Episode 92: Realizing Identity Safe-Environments with Dr. Toni Schmader & Dr. Hilary Bergsieker

March 23, 2021

In this episode, Podcast Producer Vanessa talks with Dr. Toni Schmader and Dr. Hilary Bergsieker about exciting research conducted by Engendering Success in STEM, a Consortium devoted to testing the long-term efficacy of interventions that harness the power of positive social interactions to mitigate subtle gender bias. In particular. Drs. Schmader and Bergsieker give us information on project RISE, or "Realizing Identity-Safe Environments," of which they are the co-leaders. Project RISE harnesses our understanding of implicit bias, intergroup contact, and social identity threat to create a more “identity safe” workplace culture. You'll learn all about what that means, plus, how the research is having impact in real-life scenarios. Get in touch with Project RISE here!

(Please excuse any audio hiccups in this remotely recorded interview.)

Guests: Dr. Toni Schmader (LinkedIn) & Dr. Hilary Bergsieker (LinkedIn)

Toni Schmader, PI, is the Director of the Social Identity Laboratory and has 20 years of experience and over 70 publications examining how stereotypes and bias constrain people’s performance and self-views. Dr. Schmader has given frequent public lectures on the topic of implicit gender bias including talks to the National Academies of Science in the United States, as part of Harvard’s Women in Work Series, and at the International Gender Summit. She was the recipient of a Killam Research Prize in 2013, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize in 2018, as well as the European Association of Social Psychology Theory-Innovation Award for 2020-2021, and held a Canada Research Chair position from 2011-2016 & 2014-2019.

Dr. Hilary Bergsieker is the Director of the Diversity and Intergroup Relations Lab at the University of Waterloo, which focuses on interpersonal dynamics of intergroup interactions and relationships. She has expertise in collaborative social cognition and identifying covert channels through which negative impressions and stereotypes propagate from communicators to audiences. Of critical relevance to the project, Dr. Bergsieker has expertise using social network analysis to assess the bias-reducing effects of promoting positive cross-group friendships in educational and professional environments.