recently triggered a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of STEMM funding on diversity and inclusion.