Physics Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) encompasses frameworks and processes of improving representation and diversity in the field of physics. These aims go far beyond a diversity-as-numbers approach. Through EDI practices, we aim to reduce the structural and systemic harms of white supremacist, ableist, cis-heteropatriarchy and other worldviews which position white Eurocentric, heterosexual, gender normative, able-bodied, and male dominant values as superior to other forms of knowing and being in the world. Such worldviews are born of the colonialism, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that Western European nations and institutions are founded upon. The effects of this violence reverberate and perpetuate in many forms, seen and unseen, today.

Systemic discrimination—in addition to individual bias—continues to make science inaccessible to historically excluded communities along a variety of lines of identity (race, skin colour, gender identity and expression, sexuality, dis/ability, neurodiversity, economic status, religion, immigration status, language, etc.). As a result, physics academia has been historically dominated by white, male, European individuals. Today, academia is plagued by a “leaky pipeline” whereby the participation of individuals with marginalised and underrepresented identities reduces at each step of the academic ladder due to systemic barriers. Taking explicit action to assuage these barriers and harms is imperative for creating a science founded in life-affirming humanism. In doing this work, we must always consider our positionalities and privileges as well as the intersectional dimensions of systemic harm: many historically excluded individuals suffer from “multiple jeopardy,” the compounding effects of systemic barriers along multiple axes of identity. We must centre the voices of those who experience systemic barriers and harm in our institutions.

No resource list is comprehensive. However, I hope the content below provides a useful jumping-off point for those seeking resources and support as well as those hoping to learn more about furthering EDI in physics. I have tried to include some brief notes on each of the points, and I intend to fill out some major takeaways as I make my way through the material myself. It is important to recognise that tension, discomfort, and constant iteration are to be expected. In fact, frictional spaces—where we are constantly forced to unlearn, learn, and relearn many things we previously thought static—are the most generative and productive. Remember to give yourself time, space, and grace when engaging with this material!

McGill Physics EDI Resources: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/edi/resources.html https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/resources/

