I recently listened to a podcast episode about some of the surprising impacts the 1918 influenza had on events of the 20th century. You can listen to that episode at https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/dispatches-1918. In short, by infecting some influential people, the podcasters argue that the flu changed the course of art, politics, and even the second world war.
There are also some convincing reasons to believe that COVID-19 could have some big impacts in academia this century. Some of these impacts could come directly out of the lock-down. Almost 400 years ago while isolating from the plague, a young Isaac Newton channeled his solitude into some of the most influential ideas about mathematics and physics. And Newton was not an outlier: there are countless stories of others who emerged from some period of isolation with a piece of art or science we still revere today. What opportunities do we have to be productive?
You can use isolation as an opportunity to take a break from your regular research. Not all academic contributions require conventional data collection: systematic reviews entail searching, evaluating, and synthesizing primary literature to answer a new research question. Not only is the process of undertaking a systematic review an excellent skill for any academic, it also forces reading, something that tends to fall to the wayside for me.
Other researchers are making use of the pandemic directly by turning it into a worldwide natural experiment. They are answering questions like:
How has the lock-down affected wildlife?
Have we lowered greenhouse gas emissions by staying at home?
How is the pandemic influencing our mental health?
You don’t have to be researching COVID-19 vaccines to keep busy. What new research questions can you tackle without access to the lab or field?
But not all opportunities are purely academic. The pandemic has also highlighted some deep-seated disparities in academia. Women in academia who have children are far less likely to hold a tenure track position, and when they do, they are less likely to become parents in the future. Women are also more likely to have heavier teaching loads than men. Intersectional individuals are likely to face additional pressure to take on service roles that promote EDI for students. As the pandemic puts additional pressure on academic parents to manage childcare and instructors to move their courses and mentorship online, these disparities are sure to grow. Here are some of the strategies folks I know have come up with in isolation:
Invite speakers with EDI in mind. Look outside your network!
Think about and research the people you cite in publications. Are they all white men?
When submitting a publication, request researchers from marginalized communities.
Importantly, these are all small things that could make big changes in academia. Use these strategies yourself and share them with others.
As the world starts to open up again post-pandemic, there are still opportunities to make a difference in academia. How will you use the rest of your lockdown?
Here are a couple of blog posts that talk about inequalities in academia:
https://academicmatters.ca/baby-matters-gender-politics-beyond-covid-19-and-the-aunts-of-academia/
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/27/15378
A great resource for connecting with underrepresented minorities in ecology and evolution:
~Levi