Resources

For community support and further learning as well as list of policies and rights for reference.

Coronavirus Pandemic Resources


Department


  • Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) committee
    • To be informed on the EDI efforts in the Department of Physics.
    • The committee and the liaisons are also your first points of contact for EDI-related questions, suggestions, and concerns in the department.
  • McGill Graduate Association of Physics Students (MGAPS)
    • Represents Physics graduate students at McGill
    • Provides workshops, social events, forum for discussion of issues within the department (generally assembly meetings), and student-focused support
  • McGill Society of Physics Students (MSPS)
    • Represents Physics undergraduate students at McGill
    • Provides support, advice, and a social community within the department
  • Graduate Program Director (GPD) Prof. Andrew Cumming
    • The GPD functions as the primary point of contact for all academic matters concerning Doctoral and Master’s students in the program and facilitates conversation between the graduate degree program, the academic department and the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS)
    • Collaborates with graduate student associations to foster a good social climate in the department
    • Helps to mediate student-supervisor conflicts (in case of conflicts between the GPD and his/her own students, should direct the student to the department Chair)
  • Graduate Program Coordinator Lauren Kay
    • The Graduate Program Coordinator handles all graduate student issues of administrative nature.
    • Contact: graduate.physics at mcgill.ca
  • Undergraduate Advisors Prof. Hong Guo (U1); Prof. Nick Cowan (U2); Prof. K. Agarwal (U3); Kim Metera (general inquiries)
    • Undergraduate Advisors provide academic guidance, information on scholarships, as well as support and referrals in cases of academic or personal difficulty
    • Contact: advising.physics at mcgill.ca
    • Help for navigating advising
  • Physics Department Parental Leave Policy
    • The physics department has a parental leave policy which supports graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with up to 12 months of parental leave. Please consult here for details on the policy and how to apply.

Faculty of Science

McGill Institutional Resources


Provincial Rights and Resources


  • Commission des droits de la personne
  • Socities and Unions:
    • Quebec Student Union
    • Black Community Resource Centre
    • Action Sante Travesti(e)s & Transsexual(le)s du Quebec
      • "ASTT(e)Q aims to promote the health and well-being of trans people through peer support and advocacy, education and outreach, and community empowerment and mobilization."
    • Day Shelter
    • Black Indigenous Harm Reduction Alliance
      • "The Black Indigenous Harm Reduction Alliance is a group of community workers of diverse experience who wish to draw attention to the need for access to self-determined and holistic health services within our communities. Our work seeks to develop harm reduction approaches that meet our communities where they are at, and to expand understandings of harm reduction to include environmental violence, and the criminalization of youth, sex workers, street-involved peoples, and LGBTQ2S people."
    • Migrant Rights Network
      • "The Migrant Rights Network is a cross-Canada alliance to combat racism and fight for migrant justice. We are a network of self-organized groups of refugees and migrants and allies."
  • Services and Hotlines:
    • Free Legal Services
    • Sexual Assault Hotline in Montreal:
      • 514-933-9007
    • Sexual Assault Hotline in Quebec:
      • 1-888-933-9007
    • Suicide Action Montreal
      • "24/7 Phone support to individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts. Also support individuals who are concerned for the safety of others."
      • 1-866-277-3553
    • TAO
      • "Online program to address issues related to anxiety and depression. (McGill student email address required to log in)"
    • Tel-Aide
      • Listening support service:
      • 514-935-1101
    • 7 Cups
      • "Online support service for emotional distress."
      • Vent Over Tea
        • "Active listening service pairing people to chat in a local coffee shop."

National Rights and Resources


Funding Agencies


Resources for Learning


  • Bringing Contemporary Physicists to the Classroom
    • A set of teaching resources to facilitate a more contemporary and diverse representation of physicists in the classroom, created by McGill Physics's own Katherine Savard with the help of faculty.
  • Astro Better
    • List of resources for astronomers on diversity and equity in STEM. The various sections with links are: Diversity 101: The Basics, Show me the Data: Statistics & Studies on Under-Representation, On Race & White Privilege, On Gender Disparity & Sexism, On Intersectionality, On LGBTQIA+, On Ableism and Disability Justice, On Classism, On Being Privileged and how to be a good Ally, On Education, What to do!, Training,* and *Teaching Equity Concepts in the Astro/Physics Classroom.
  • Free Courses to Help You Become a Stronger Ally and Have Inclusive Conversations
    • Free for all of 2020. Courses will help you to: understand and confront unconscious bias, have inclusive conversations and communicate across cultures, and create diverse and inclusive workplaces.
  • A Literature Review on Unconscious Bias in Faculty and Leadership Recruitment (2009)
  • Article on Race, racialization and Indigeneity in Canadian universities
    • "This article is based on data from a four-year national study of racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian universities. Its main conclusion is that whether one examines representation in terms of numbers of racialized and Indigenous faculty members and their positioning within the system, their earned income as compared to white faculty, their daily life experiences within the university as workplace, or interactions with colleagues and students, the results are more or less the same. Racialized and Indigenous faculty and the disciplines or areas of their expertise are, on the whole, low in numbers and even lower in terms of power, prestige, and influence within the University."
  • EPOD Resources Related to BLM
  • Active Bystanders Resources
  • Better Allies newsletter
    • A weekly newsletter that sends out 5 actions every Friday that one can take to be a better ally in the workplace.
  • Native-Land.ca
    • A great resource to learn about the Indigenous peoples with whom we are sharing the land as well as their history.
  • Resources on Mentoring for Advisees and Mentees
    • Resource provided by Brown University with multiple links for different mentoring guides from varying Universities. Provides guides both for faculty and for students.
  • Mentoring Best Practices
    • A handbook by the University of Albany on mentoring practices.
  • Mentoring for Diversity and Inclusion
    • Webpage by UNC on mentoring women and facuty of color in academia. Also includes a list of sources relevant to this topic.
  • TaMIA resources
    • EDI related resources from TAMIA (Towards More Inclusive Astronomy). Lists articles on the following topics: race, gender within the binary, gender outside the binary, sexuality, economic class, ableism and neurodiversity, harassment/assault, and weight discrimination.

Resources from the Global Physics Community