Hello #AcademicMastodon @academicchatter ! I am part of a jury that selects students for our master program (application review + interviews). What are your tips for reducing #genderbias and all forms of #discriminations to a minimum? (@jesswade maybe?)
To continue on the issue of #discrimination in selection committees, it seems to me that there are two levels on which to act. First, to reduce the influence of biases in the decision, for example by choosing the selection criteria before looking at the applications. However, this kind of tools is not enough: even if we manage to eliminate judgment biases, blindly basing the decision on merit is unfair for candidates facing discrimination or coming from countries where research is less developed, and who did not have the same opportunities as others. Complementary tools are therefore proposed, for example, considering the potential of candidates and not their achievements. I think this aspect is important, but more difficult to implement: Given that not all members of the jury are sensitive to the issue of discrimination, it can be tricky to argue that we want to put forward a candidate with a lesser CV because we think he or she has greater potential... assessing achievements is a bit like "counting points", whereas assessing potential seems more subjective. Do any of you have a concrete experience of how to deal with this in a jury? @academicchatter #AcademicMastodon #genderbias
@leovarnet @academicchatter ironically enough, I think that the “greater potential” argument may go other way then intended, where people may think that those with greater potential are those who have certain characteristics… that is to say, it would be very hard to make a system 100% fair using judgment.
@tamar_sofer @academicchatter very good point! So you would say there is no way to make this "potential-based evaluation" an objective thing, e.g., by using predefined criteria as in the case of achievements?
@leovarnet @academicchatter not being an expert yet being an optimistic — in the sense that I believe that many people growing with low-resources have higher potential compared to where they reach— I think this is challenging, and likely too challenging.