• Question: How do you feel about mental health and LGBTQ+ inclusion in science, and how far does it need improving, is it good but needs improvement, or terrible and needs a lot of work?

    Asked by past520eras to olegkozhura on 10 Jul 2025.
    • Photo: Oleg Kozhura

      Oleg Kozhura answered on 10 Jul 2025: last edited 10 Jul 2025 15:39

      Thatā€™s a great question. There are many ways in which LGBTQ+ inclusion in STEM should be improved, as LGBTQ+ people are less represented in STEM than expected. By promoting an inclusive environment, celebrating LGBTQ+ scientists, giving LGBTQ+ people voices, standing up for them and not being a passive bystander, among with many-many other ways you can help, we can ensure that the community is inclusive, diverse, safe and welcoming – all of these factors are necessary not only for our wellbeing, but also for productive work – itā€™s always a pleasure to work when you feel safe and can be yourself! As an LGBTQ+ person myself, I can attest to that! From personal experience, I found the STEM field to be generally accepting and welcoming, but, of course, there are always challenges, and some people might be unkind regardless of how many degrees they hold. The good news is that Universities usually take bullying, harassment and discrimination seriously and there are solid reporting mechanisms. Again, experience may vary, but thatā€™s my opinion & experience!
      Regarding mental health, STEM has a long way to go and many improvements must be made. More than a third of PhD students seek help from anxiety and depression caused by their studies. Among common issues are high workloads, poor work-life balance, high stress levels, imposter syndrome, anxiety around career prospects and academic burnout. There are many initiatives aimed at improving it. My colleague and I organised some workshops to help improve the situation, but still it is a long way from perfect.
      But the good news is that if you go on an academic path, there are ways that you can prevent some of these issues. In short: try establishing a good work-life balance, rest, eat healthy and exercise regularly. Try finding friends among other students/researchers and talk to them about challenges – not only successes (by talking only about successes, itā€™s very easy to fall into a toxic positivity trap). Remember your successes – this helps with impostor syndrome. Ignore people who say or post stuff saying ā€œI worked so much on weekendsā€ etc – it promotes poor work-life balance and they might even do it because they suffer from impostor syndrome themselves.

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    That’s a great question. Historically LGBTQ+ wasn’t widely discussed within the veterinary profession but in recent years this has begun to change, both within academia for vet and vet nursing students and across the wider profession for the whole veterinary team. The British Veterinary LGBTQ+ Society was established to build a community for LGBTQ+ professionals and students https://www.bva.co.uk/news-and-blog/blog-article/pride-using-our-collective-power-to-build-a-more-inclusive-world/ – I would say this is a good start but there is certainly a lot further to go in supporting our LGBTQ+ colleagues.
    Mental health issues amongst the veterinary sector are a major issue, again, both for students studying to be vets and vet nurses and for those working within the profession. Statistically, suicide rates amongst vets are several times higher than the general population and many vets, including me, know people we work with or studied with who have died by suicide. There are many initiatives such as VetLife which is a charity which provides free support specifically for those working in this sector and there are ongoing research projects which aim to better understand the root causes of this very worrying situation and how we can improve the working environment to reduce the stresses and strains which contribute to this very sad situation. Overall, my message is, if you need to take your animal to the vet practice for any reason, please remember that every individual member of staff cares a lot about animal welfare and is doing their best for your animal and for you. We must all remember to Be Kind to them all, even when you may be feeling stressed, upset or frustrated because of your concerns for your own animal. It’s a very stressful job and when vets have people shouting at them, or accusing them of only doing it ‘for the money’, mental health suffers