Diverse Female Leaders Within SETAC

Michelle Bloor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow

I attended the SETAC North America 42nd Annual Meeting in November, which was a fabulous meeting full of scientific discussion, learning and laughter. On the last day of the conference and as the new North America president transitioned into place, I suddenly realized that currently, SETAC has six female serving presidents at a global and geographic unit level. Thinking a little deeper, I also realized that in Europe, all the serving regional branch presidents are also similarly diverse women: Silvia Casini, Italian Language Branch; Marion Junghans, German Language Branch; Nadezhda Kudryasheva, Russian Language Branch; Michelle Bloor, UK Branch. I’m aware that outside Europe many of the regional chapters of SETAC might also have female presidents, so congratulations to any female SETAC leaders who I haven’t specifically named.

You might ask, ok, so why is this being highlighted, it is nothing miraculous or ground-breaking, which is perhaps true in an ideal world. But we don’t live in an ideal world, so to realize that SETAC boards and councils in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Africa all had diverse council members and women willing to stand for election and for them to be subsequently elected, is somewhat reassuring.

Like many organizations, SETAC is not perfect, but it is making real headway into identifying diversity and inclusion challenges and looking for solutions. This is a challenging area to tackle, especially as SETAC comprises five geographical units, which have different priority areas and loud voices to be heard. My own demographic background might be considered privileged, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have hidden challenges, and we need to remember that everyone is an individual with their own story to tell and should be treated with dignity and respect.

Over the past few years, SETAC at the global and geographic unit levels has worked hard to explore and tackle issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and justice. Boards, councils and committees strive for balanced representation, which also include students and where possible early career members. There are policies in place to ensure fairness and dignity, such as the Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest and Whistleblower Policies. Similarly, the SETAC journals undertake double blind peer-review. Things are constantly evolving in the social responsibility arena, and SETAC is doing its best to move forward steadily in the right direction.

So, let’s just take a moment to mark a special time for women in SETAC governance and congratulate my fellow women presidents within the society:

• Helena de Assis de Silva, SETAC President, Universidade Federal do Paraná
• Michelle Bloor, SETAC Europe President, University of Glasgow
• Lisa Ortego, SETAC North America President, Bayer
• Ana Cione, SETAC Latin America President, Syngenta
• Amanda Reichelt-Brushett, SETAC Asia-Pacific President, Southern Cross University
• Beatrice Opeolu, SETAC Africa President, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Author’s contact information: [email protected]