Research Associate McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada
There is evidence that scientists from underrepresented backgrounds tend to be more interdisciplinary, innovative, and in sync with real-life problems than scientists coming from privileged backgrounds. I discuss the undervaluation of diversity through all career stages, from flawed assessments of publication, qualification, and funding misinterpreting innovation as risk. The consequence of undervaluing diversity in all these scales might be losing innovation and knowledge acquisition potential in academia and private sectors, even if personal identity and interdisciplinarity are not directly discriminated against. I will link proper assessment of diverse human potentials to the economics of accounting price and social scarcity.
