The International Society for Biocuration (ISB) is committed to working to build an inclusive and diverse network of biocurators, ontologists, data stewards and others who work to improve the quality of data wherever they may work. The EDI subcommittee has worked hard to establish a set of guidelines to promote equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility for the society. With these guidelines in place and with the difficulty in maintaining an active committee in the past year the executive committee has decided to establish an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Officer.
This officer will be charged with:
- Acting as a point person for ISB members to communicate EDIA concerns.
- Reviewing applications for Biocuration conference organizers for any EDIA concerns.
- Working with the Biocuration conference liaison to ensure the annual conference is following EDIA guidelines.
- Acting as a point person to think ahead for any potential EDIA blindspots.
The past few years have seen the first Biocuration conference in India (2024), the first fully hybrid Biocuration conference (2025), and plans for the first Biocuration conference in Africa (2026). We fund travel fellowships to enable curators from low-income countries to attend Biocuration conferences, We have increased the number of available microgrants and inclusivity grants available to members this year to two of each type. We have also revised and updated our guidelines for conference organizers.
We thank Mary Ann Tuli and the members of the EDI committee for their tireless work over the years to guide the society policies to where they are now.
We thank Luana Licata for volunteering to be the inaugural EDIA Officer!
