Pablo Forjanes
Complutense University of Madrid, Spain / GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences, Germany
I am an experimental mineralogist and geochemist. I did my PhD at the Complutense University of Madrid, spent 3 years as a postdoc at the GFZ in Potsdam, and have recently returned to Madrid as an Assistant Professor of Crystallography and Mineralogy.
As a white, European, LGBT man raised in a very progressive environment, I have been lucky enough to live my sexuality openly and without much friction. That comfort, though, has made me more aware — not less — to how colleagues from different backgrounds navigate the same spaces with far fewer advantages, or how people who truly regard themselves as progressive have a very outdated concept of diversity.
I also care deeply about something that’s slipped out of many DEI conversations: socioeconomic background. Academia still has a long way to go in recognising and breaking down the barriers faced by people from disadvantaged backgrounds.