Celebrating One Year of Undoing the Ivory Tower

Written by the Editors,

Dear reader,

This month, Undoing the Ivory Tower is turning 1 year old, so we’re doing things a little differently. Instead of hearing from a guest writer as you have for the past few months, we’d like to revisit some of our favorite memories and take a moment to look ahead at the upcoming year.

Undoing the Ivory Tower was born in the collective minds of our founders Elena and Will, out of a realization that many of science’s best stories were missing key protagonists. The researcher is far from a solitary traveler, and certainly isn’t the archetypal attic genius that may have once come to mind when asking the public to ‘picture a scientist’.

Science is a shared road, a long meandering path with steep climbs, dead-ends, and often no clear end in sight. Traveling alone isn’t just lonely; it can be dangerous. It’s easy to get lost, or worse, end up somewhere you shouldn’t, when taking steps in the dark through uncharted territories. Companions help us stay on track.

Fortunately, the good scientist is well-surrounded. Education systems, legal institutions, governments, nonprofits, companies and stakeholder communities travel with the scientist on the research path. Sometimes, these companions tag along for just a portion of the journey, lending a particular skill to help traverse uncertain terrain; and sometimes a companion is there from the start, traveling hand and hand with the researcher towards some mutual destination.?

The good scientist is never alone. And these stories of companionship are the ones we want to tell.??

This year, you heard from an Indigenous geneticist, an artificial intelligence expert, a young marine biologist, and a founding editor at Asimov Press. You heard solutions to the ways we talk about climate, read about two researchers’ dream of growing Chinese cucumbers in the Netherlands, and saw how partnership can deliver renewable energy to the grid and nutritional supplements to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

To our writers, an immense thank you for your time and your trust. You are the reason this community exists. Your ideas bring our mission to life; to undo the ivory tower and bridge its moat, imagining a new kind of science in its stead. A more open science, more honest, more kind, more effective, and one that benefits us all.?

To our readers, thank you for your attention and readership. We’re grateful that, at the time of writing, over three hundred of you choose to receive this newsletter directly to your inbox. Our team of editors recently welcomed two new members, Marianna and Naksha, and it means the world to us to see so many of you appreciate the work we put into our articles. We look forward to the future issues we’ll be bringing to you.

Cheers!

Undoing the Ivory Tower is looking for for Authors!

Submit your article idea here, or reach out to [email protected] for more info.