Recommendations to the Departments of EEB and Biology at the University of Toronto, on the Decolonization of Department-Affiliated Field Work, including Increasing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Undergraduate Field Courses

Field research is performed widely across EEB/Biology at the University of Toronto. We surveyed whether tenured or tenure-track EEB professors incorporated fieldwork into their research programs. Over 75% of faculty were identified as incorporating fieldwork in their research. Further, our departments offer a number of field course opportunities for undergraduates. For these reasons, we were motivated to develop department-level recommendations and instructional-level guidelines for decolonizing fieldwork. We will discuss those recommendations and some resources available to decolonize biological fieldwork-based research, including increasing equity, diversity and inclusion in undergrad field courses.