Outreachy: tackling underrepresentation in open source technology
In Wellcome’s Data for Science and Health team, we make sure trustworthy data science helps solve urgent health challenges like infectious diseases, global heating and mental health. We invest in data, software and digital tools that make trustworthy data science possible, including supporting the people and communities that create these tools for public good.
In collaboration with the Open Research Team, we’re supporting Outreachy, a diversity initiative that provides paid, remote internships to people who are subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry of the country they are living in.
Outreachy interns work on open source projects
Open source software is code that can be accessed, used, changed, and improved by anyone. It underpins a significant amount of scientific research conducted today. For example open source runs CERN’s large hadron collider, is the foundation for the Event Horizon Telescope which captured the first image of a black hole, and is routinely used to advance research using health data such as CALIBRE and OpenSAFELY.
In the current Outreachy internship cohort, Wellcome is sponsoring an intern working with the open source community sktime, a project run by the Alan Turing Institute. sktime aims to create open source tools that enable the use of time series data. Specifically, the Outreachy intern will focus on tools to enable forecasting and analysis using Covid-19 hospital and mortality data.
Outreachy tackles underrepresentation in tech
Whilst open source software, as a bare minimum, must be openly licensed for re-use, modification, and redistribution, it can be significantly enriched by having a community. The open source science community is characterised by the common desire to work collaboratively to improve scientific research that depends on software. It has created an environment where people can learn from each other and build on existing software (rather than developing from scratch every time). Unlike lab research that may be hindered by a limited supply of physical resources, the field of open source science is strongly enhanced through this collaborative and shared working.
Whilst the open source science community is growing, the technology industry as a whole lacks a diverse workforce with women and people of colour typically underrepresented. For example, according to a 2017 GitHub open source survey, 95% of respondents were male and just 3% were female (1% identified as non-binary). Whilst most of these women and men (68% and 73% respectively) were very interested in contributing to open source, women were less likely to do so than men (45% and 61% respectively).
The open source community would benefit from being more diverse, equitable and inclusive. It needs people with a variety of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives in order to identify solutions that benefit everyone equitably. Science has been dominated by research by and on Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, but until other people are included in this research (both in conducting research and being involved as participants), then the findings will not be applicable or usable equitably within society.
Open source science is no exception — the more diverse the community, the stronger it will become and the more meaningful the outputs will be.
Outreachy aims to tackle this bias by providing internship opportunities to people impacted by systemic bias and underrepresentation. They actively encourage applications from people who face systemic bias or discrimination in the technology industry of their country, including women (both cis and trans), trans men, non-binary people, genderqueer people and people from non-white ethnic communities who face discrimination in the technical industry where they are living.
Based on a 2019 study of Outreachy alumni, past interns have been:
· 92% women
· 4% transgender, genderqueer, or non-binary people
· 64% people of color
· 12% people from a historically disadvantaged caste or tribe
Wellcome’s role in Outreachy
Wellcome applauds the efforts of Outreachy to promote internships to people from marginalized groups. Wellcome is sponsoring the Outreachy general fund to support these efforts, covering Outreachy staff time spent promoting the program, helping applicants, supporting interns, and working with partners.
Wellcome is also sponsoring ten Outreachy internship projects, including one intern in the May 2021 cohort. The projects we support will address challenges related to infectious diseases, global heating and mental health, and are selected by an internal panel that reviews Outreachy projects submitted by mentors.
How to get involved with Outreachy
There are two main ways to get involved with Outreachy: as a mentor or an intern.
1. As a mentor…
Wellcome and Outreachy encourage scientific open source communities to apply to mentor Outreachy interns. We especially encourage applications from communities who are focused on research in infectious diseases, global heating and mental health.
You can find out more about mentoring Outreachy interns via the mentor page and documentation for participating open source communities. Please contact the Outreachy organizers if you are interested in mentoring interns.
2. As an intern…
We encourage anyone to apply to an Outreachy scientific open source internship, particularly if you face under-representation, systemic bias, or discrimination in the technology industry of their country.
You can find out more about applying to be an intern by reading Outreachy’s applicant documentation. Please contact the Outreachy applicant helpers if you have any questions.
Connect with us
You can keep in touch with Outreachy by signing up to their mailing list, following Outreachy on Twitter, or reading the Outreachy blog.
If you’re interested in open source science, keep an eye on OSScience.org (or volunteer to be a guest editor!) and for updates on other projects being supported by Wellcome’s Data for Science and Health team, take a look at the Wellcome Data Medium blog.