McGill EDI Resources

University-Wide

• McGill Equity: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/

• McGill Equity Resource List: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources – Support services and resources for all members of the academic community
  • Disability Resources: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/disability
    • Check out the accessibility toolkit! https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/disability/accessibility-toolkit-and-resources
  • Anti-Racism Resources: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/anti-racism
    • Questions
      • Teaching and Learning
        • What sources do we draw on and engage with in our courses?
        • Which scholars and authors are we reading for class?
        • How can we facilitate the exchange of views, experiences, questions, and insights among all of us who share classroom spaces?
        • How can course assignments, projects, and activities enhance learning about racism and other forms of social and systemic oppression?
        • Inclusive Pedagogy: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/anti-racism-resources/inclusive-pedagogies
      • Research
        • What research questions do we pursue and how do these advance certain types of knowledges, disciplinary perspectives, and theoretical frameworks?
        • How does research and knowledge production reflect the underrepresentation of minority groups within the University?
        • Who benefits from our research outputs and knowledge production?
        • How can our research teams and spaces become more welcoming and inclusive?
      • Community and Campus Life
        • How can we ensure that our campus activities reflect a multitude of voices and experiences?
        • How do we work to build inclusive social spaces on campus?
        • What resources are allocated so that underrepresented groups can access support and continue to build community?
        • How are Black and other racialized students supported both within and outside of the classroom by instructors and peers?
        • How can engagement and relationship building with communities beyond our campus increase access to and success at McGill for students from underrepresented groups?
      • Workplace
        • What steps can help us become more proactive in our recruitment, hiring, recognition, retention, and promotion?
        • What steps can we take to help ensure that institutional decisions reflect the experiences of racialized persons?
        • How can we achieve greater diversity within our leadership ranks at the University?
        • What opportunities are in place for colleagues to learn about equity and deepen their action?
        • How and who do we mentor, and why is this important?
        • How effectively are University policies related to employment equity, discrimination and harassment, and sexual violence understood, communicated, and applied within local workplace settings? How effectively are these policies impacting change at the University
  • Gender and Sexuality: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/gender-and-sexuality – useful resources for 2SLGBTQ+ members of the university, guides to inclusive language and spaces related to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality /TODO/
  • Equity Policies and Reports: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/policies-reports
  • Employment Equity: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/employment-equity
    • Designated Equity Groups (varies under Federal, Provincial, and McGill Policy)
      • Women — People who self-identify as women.
      • Persons with disabilities — This group refers to people who have a long-term, persistent or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric, or learning impairment and who either consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment because of that impairment and the functional limitations it causes, or who believe that an employer might consider them to be disadvantaged. This group includes peoples who have been accommodated in their current job because of their functional limitations (e.g., by means of technical aids, changes to equipment or other working arrangements). This group does not include those who have relatively minor conditions that are experienced by larger segments of the population – for example, wearing glasses or contact lenses. The determining factor is the severity of the condition and the impact on one’s ability to perform their employment responsibilities.
      • Indigenous people — Included in this category are First Nations (status or non-status), Inuit and Métis people, as well as Native Americans and Alaskan Natives from the USA.
      • Racialized people/Visible minorities — This group refers to people (other than Indigenous peoples) who are non-white, regardless of their birthplace or citizenship. It also refers to those with a mixed racial background who self-identify as a person of colour (i.e., non-white), including those who have a mixed Indigenous and visible minority ancestry.
      • Ethnic minorities — This group refers to people who do not identify as Indigenous or as racialized/visible minority, and whose mother tongue (first language learned and still understood) is neither French nor English.
      • 2SLGBTQIA (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities) — Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex and Asexual. This group refers to people whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual/straight, and/or those whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth (i.e., who are not cisgendered).
    • EDI in Research: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/edi-research
  • Definitions of EDI: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/resources/definitions
    • Equity: Equity, unlike the notion of equality, is not about sameness of treatment. Equity denotes fairness and justice in process and in results. Equitable outcomes often require differential treatment and resource redistribution so as to achieve a level playing field among all individuals and communities. This requires recognizing and addressing barriers to to provide opportunity for all individuals and communities to thrive in our University environment
    • Diversity: Diversity describes the presence of difference within any collection of people. In discussions of social equity, diversity addresses differences in social group membership related, for example, to race, Indigenous identity, class, gender identity or expression, sexuality, ability, ethnicity, and religion. Discussions about diversity linked to access and equity require knowledge and understanding of historical and contemporary experiences of oppression and exclusion. It’s important to think of diversity as uniting rather than dividing. Diversity means appreciating our differences but also our interconnectedness, recognizing systemic and institutionalized discrimination, and building relationships across our differences. That can be challenging, but it’s worth it. While appreciating social difference is important, a commitment to diversity should prompt us also to acknowledge all the things that connect us.
    • Inclusion: Inclusion refers to the notion of belonging, feeling welcome, having a sense of citizenship, and the capacity to engage and succeed in a given institution, program, or setting. Inclusion calls for recognizing, reducing, and removing barriers to participation and belonging, sometimes entailing the change or reimagination of such institutions, programs, or settings. Inclusion means welcoming and valuing all members of our University community.
• Healthy Brains Healthy Lives/Neuroscience EDI Initiatives: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi. Aims: inclusion, advocacy, action, institutional change. Note: It will be useful to draw on the work/initiatives in other McGill departments to inform our own!
  • “In 2024, Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (HBHL) conducted the third biennial online survey focused on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The goal of the survey is to better understand the current environment at McGill by exploring the community’s sense of inclusion and belonging, access to support systems and experiences with harassment and discrimination. It also aims to investigate how, and to what extent, these experiences may differ based on individuals’ identity factors.”
  • Key Findings
    • Inclusion sentiment: sense of inclusion tends to be lower among minoritised communities.
    • Access to support and opportunities: incomplete access to support/accommodations needed to fully participate. Disparities in access were associated with gender, race, age, disability, health, 2SLGBTQIA+ and first-generation university student status.
    • Harassment and discrimination: experiences were more common among members of several groups, including 2SLGBTQIA+ respondents, women faculty, trainees who are not Canadian citizens and individuals over the age of 45.
    • Growing sentiment that there is too much emphasis on EDI, primarily from individuals who do not identify within equity-deserving or minoritised groups.
  • Action Plan and Report: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/edi-action-plan-and-report
    • Areas of Focus
      • Governance: Ensuring meaningful inclusion of diverse voices in decision-making.
      • Recruitment and retention: Facilitating equitable recruitment and creating a positive climate to promote retention of faculty and staff.
      • Training: Providing accessible professional development for neuroscience trainees and promoting EDI best practices in research training environments.
      • Distribution of funding: Implementing equitable application and selection processes for HBHL funding programs.
      • Research content: Considering sex- and gender-based analysis plus (SGBA+) factors (e.g. sex, gender, age, ability, Indigeneity, geography, culture, income, sexual orientation, education, ethnicity, religion and language) in scientific research to inform equitable health care, technology and policy.
  • EDI in Funding Applications: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/edi-and-sgba-funding-applications. Note: Building EDI and ethics into performance and funding evaluations is a great way to implement institutional top-down change, but often requires grassroots, bottom-up pressure to implement. Top-down modes of enacting change are to be taken with care, as they can prompt ire. For instance, I’m inclined to echo Judith Butler in Who’s Afraid of Gender? by saying that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) attempting to impose enforcement of rights as conditions on accessing loans may play into the anti-gender movement’s falsified conception of 2SLGBTQ+ freedom as Western and colonial.
  • EDI Updates: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/edi-updates
  • EDI Resources: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/edi-resources — great resource list! /TODO/
  • Event Code of Conduct: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/event-code-conduct
  • EDI Climate Surveys: https://www.mcgill.ca/hbhl/edi/edi-climate-surveys
  • Additional EDI Resources: https://www.mcgill.ca/neuro/about/equity-diversity-and-inclusion/edi-resources /TODO/
• EDI in Research: https://www.mcgill.ca/research/research/edi or https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/edi-research /TODO/

