The under-representation of women at senior levels in science is stark in this visualization, which appeared in a 2020 paper led by Leslie Rissler, a biologist at the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

The analysis is based on 15 years of data from the NSF's Survey of Doctorate Recipients, which tracks individuals with a US research doctoral degree in a science, engineering, or health field. The fields seen here are social, behavioural and economic sciences (SBE); biological sciences (BIO); geosciences (GEO); computer and information science and engineering (CISE); engineering (ENG); and mathematical and physical sciences (MPS).

In a system where women and minority researchers are rewarded less often for their ideas than their white, male counterparts, something has to change. Here are some suggestions for how institutions can help improve equality, diversity and inclusion.

Ah, conference buffets. Remember them? As we reported in October, conference organizers have been struggling to adapt to the pandemic-precipitated demise of these professional in-person gatherings. This week, our colleagues at The Scholarly Kitchen have been thinking about what has been lost and how virtual scientific conferences might be re-imagined to deliver the best value. Networking and deal-making are among the casualties in the shift to on-screen get-togethers (strangely, the buffet isn’t mentioned); on the upside, not needing to travel means barriers to participation (expense, time) are reduced, so a wider spectrum of researchers can potentially attend.

But the Indian government was having none of it. The Hindu reports that under orders issued in January, researchers were required to get prior clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs to participate in any online international seminar or conference that might touch on "India’s internal matters". This included "political, scientific, technical, commercial, personal [subjects] with provisions for sharing data in any form". Happily, the order has been withdrawn after protests from peak scientific bodies to the effect that such bureaucratic overreach would hold back the country’s scientific progress and capacity-building.