The Social Emotional Assets Lab is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusivity, both in how our lab operates, and in the impact our lab makes on the world. Below, you will find what these words mean to us.

Diversity means to include people from various cultural, socio-economic, religious, gender, and sexuality perspectives to help us to be at our best. Research that is only done by, for, or considering one demographic cannot generalize to all of humanity. We aim to best understand the diverse experiences of being human, and to best do that, we believe a research team should include diverse individuals who conduct research on diverse populations.

Equity is different from equality. Whereas equality aims to treat everyone the same and to be “colourblind”, equity helps us to understand that being blind to marginalization invalidates the barriers that marginalized people encounter. Equity focuses on meeting people’s needs, which may be diverse, and aims to help give everyone the tools for success. As researchers, we believe that we all deserve dignity and respect, and equity is how we give everyone a seat at the table.

Inclusivity is an intentional mindset that requires us to question our practices to ensure that we are making choices and decisions that will include as many people as possible. This requires reflection and scrutiny to make sure our writing, research, policies, and activities are not harmful or exclusive and that we show care for all both within the lab and within the larger research environment.

Compassion is the emotional state of understanding another’s perspective, life circumstances, strengths, and barriers. Compassion is an appreciation of another’s humanity, and the limitations and wonder that brings. Compassion is not patronizing pity, or feeling superior to another, but rather recognizing the common humanity in us all. Compassion is not judgment, but a calm understanding of another. Compassion is not forgiveness, but compassion is stronger than anger.