2021 ESA Annual Meeting (August 2 - 6)

Roundtable: Language Bias as a Barrier in Ecological Sciences: Challenges and Solutions Toward A Truly Inclusive Community

3:30 PM-4:30 PM
Session Organizer:
Josue Arteaga Torres
English has become the implicit official language of science globally. While using a common language has allowed for greater communication across different regions, it has also limited access to information and created additional challenges for non-native speakers. This, in turn, has generated a bias toward research involving information that is only available in English, as well as prevented information not in English from getting disseminated to the broader community. This panel will include native English speakers who have worked in non-English-speaking countries, as well as scientists who are native speakers of languages other than English and have worked or are currently working in English-speaking regions. Some of the panelists are actively pursuing how to build a more inclusive scientific community by highlighting the importance of including research conducted in other languages and the consequences of only including research published in English. In this panel, we will discuss different challenges and possible solutions for this language bias in an effort to promote and highlight ways to make the field of ecology more inclusive. Panelists • Dr. Tatsuya Amano (The University of Queensland) • Dr. Julien Martin (Ottawa University) • Dr. Kimberley J. Mathot (University of Alberta) • Dr. Martín A. Núñez (CONICET/University of Houston) • MSc. Valeria Ramírez Castañeda (PhD candidate, Berkeley University)