Biased science

We can’t always control what our brains do and, unconsciously, many of us are racist, sexist and biased without meaning to be. Join sociologist Louise Archer, business psychologist Binna Kandola, astrophysicist Emma Chapman and the IOP’s Gender Balance Manager pre-19 Jessica Rowson as they explore the biased world of science.

Louise Archer is Professor of Sociology of Education at King’s College London. She is the Principal Investigator of the ASPIRES and ASPIRES2 projects, a long-term study of children’s science aspirations and career choices.

Emma Chapman is a Royal Astronomical Society fellow based at Imperial College London and studies the early Universe. She is the winner of the 2014 Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year award.

Binna Kandola is a business psychologist and diversity, assessment and development specialist. He is the author of two books on unconscious bias in organisations: ‘The Invention of Difference: The story of gender bias at work’ and ‘The Value of Difference: Eliminating bias in organisations

Jessica Rowson is the Gender Balance manager pre-19 for the Institute of Physics. The 2015 Opening Doors report by the IOP recommended ways to counter gender stereotyping in schools and the Institution has since been working with students and teachers about how their unconscious biases could impact the classroom environment.