While female and minority science PhDs’ ideas are more novel they’re often overlooked

An image showing a diverse group of people sharing ideas

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Study examining almost every US PhD for the last three decades finds – for the first time – that ‘diversity paradox’ holds true for science 

Women and non-white researchers offer science more novel ideas but their contributions are less likely to be adopted by others or lead to academic positions, a new US study has found.

A ‘diversity paradox’ has been noted before: diversity breeds innovation, yet under-represented groups that diversify organisations have less successful careers within them. Now researchers from Stanford University show for the first time that the paradox holds for scientists as well.