SSE leadership has been engaged in discussions focusing on increasing inclusion of and support for members of historically excluded groups, particularly individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC), in the field of evolutionary biology and through all of the activities of the SSE. 

This fall, Council will conduct a thorough review of the discretionary budget [1]¹, which includes everything except SSE’s operating and publishing costs, with the goal of allocating half of this spending to support efforts to address racial inequities and alleviate past injustices. The Diversity Committee has worked thoughtfully to develop proposals for action, including the following plans as first steps, which Council approved for the coming year:

• Assess existing SSE programs for impacts on diversity, equity, and inclusion


• Collect demographic data on SSE membership to assess representation of historically excluded groups and international members


• Offer 100 free SSE membership awards to BIPOC scientists at any career stage 


• Begin a series of roundtable discussions with evolutionary biologists from historically excluded groups to identify the ways in which scientific societies can best serve them


• Hire a Diversity Consultant to inform the further development of a long-term strategic plan utilizing input from the roundtable series 


• Amend criteria for grants and awards to specifically include aspects of scientific excellence that build community (e.g. mentoring, pedagogy, or DEI work) 


• SSE representation at the SACNAS [2] and ABRCMS [3] annual meetings to better reach members of groups historically excluded from evolutionary biology


• Increase representation on Council and editorial boards by calling for nominations annually, encouraging self-nominations, advertising regularly, and requesting diversity, inclusion, and equity impact statements from all nominees

In addition, SSE will be jointly writing, with our sister societies the American Society of Naturalists and the Society of Systematic Biologists, a proposal to the NSF to fund programs we are developing to support underrepresented undergraduate students in evolutionary biology. Stay tuned for more information about specific programs and initiatives and how you can participate. We welcome feedback and ideas via communications@evolutionsociety.org [4] or diversity@evolutionsociety.org [5]. Learn more about the mission and activities of the Diversity Committee here [6].