Pieter Bots
Concrete4Change, UK
I am a gender non-conforming/queer gay geochemist and environmental mineralogist, originally from the Netherlands, but since 2008 based in the UK and since 2016 in Scotland. Throughout my career at multiple institutes I have been involved in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees. Also, at these institutes I have always been open about being gay, and subsequently I have experienced (and noticed) the best and the worst in dealing with (and rewarding) diverse staff and students. I found it specifically unsettling that some of the worst behaviour has come from senior academics who “shout” about their activities to increase diversity within academia. This has ranged from proposing only male academics for advisory boards, to telling (me) to just hide being gay and gender non-conforming when visiting the UAE. Since, by being open about my struggles to others, I have also become much more aware of the disadvantages experienced by other minoritised communities. Because of my own experiences and the stories others have told me, I have become more invigorated to actually achieve meaningful and lasting change within academia (and the geosciences specifically), not just with respect to sexuality and gender identity, but also as an (active) ally to ethic/racial minorities. I hope by being an active member of the EAG DEI Committee I can help to achieve this goal.