McGill Physics

• McGill Physics EDI: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/edi/
  • EDI Resources: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/edi/resources.html
    • Resources for Learning /TODO/
  • Classroom EDI Resources: https://classroom-physicists.physics.mcgill.ca/
  • Events: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/edi/events.html
    • EDI Colloquia
    • Physics & Society Discussion Group: biweekly
    • Social Events
    • EDI-related opportunities
    • EDI-related events at McGill
      • List of upcoming EDI events from SECC
      • Equity at McGill: Workshops for Faculty
      • Equity at McGill: Workshops for Staff
      • Our Shared Spaces: Equity programming available to all McGill students
  • Equity Library: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/edi/library.html
• Department Values: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/department/values-en.html
• Colloquia
  • TSI Seminars: https://tsi.mcgill.ca/index.php?page=events-seminars
  • Physics: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/events/PSC.html
  • TSI Lunch Talks sometimes cover EDI-related topics!
• Climate Survey: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/department/climate.html

EDI Research in STEM

• Astronomy 2SLGBTQ+ Astro Outlist: https://astro-outlist.github.io/
• Decolonising Science Reading List maintained by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: https://medium.com/%40chanda/decolonising-science-reading-list-339fb773d51f
• Canadian physics counts: an exploration of the diverse identities of physics students and professionals in Canada https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2025-0126
  • major findings /TODO/

Montréal Spaces and Resources

2SLGBTQ+

I have more knowledge/experience with 2SLGBTQ+ spaces in Montréal, but let me know if you’d like me to research options for other communities!

• Project 10 (https://p10.qc.ca or @p10montreal on Instagram) is a community organization by and for queer youth in Montreal. Their website has a list of what they have to offer, including a calendar of events (including a drop-in time every Wednesday evening for young adults aged 18-25)
• The UGE (https://theuge.org) is a campus group that provides resources, educational opportunities, and a centre for advocacy to “any person who identifies with our anti-oppressive, feminist, and trans-positive principles, regardless of gender identity.” They have a library and are located downtown at the SSMU University Centre.
• Monthly intergenerational queer dinner w/ the community organisation ASTT(e)Q. You can find out more here: https://cactusmontreal.org/en/trans-support/events (or on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/actionsantetrans)
• Queer McGill
  • https://queermcgill.ssmu.ca/
  • University Centre, 4th Floor, Room 432: resources, events, discount shop
  • insta @queermcgill
• QPIRG McGill
  • https://qpirgmcgill.org/
  • insta @qpirgmcgill
  • Student-run social and environmental justice organisation, facilitating community events, many projects/working groups with a decentralised/non-hierarchical governance structure (board of directors, general body with voting agency).
  • Recently organised Prisoner Justice Day, 2026
• Wild Pride/Fierte Indomptable:
  • https://www.fierteindomptable.ca
  • insta @wildpridemontreal
  • “Wild Pride is a grassroots organization that operates on a voluntary basis. It’s a platform for queer people in Montreal to practice organizing, create events we want to see and bring together without sacrificing our values. Our goal is to help build a vision of community that nourishes us, strengthens us and brings us together in solidarity, without depending on political or corporate alms.”
• Pink-Bloc:
  • https://pink-bloc.info/en/
  • insta @pink_bloc_mtl
  • organising (with many other orgs) a trans liberation march
  • “The P!nk Bloc is a Queer Revolutionary collective, organizing in Montreal/Tiohtia:ke. We aim to be a revolutionary organizing force against all forms of oppression and domination. We particularly organize against cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, fascism and imperialism. Our aspirations are for the universal liberation of bodies, ways of being, relationships, and collectivities. On our website, we also share initiatives from other collectives engaged in the fight for queer liberation.”
• L’Euguélionne

Food Resources /TODO/