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Q&A with University of York "Decolonising the Chemistry Curriculum" Group

What would be your advice to educators who are working with colleagues going above and beyond, but are yet to nominate them for an 蜜桃社区 Education prize?

It's important that we embrace new ways of teaching chemistry so that we can encourage the biggest possible pool of talented students to continue in chemical careers. By sharing new and innovative teaching practice, the whole chemistry community can benefit, so our advice would be to go ahead and nominate any of your colleagues who are outstanding educators.

What inspires or motivates your team?

As a person of colour with a strong visible identity who has significant lived experiences, both negative and positive, I want to continually drive change so that chemistry is a great discipline for all students, not just a few. I view myself as a role model and I want to inspire the current and next generation of chemists to do better science. (Avtar Matharu)

Having recently returned to Australia from the UK, the work of decolonising the curriculum has taken on a deeper and more immediate significance. Working in a colonised country has reinforced my commitment to inclusive education and to meaningfully embedding Indigenous Knowledge within our teaching. Over the next few years, I hope to build stronger cross-faculty networks, collaborate with Indigenous scholars and communities, and support staff in expanding the way we teach science. There is a pressing need for change: the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students pursuing STEM has remained low for decades, and we must create learning environments where they feel represented, respected, and encouraged to succeed. (Sam Furfari)

Positive feedback from our York undergraduates on our decolonising activities has been incredibly inspiring. It was moving to hear that they appreciated the work. (Caroline Dessent)

What are the qualities that make your team special?

The team is truly diverse, comprising people of different genders, ethnicities, sexualities, disabilities and career stages. This has enabled many different perspectives to come together in a unique way. (David Smith)

It has been wonderful to work in a team that has included students and staff, and especially one where everyone has been passionate about achieving a goal. (Caroline Dessent)

I think the ethos of inclusion and culture change in the department was one of the most important qualities and this shaped the ethos of the team. The Department has a longstanding history of equality and diversity work, this meant as a team, we had experience of addressing challenging issues and facilitating culture change. We had senior leadership support from the Head of Department and Chair of Board of studies and as a team we had the right mix of skills, knowledge and passion to take action. (Leonie Jones)

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

Chemistry is a brilliant discipline, be open to new ideas. (Avtar Matharu)

Chemistry is an incredibly diverse subject, which is something that young people perhaps don't always see when they are studying it at secondary level. So many parts of contemporary chemistry happen across the disciplines of other scientific fields, that there is wide flexibility in how you can work. Chemistry is also a central part of so many critical problems, including developing new pharmaceuticals, energy storage devices, biodegradable and sustainable materials. Chemists have the opportunity to contribute to solving many of the biggest societal challenges, which is an incredible privilege that can give you a life-long satisfying career. (Caroline Dessent)

What were the biggest challenges in this project?

Personally, my biggest challenges came in promoting the work on social media. There was a large backlash on Twitter (now X) to the concept of decolonising science education, leading to significant online harassment. The political context can make doing this type of work very difficult, meaning that being a leading advocate of such approaches comes with significant personal and career risks. (David Smith)

Internal challenge from colleagues as I was trying to add a new concept within already very busy curriculum but also, some colleagues failed to understand the wider the benefits of a Matharu plot beyond just producing a one-page infographic. Thus, my approach was to trial Matharu plots with our smaller cohort of PGT MSc Green Chemistry and Sustainable Industrial Technology students, where there was more space in the timetable and deemed 鈥榣ess risky鈥�. (Avtar Matharu)

One of the ongoing challenges is persuading colleagues that decolonising and diversifying the chemistry curriculum is essential to genuine equity, diversity and inclusion in education. This work is not about diminishing the achievements of well-known Western male scientists, but about presenting a fuller and more honest scientific story - one that recognises global contributions, gives proper historical context, and does not gloss over the more controversial views held by some figures of the past. By broadening the narrative in this way, we avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes and create a more inclusive learning environment where every student can see themselves reflected in the scientific community. (Sam Furfari)

I struggled with obtaining materials and archived reports of the scientific contributions of minoritised and indigenous scientists. Also, getting some academics to participate in the survey we conducted to try to assess the impact of our work was a challenge, perhaps because for some scientists the concept of decolonisation sounds vague, and unfamiliar. A major challenge was having enough time to develop the resource and the new teaching materials. (Kelechi Uleanya)

One of the biggest challenges is overcoming attitudes about what decolonisation of a curriculum is. We've worked on this project over a period of time when there have been frequent negative news and social media stories about decolonising. However, the response from the chemistry community has been overwhelmingly positive, and it's been my experience that once people understand what decolonising a curriculum is, they are fully supportive. (Caroline Dessent)

One of the biggest challenges when we began our decolonisation work was knowing where to start. Educational literature and the web gave examples from humanities, arts, and social sciences focused on things like reading lists that didn鈥檛 really work for science teaching. This meant we were feeling our way, trying to understand where colonialism had influenced our understanding and the narrative in chemistry. Once we started looking/thinking, a picture emerged and there were examples throughout the curriculum, but it wasn鈥檛 obvious at the start, it required a change of mindset. Early on the biggest challenge was helping colleagues understand that decolonising our curriculum was necessary and addressing myths and misconceptions that decolonisation might lead to cutting topics or 鈥渄umbing-down鈥�. The second was in everyone finding the time. Showcasing examples of where this work was already happening helped to energise staff and we found colleagues approaching us to tell us about the new case studies they were introducing into their teaching! (Leonie Jones)

What different strengths did different people bring to the team?

