Kia ora all--TJ again. Guess what... we are still in Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ), and we are not planning going anywhere for a while!
Christchurch has been extremely windy over the past two days--to the point where our hotel building experiences earthquake-like tremors from particularly strong gusts. Even though I’ve experienced my fair share of earthquakes, it still feels rather unnerving! The odd weather hasn’t dissuaded people from making the most of the allocated outdoor time (including myself). We are allowed to walk loops (no running!) around a fenced-off portion of sidewalk, about 100 m per loop. It’s not much, but I’ll take it!
The little bit of fenced-off sidewalk that is our MIQ exercise zone. It's only about 100 m per loop, but it's better than nothing!
Otherwise, we have been kept busy with various scheduled training sessions over the course of the week. Most of these are various US Antarctic Program (USAP) orientations ranging from Health/Safety, IT, waste and recycling (and so on). Normally I would label this week as “Death by Zoom” however this time around I am simply just glad to have things to break up the day with!
This week, our field team also participated in an inclusive field team training session with Leilani Henry, ITGC’s JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) consultant. One of the biggest overarching goals of the JEDI taskforce is to ensure that our field teams create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for everyone. Our team certainly wants to make this goal a reality! Through the three-hour session, Leilani walked us through various exercises to establish:
key teamwork values and how we can best communicate questions and concerns with each other,
understand each other’s unique responses to the many various issues that we will inevitably be faced with in the field,
how to utilise our team’s diversity (on multiple fronts) to be open-minded and inclusive to various viewpoints,
a typical work day that includes check-ins not only from a logistical standpoint, but also to keep a track of everyone’s physical and mental well-being,
various avenues to seek help, whether it be within our field team or other contacts back at home via satellite communications.
Our team with Leilani at the Inclusive Field Team Training session
Ultimately, the scientific success of our field season will be inherently dependent on maintaining a positive well-being of all team members, and encouraging a healthy team climate. We all very much enjoyed this training session, and we hope that this meeting catalyses our path towards a field season that is not only successful, but also safe and fun for everyone!
Please feel free to contact any member of ITGC’s JEDI Council if you would like a copy of our Field and Ship Best Practices document.
Thank you Leilani, and thank you ITGC JEDI team!
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