The fourth annual Black Excellence Conference is being held from July 31-Aug 1 on the UCalgary campus, and new for this year, the conference is fully in person.
For its first two years, 2022 and 2023, the conference was virtual, with 2024 being a hybrid virtual-in person mixture, while this year marks the first year all speakers, experts and participants will all be in one place.
“You can actually stand and talk to someone, shake their hand or hug them, if you’re a hugger,” said Dr. Jennifer D. Adams, PhD, chair of the Canadian Black Scientists Network local organizing committee, Canada Research Chair in Creativity, Equity and STEMM, and a professor in UCalgary’s Faculty of Science.
The Black Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine and Health Conference, or BE-STEMM, is a science based event focusing on the work done by Canadian black scientists.
The conference is hosted by the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN) on the University of Calgary campus, a sponsor of the event.
This year’s conference was said by Adams to emphasize the work of trainees and establish the Alberta Node of the CBSN.
The conference being in person has been a networking game changer, she said.
“If you’re online, you don’t necessarily have that opportunity to walk out into the hallway and continue that discussion, and usually that walking out into the hallway leads to an exchange of contact information and something where people generally follow up with.”
The networking aspect of the conference has been important for this year’s attendees specifically, as they are mostly trainees, postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty, many of whom are looking for professional connections in a fiercely competitive job market, said Adams.
“Trainees need that visibility in order to be competitive for different job opportunities that are coming up, not only in the academy, but also in industry. This is a platform that allows trainees to present their work, and this is a collegial space and a very encouraging and supportive space so trainees will feel more comfortable to make those connections with people.”
Although the conference platforms black scientists, all allies are welcome to attend.
Adams called the event a time for people to see the depth and quality of work done by black scientists across the board.
“This (conference), it counters that anti-blackness, because anti-blackness is coming from that deficit perspective that black people don’t have much to contribute to society,” Adams said.
“But when you come to a conference like this, and then you see the richness and depth and range of research that’s being presented here, and for this one in particular, these are early career people, and so there is a lot of really impressive research that’s happening.”
Adams said that conferences like BE-STEMM benefit all scientists involved and exposed and hopes allies attending the conference will appreciate the depth and complexity of the ideas shared.
“Having this diversity, it only serves to make science stronger and better for everyone involved, and not just black people. It’s important to have black people at the table, because we’re bringing forth things that are of concern to our community, to black health, to black survival, to all of these things that are very important.”
