The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) Summer Symposium is a small, fun, and relatively informal event held at the end of the summer each year. We aim to attract academics, professionals, educators, and students from all varieties of natural science disciplines including paleontology, biology, geology, and the earth sciences.
This year, due to the effects of COVID-19 the PRI Summer Symposium goes virtual! Given the course of events and protests developing this summer across the world, we felt the need to continue the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion with our peers. So this year we decided to dedicate the entire PRI Summer Symposium to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Paleontology where we are inviting and soliciting speakers to share their experiences and discuss a path forward in our field during several shortened sessions. Each session will include talks, both live and recorded, 20 minutes in length followed by 5 minutes for questions. Additionally all speakers will be available at the end of each session for an open Q&A panel discussion with all participants. We aim to help foster a meaningful conversation for finding a path forward on how to tackle the overwhelming lack of diversity in our field as a whole.