The MSc PGT in Green Chemistry and Sustainable Industrial Technology is typically two-thirds international to one-third home students. As course director, I was able to bring a postgraduate dimension to decolonisation of the curriculum. Our home students were aware of decolonisation of the curriculum but for the majority of our international students this was new to them. (Avtar Matharu)

Kelechi is passionate about embedding diverse perspectives in the curriculum and undertook extensive research to produce a comprehensive resource that can be shared with other educators. Caroline has long been a leader in the EDI space, and her guidance throughout this work was invaluable. Our student partners were also instrumental, bringing their voices, lived experiences, and insight directly to the table. (Sam Furfari)

Everyone on the team brought different strengths that have been important in making our work successful. Leonie deserves huge recognition for being the person who brought our decolonising work into existence by advocating for us as a department to do something about decolonising our curriculum. Kelechi has been an amazing personal champion of decolonising, and has brought passionate lived experience. She has spoken about decolonising the chemistry curriculum across the UK, and received considerable praise for her talks. Kgato is an amazing editor and proof reader, who worked tirelessly to smooth our the inconsistencies in the resource as we developed it.  Avtar brought a huge knowledge base around the current contributions of scientists from the global south, especially in the field of green and dustainable chemistry. Dave has been an incredible force in disseminating our work across the globe through his social media presence. He also deserves recognition for his passion for decolonising the courses he teaches at York, and has brought a wealth of science from indigenous people into his lectures on medicinal chemistry. Our student ambassadors, Ruhee and Amelia, were incredibly important in helping us to understand how best the project could work and in promoting the project within our department. Sam was brilliant in leading the student ambassadors, along with a larger student focus group, who developed activities for lecture and lab based teaching. This has helped us to understand what more our department needs to do, and ensure that the project grew bottom up from what our students wanted. I'm maybe not the best person to comment on my own strengths, but maybe an important one is that I am always curious and open to new ideas. I think this allowed me to understand how important decolonising the curriculum was. (Caroline Dessent)

I think the different strengths and perspectives people brought were essential to the success of the project. We needed understanding of pedagogy and our curriculum, student and staff perspectives and lived experience, to make sure we were meeting the needs of our stakeholders, leadership, influencing and persuasion. Research skills and chemistry knowledge, passion, and creativity. However, we couldn鈥檛 have achieved what we did without Caroline鈥檚 leadership. There had been discussions about addressing imbalances in the curriculum before, but it was Caroline who saw the wider importance and worked hard to help our colleagues understand this. (Leonie Jones)

How can good science education support solving global challenges?

One of the most important aspects of decolonising chemistry education is that it empowers students to better understand global problems, encouraging them to take an ethical approach to reflect on the origins of science, and its impacts across a diverse range of communities worldwide. We hope this creates a next generation of scientists who are better placed to work collaboratively, and in a truly global sense, listening a diverse range of voices, while solving important challenges.

To achieve sustainability and provide solutions for the many current global grand challenges, for example, SDG 2: Zero hunger, SDG 3; Good Health and Well-being, SDG 6; Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, change must start at the educational level (SDG 4), that recognizes and addresses inequalities (SDG 10), and is globally-encompassing (SDG17). Matharu Plots are a practical and impactful educational tool to generate critical discussions and drive tangible change towards inclusive education and research.

Why is this work so important and exciting?

This work is important because the way chemistry has been taught has essentially been fixed for a very long time. Developing an approach which still teaches all of the key chemistry but also encourages students to consider the context and ethics of the science they learn, to understand its intersections with society, and become better equipped to operate in a global setting, is potentially transformative in terms of the scientists we produce. (David Smith)

This work is exciting because it challenges the status quo and encourages us to think critically about the examples and narratives we present in our teaching. (Sam Furfari)

To achieve sustainability and provide solutions for the many current global grand challenges - for example, SDG 2: zero hunger, SDG 3; good health and well-being, SDG 6; clean water and sanitation, and SDG 12: responsible consumption and production - change must start at the educational level (SDG 4), that recognises and addresses inequalities (SDG 10), and is globally encompassing (SDG17). Matharu plots are a practical and impactful educational tool to generate critical discussions and drive tangible change towards inclusive education and research. (Avtar Matharu)

Personally, the discoveries from the work I conducted on building the resource changed my perception, connection and views on taught physical science courses. I was excited and tearful too that after many years of being a physical chemist I never knew and was never told that many concepts, ideas and theories were contributions from minoritised individuals. This had a big impact on me as I am a minoritised scientist myself. Honestly, although I have always loved chemistry, knowing what I know now about the full history and contributions to chemistry from people across the globe, would have changed how I engaged with the subject. The sense of belonging it impacted on me made it clear to me that that building and publishing the resource was an important piece of work that will aid and support academics to deliver an inclusive curriculum whilst also providing strong support and a secured sense of belonging for ethnic minority students when taking university courses. (Kelechi Uleanya)

