Community breakfast „Diversity & Inclusion“

By Maria Petrova-El Sayed

Have you heard of the “Power Flower”? No? Neither did I. But there it was, lying in front of me, gently smiling at me. In fact it was smiling at all of us with this subtle smile as if it already knew something that we are just yet about to discover. With its perfection… With all those perfectly shaped, perfectly equal petals… Looking like they were all exactly the same.

I look down to inspect it and, in between the chatter of colleagues, I notice what has been obvious all along. It has never been about the perfection or the symmetry, the magic hides in the subtle diversity of each and every single petal with each and every single word that tickles me ever so slightly from within. And then a secret gets revealed and the revelation is different for each and every single one of us. And then we reflect, first every one on their own and then all of us together as a group. The important questions: what is everyone’s power and where does one have an advantage compared to others? Furthermore, where do we experience or feel like having a disadvantage and a need for more inclusion?

Now let me introduce you to the “Power Flower” and what it is all about:

The “Power Flower” is a tool for self-reflection. There are multiple categories and each petal represents a different aspect of our  human identity. In our version of it, above the innermost layer with categories there are two more layers of petals, one on the inside, and another one on the outside. The inner layer is meant to represent more privilege in the named category, whereas the outer one stands for less advantage on that aspect. The purpose of this exercise is to ask oneself where you stand on the different (social) topics. Thus one can reflect and identify their own privileges as well as disadvantages on a (social) level. Furthermore, the whole group can openly discuss and reflect on various questions and bring visibility to long forgotten or unquestioned topics.

Now let me take you through our brainstorming minds that day.

We were a nice round of twelve participants, female and male included. Because more than half of us are parents, we started the discussion with all those challenges which parents face at the work place, especially when working part-time. The latter has clearly been identified as a disadvantage by multiple of us. We cannot easily attend meetings in the late afternoon, thus potentially missing a big chunk of work and task planning discussions. The colleagues often  tend to forget about that fact and plan something outside those working hours despite having been politely asked to stick to the morning (or very early afternoon). In a few cases, child care needed to be arranged to enable the possibility of taking part in an important meeting in person. This whole process is cumbersome and not trivial and it is usually connected to a lot of overhead. On the positive side, however, thanks to this discussion, I learned something very useful. Forschungszentrum Jülich, and in particular its Equal Opportunities Bureau, can indeed organise child care on campus for working parents while the parent is attending an important event. It is a good opportunity worth sharing, but it should also be noted that due to the bureaucratic overhead, it is still quite difficult to arrange. This service cannot be used lightly as it takes quite some additional work, emails being sent forth and back, numerous phone calls, and a clear explanation why the children must be allowed on campus despite their parent/s working. An entirely different aspect is how many parents can actually make use of this offer. The younger the children are, the less likely it is for them to feel comfortable in a completely new and rather strange to  them environment. Thus, despite it being well intended, this service is not as simple to organise neither is it easy to make use of. I would dare say that it is more realistic for parents with older children to benefit from it. Nevertheless, knowledge is power and spreading the word is always worth it.

Another consideration regarding part-time work, especially half-time, which we discussed, is the feeling of being left out at the team level. Much of our work includes social interactions, like participating in work events, joining colleagues for lunch, or taking coffee breaks together. These small daily activities foster a friendlier working environment and a sense of belonging. However, parents working only in the mornings miss out on these informal team building rituals, as they typically occur outside their working hours.

Continuing on the path of being a parent, we opened a new discussion. We spoke about the exclusion of fathers as caretakers within a classical family context. Even in the 21st century, mothers continue being considered the responsible half on the matters of childcare and child event planning, whereas fathers tend to be excluded from any conversation and organisational tasks around the children, even when they take charge. One particular example, which was mentioned, was a father trying to organise a birthday party for his child and introducing himself as the contact person for this event, but everyone still contacting the mother instead. In an attempt to create more space for fathers to share their experience and feel more included, the Equal Opportunities Bureau organises regular events for fathers and their children on and outside of campus.

After having spent a good amount of time on parenthood, we took a different turn. Probably it will come as no surprise to most, but we clearly stated that speaking German in Germany is a big privilege. It brings with itself the power of being included, of being able to participate, of being able to bond. Here in the research centre we often hire employees without the prerequisite of knowing German and often all the scientific work is carried out in English. However, on a day to day basis it is a challenge to get integrated on all levels. Just to list a few examples:

• Certain official documentation might only exist in German;
• Going to lunch with the whole team might end up being a very solitary lunch with a bunch of words that a non-German-speaking colleague cannot make heads or tales of;
• Certain meetings might happen only in German;

The next disadvantage is rather specific to the scientific communities. This one we identified altogether as a group. Three letters: PhD… Or better said, the lack of one. Not holding a PhD can clearly limit career growth in the scientific world. Some colleagues have been denied the opportunity to lead certain meetings solely due to the lack of a PhD title, while others are often mistakenly assumed to have one simply because they hold a leadership role in a project. What I am asking myself is why must one have a PhD title in order to grow, be well recognized or lead if they otherwise have the necessary knowledge and qualifications? While a PhD is certainly valuable, the importance of hands-on experience should not be overlooked or underestimated. Maybe there is a need for reconsideration on the importance of a PhD in the domain of informatics, HPC specialists, and computer science?

Last but not least, we discussed the fact that typically it is the same colleagues who travel to the big annual conferences like SC (Supercomputing Conference, held in the USA) and ISC (ISC High Performance, hosted in Germany). We all agreed that it is a good idea to diversify and give more colleagues the opportunities to contribute to these events and make their own experience. Additionally, it’s beneficial for everyone to gain fresh perspectives and diverse insights from a larger group of colleagues, rather than interacting with the same familiar faces.

But let’s not stop here, let us continue our path to discovery. The topics that we touched that day were only a drop in the ocean and its depth is yet to be discovered. So let us dive in together, let us swim deeper and let us be vocal about these new waters. Then each drop counts and every voice matters. And only together we can build a boat to cross the ocean. And only together we can open the gates and let others sail… and swim… and dive… and eventually thrive… But a “together” starts with an “I”. So who am I? And who are You? How do You feel? What is Your journey? Would you like to share? Here is my hand, let’s continue together.

About the blog post author:

Maria Petrova-El Sayed is juggling between being a software developer and being an IT project manager for research projects at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. Her latest activities include, on one side, the development and integration of new features for JupyterHub, which is a widely recognized web-based platform that enables researchers to access high-performance computing (HPC) resources through their browsers.

On the other side, Maria is involved in project plannings and oversees the efficient execution of  several AI-related projects, leveraging her expertise in project  management to ensure their success and timely reporting of results.

Last but not least, she supports her colleagues in JuWinHPC in the overall planning and organising of networking events and collecting general ideas.