Armstrong, E. M. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

Building Inclusive Leadership: A Biosciences Approach

One-size-fits-all Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategies and provisioning are no longer suitable for a growing and diversifying higher education landscape; as each research discipline faces its own unique challenges to inclusion. High impact research needs reliable, decisive, and holistic approaches to leadership, but managerial and leadership skills are often considered an add-on as opposed to a necessity in modern research environments. An estimated 70% of EDI initiatives in UK Higher Education Institutions fail to flourish (Marchiondo et al. 2023) - a combinatory effect of conservative approaches to change, cultural adaptation, and departmental stability. We developed an Inclusive Leadership Programme to empower bioscientists to work autonomously and inclusively. Using a co-creation approach, the Inclusive Leadership Programme collectively defined inclusive leadership traits to create a resource. The interactive resource shares inclusive approaches to communication, feedback, recognition, and development - prioritising the experiences of those typically excluded from leadership conversations. By embedding a self-reflective scoring system, we share changes in approaches to inclusivity. After using the resource, self-perception normalises in distribution, indicating the resource provides a baseline for best practice, and space to understand personal approaches to inclusive practice in biosciences. Ultimately, the Inclusive Leadership Programme and Resource offers a template for other biological research, learning, and teaching environments to build their own tailored approach to integrating inclusivity and empowering all members to work as autonomous and inclusive leaders, regardless of seniority.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2023

REVEILLE2 Thermosensitive Splicing: A Molecular Basis for the Integration of Nocturnal Temperature Information by the Arabidopsis Circadian Clock

O_LICold stress is one of the major environmental factors that limit growth and yield of plants. However, it is still not fully understood how plants account for daily temperature fluctuations, nor how these temperature changes are integrated with other regulatory systems such as the circadian clock. C_LIO_LIWe demonstrate that REVEILLE2, a MYB-like transcription factor, exhibits a cold-induced alternative splicing switch from a non-translatable isoform at ambient temperature to a translatable isoform upon cold exposure. We explore the biological function of REVEILLE2 using a combination of molecular genetics, transcriptomics, and physiology. C_LIO_LIDisruption of the REVEILLE2 cooling switch alters regulatory gene expression, impairs circadian timing, and improves photosynthetic capacity. Changes in nuclear gene expression are particularly apparent in the initial hours following chilling, with chloroplast gene expression subsequently up-regulated. C_LIO_LIThe REVEILLE2 cold switch extends our understanding of plants immediate response to cooling. We propose that the circadian component REVEILLE2 restricts plants responses to nocturnal reductions in temperature, thereby enabling appropriate responses to daily environmental changes. C_LI Plain language summaryPlants need to respond appropriately to temperature, accounting for the expected daily patterns of reduced temperatures that occur every night relative to the day. Here, we show that a gene expressed at night fulfils this function.

plant biology↗