There is growing awareness of discrimination and underrepresentation of minority groups in STEM. Carrie Boyce and her team of volunteers are standing up for a queerer STEM culture and setting the stage on fire.
When Carrie Boyce appeared on stage in drag and introduced herself as Rich, a straight white man in a grey suit, she could recite the script in her sleep. But midway through her pitch for Science is a Drag – a performance art project that subverts expectations of what it means to be queer in science – she experienced what she describes as “brain freeze”. In that brief moment, she took a breath, stared at the floor, and then in a barely audible whisper exhaled the words, “Sorry, folks.”
But then, her audience at Falling Walls Engage, a global competition held in Berlin every November to showcase the best in science communication globally, began to cheer.
“Somehow, I was transported back to the energy of being at the show. And I was like, ‘Oh, no, I really can do this’,” says Boyce, co-founder of the science-themed drag show run by volunteers with support from the Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience).
With more than a decade’s experience as a science communicator, including in her current role as executive director of RCIScience, public speaking is not new to Boyce. But this was different – it was personal. It was also her first drag performance.
“I knew I had to weave some sort of narrative into the presentation, and some performance element, to give a taste of what our shows are like,” says Boyce, a self-confessed introvert who feels more comfortable behind the scenes.
As a queer woman living with a disability, Boyce is keen to acknowledge the micro-aggressions that minorities face in all aspects of life and work. “There are definitely these archaic notions of professionalism [in STEM],” she says. “It’s a very strict, very hetero-normative environment.”
Numerous studies support her view. A 2019 survey from the UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry reported that 28% of LGBTQ+ people have considered resigning because of hostility or discrimination in the workplace.
“Through our drag shows, what we’re saying is that we can be damn good scientists, and still dress how we want to, and be who we want to be, without breaking health and safety rules,” Boyce says.
A ‘magic’ formula
Science is a Drag was inspired by the reality television show Rupaul’s Drag Race. In 2019, Dr Samantha Yammine, a Canadian neuroscientist and cell biologist, was watching the show in a bar with her friends, Dr Geith Maal-Bared, a behavioural neuroscientist, and Shawn Hercules, a cancer researcher. At the time, all three, who would become Boyce’s co-founders, were engaged in post-doctoral research. The conversation turned to how they sometimes felt like they were ‘too much’ for their peers: ‘too feminine,’ ‘too loud’, ‘too bubbly’.
Light bulbs went off around the table, and the trio began to wonder if the experience of queer scientists could be explored through a drag show. Yammine, a social media influencer who goes by the avatar ‘Science Sam’, approached Boyce, then a colleague at RCIScience, to test their idea. Boyce knew it could, and she knew how. With support from RCIScience, the foursome put their collective science communication talents together and the formula soon emerged. Hosted by local drag stars, queer scientists – some new to drag – who perform serious science demonstrations in an irreverent, entertaining way. The first show, launched in 2019, and proved a “roaring success”, says Boyce.
At first, attendees admitted that they were attracted to the show by the local drag personalities who hosted them, but the science proved to be “surprisingly engaging”. Featuring everything from live DNA extractions to using a feather boa as a prop for a lesson in dental flossing, and a lip-sync medley on the climate crisis, Science is a Drag is anything but boring.
Now run by a team of volunteers, the project continues to evolve, and has reached hundreds in person thousands online. Boyce says they have been invited to support shows in more than 40 cities, and hopes to reach more. The show is also being replicated in the UK. “There will be nuances in different cities, but we can certainly help to share our values,” she says.
Speaking up for science communication
For Boyce, coming out and speaking up did not come easily. Growing up in the Northern Ireland of the 1990s, she says, “there were no queer role models and being gay was a dirty word, riddled with shame”.
It was only after graduating from the University of Cambridge in 2008 with a degree in biological natural sciences, and surviving the onset of dermatomyositis, a chronic, incurable condition, that Boyce acknowledged her sexuality. But it was not until her pitch at Falling Walls this year that she formally identified herself as disabled – something that she didn’t feel comfortable doing previously, because she had never felt “disabled enough”.
“It’s scary doing any presentation, but then I’m up there throwing out these new labels about myself, and asking myself, ‘What is enough?’” says Boyce. She hopes that Science is a Drag will help other scientists to become more comfortable with all aspects of themselves, just as it is helping her to acknowledge the “kaleidoscope” of her full self.
From the 193 global entries to Falling Walls Engage, Science is a Drag was one of two breakthrough winners, in a category where there is usually only one award. Winning this new award for inclusive science engagement was particularly meaningful. “I feel very privileged to have so many different members of the community express enthusiasm and gratitude,” she says.
It was welcome recognition for the importance of science communication, which Boyce believes is “tragically undervalued and looked down-upon” within the research community.
Through her work, and other great science-communication and engagement initiatives, she hopes to make science more inclusive and accessible. For Boyce, underserved and underfunded adult audiences are a particular focus. “This is your voting demographic, right? These are people making decisions every day that are influenced by science, whether they realise it or not.”
In an address at Falling Walls Engage, Jürgen Mlynek, the former president of Germany’s Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, emphasised the need for a commitment to science communication, telling the crowd, “We need to demystify science through public participation … we also need to inspire with science, communicate science and celebrate science.”
Boyce, who ended her winning pitch in a stylish black dress, would like to add another verb: entertain. Because, in the end, she says, “It doesn’t matter how important your research is – if you can’t navigate how to meaningfully engage stakeholders, policymakers, communities or end users, then your impact will always be limited.”
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Story by Pamela Whitby
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