Description
RECOMMENDATION: Special Grant of $50,000 to the National Academy of Sciences to widely disseminate results of a study of the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in the scientific, engineering, and medical workforce; and, of the best practice recommendations to prevent and address it.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was established in 1863 by Congressional charter. The US government and other entities across the globe have looked to the Academy for sound, objective information based on the best available expertise. The organization has no research laboratories; rather, it synthesizes, analyzes, and evaluates research from relevant scientific disciplines that can be brought to bear on questions of national importance, and develops evidence-based recommendations.
There is a consensus in the scientific community on the significant benefits of the nation having a technically trained and diverse workforce. However, recent highly-publicized events have underscored the lack of understanding regarding the impact of sexual harassment on campuses and in the scientific workplace on producing a climate that discourages women from pursuing and persisting in careers in science, engineering, and medicine.
In November 2016, the Board approved a 2 year grant of $250,000 to NAS for a study of the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in the scientific, engineering, and medical workforce. Since NAS took on this work, the national conversation on sexual harassment has come to the forefront in seemingly every sector of society.
NAS released the comprehensive report – the most extensive synthesis of the state of knowledge on sexual harassment in science, engineering, and medicine to date – in June, 2018. Members of the public may now freely access the report which includes evidence-based knowledge that is needed to effectively prevent and address sexual harassment. Though the focus of this study was on academic science, engineering, and medicine, many of the report’s findings and recommendations are broadly applicable to other sectors, including industry, the military, Congress, federal agencies, and others. Because of the broad applicability of and interest in the report, the next step of the NAS project will be to facilitate the implementation of the report’s findings and recommendations at a broader range of institutional types than originally envisioned.
NAS now requests Foundation support for an intensive, 10-month, multifaceted outreach campaign to disseminate the key messages, findings, and recommendations of the final consensus report. Specifically, NAS will launch a long-term outreach effort modeled on public health campaigns that uses convenings and presentations; public service announcements; creative use of social media; connections with influential leaders; and a strategy of collective action, to spur and motivate informed institutional change to increase awareness of the effects of sexual harassment, and to motivate actions to prevent it.
An outreach advisory group will guide the development of efforts and events to create lasting impact and effective outreach to the key audiences of the report. The group will also assist with building connections to help amplify the report’s messages. The members of the group will bring expertise on public health campaigns; public communication on sexual harassment; higher education institutions; science philanthropy and corporate relations; sexual harassment research; scientific society leadership; and public policy strategy.