It is so important that chemistry is properly represented as a discipline where people across the globe, have and continue to, contribute to it. I think taking this perspective places chemistry as an attractive and vibrant scientific discipline, that is open to continuing to develop in ways that embrace talent from people across the globe, and can therefore make the biggest scientific strides forward. That seems incredibly exciting to me. (Caroline Dessent)

As soon as we started to look at where the gaps were in our knowledge, we discovered a wealth of incredible science stories that we just hadn鈥檛 known about. Kelechi in particular had some 蜜桃社区 inclusion and diversity funding to research this area and every time we talked, she had uncovered fascinating hidden tales. When we started this work, some colleagues had worried about the potential for loss of material from the curriculum, instead we were gaining all of this incredible information and a much fuller, richer, more accurate picture of the history and development of chemistry. (Leonie Jones)

Where do you see the biggest impact of this project being?

Decolonised and diverse contextual examples in our course help students from minoritised groups see themselves in the taught material, fostering a greater sense of inclusion. Presenting societal and global aspects of science enables all of our students to better understand the impacts of chemistry and helps them become better scientists of the future. (David Smith)

Its greatest impact will be on students: when they see a broader range of voices and contributions represented, they are more likely to feel a sense of belonging and be inspired to continue in the discipline. As an educator committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, I believe that widening the scientific narrative is essential鈥攏ot only to reflect the true global history of chemistry, but to ensure that every student can see a place for themselves within it. (Sam Furfari)

Changing research culture. Matharu Plots are a practical and impactful educational tool to generate critical discussions and drive tangible change towards inclusive education and research. They encourage students to research beyond their traditional or biased norms. (Avtar Matharu)

I believe strongly in these, my personal quotes which I have highlighted in speaking about decolonising chemistry: ''When one meets people like oneself there is always a deep sense of belonging and identity which mentally liberates the individual and draws out the best from within' and 'Decolonisation is a strategic pathway for a global chemistry where everyone has a sense of belonging'. In view of these quotes, it obviously shows that where there is a sense of belonging, success and growth is inevitable and when this happens the individual is retained as a full contributor to their discipline. Thus the resource from this project, if intentionally consulted, would help in developing and delivering inclusive curriculum which on a global scale, I believe would contribute strongly in the retention of minoritised individuals in the pipeline for the physical sciences. (Kelechi Uleanya)

Caroline: The biggest impact for me will be if the project helps minoritized chemists feel an increased sense that they belong in chemistry. Through the work that we've been able to do at York, and that of people in other chemistry departments, decolonisation of the chemistry curriculum is certainly going forward in the UK. It has been exciting to see the interest in our decolonising the curriculum work from other scientific disciplines, and it would be great to think the impact of this project extends across the sciences and mathematics.

How do you see this work developing over the next few years, and what is next for this initiative/project?

We still have lots more to do to continue embedding principles here in the chemistry curriculum in York, but we hope that concepts from our work will inspire other educators across the world. It is also important to continue working beyond our curriculum to think about all aspects of the student experience, and how they can effectively be decolonised and more generally diversified. (David Smith)

I would like to see the embedding of Matharu plots across all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within higher education, and encouragement for publishers to make Matharu plots mandatory during manuscript submission. (Avtar Matharu)

I would love to see the project extended in teaching in secondary schools. There is significant work to be done decolonising and diversifying materials used in GCSE and A-Level teaching. This would be a great new project, that could have an impact on recruiting students in to studying chemistry at university. (Caroline Dessent)

Why is chemistry important?

Chemistry is the central science because a molecular-level understanding is critical to solving so many of the most important scientific problems that face global societies. This includes the treatment of disease, contributing to the development and storage of new fuels, and the design of new, functional materials. Chemistry gives us the knowledge to understand the material world and hence gives us the ability to develop new molecular systems that can be directly used to address countless scientific challenges.

How can this project benefit the wider education community?

Although decolonisation has been a hot topic in education and politics, there was little understanding of how to go about decolonising a degree in the physical sciences, with many insisting it was either not possible or not needed. Taking the first steps towards this goal here

in York, and talking about what we were doing, has enabled other educators to get a practical handle on what the decolonisation of scientific education might look like.

What is the importance of collaboration in the chemical sciences?

Chemistry is an intrinsically collaborative science, given that molecular science is part of so many different scientific fields including biology and environmental science. Complex problems need people with different skills to solve them, and collaboration is central in making that happen. (Caroline Dessent)

Collaboration is essential to all aspects of chemistry, especially in research. Historical stereotypes of the 'lone genius' are outmoded and don鈥檛 reflect reality. Science doesn鈥檛 happen in a vacuum (unless you are a physical chemist), the best science happens in diverse teams with each member bringing different skills and ideas. If we are to solve the most important challenges in science we need a wide range of perspectives. (Leonie Jones)