Scientific societies fail to capture members’ true diversity

Professional organisations need to get better at capturing the true diversity of scientists, researchers say after scrutinising 73 US-based science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) societies’ surveying practices.

‘To be able to serve your communities as a Stem organisation, you have to know who they are,’ says Nicholas Burnett from the University of California at Davis, US. ‘If you’re not collecting data that accurately describes who the people are, then you can’t really provide truly helpful resources.’