Added: 2nd November 2023 by Shearwater
In November 2022, Ardenna – Shearwaters' employee-driven Gender Inclusivity Network, reached out to various industry partners and associations to explore potential collaborations and conference presences around the globe.
I was asked to contact external networks in the Western Hemisphere and would like to share with you my experience from one of the positive collaborations that arose, which was our recent participation of Shearwater Ardenna at IMAGE ’23.
So, what is IMAGE? IMAGE is the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy which is hosted by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). IMAGE ’23 has been designed and built by industry professionals as the place for geoscientists, energy professionals, and thought leaders to meet and shape the future of applied geosciences and energy.
It is an influential platform for sharing best practices, discovering solutions, and developing new perspectives and strategies to challenge and plan for what’s ahead. This year, IMAGE ’23 was held in Houston from 28th August to 1st September.
IMAGE has its own Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee which Ardenna was kindly invited to connected with. We attended their planning meetings running up to the event and tried to identify areas of mutual benefit for collaboration on topics within the DEI and ESG domain.
One successful result of this sharing was Shearwaters' sponsorship of an Implicit Bais workshop for IMAGE ’23 staff and volunteers. This was held prior to the event, with a focus on possible bias that might be encountered in a conference setting. This workshop was hosted by ADVANCEGeo Partnership and featured a drop in visit from our Pia Alexandersen, Ardennas' Marketing Manager, to provide her valuable insight on the topic.
At the event, there was a designated area called The Gathering Place which hosted not only the IMAGE ’23 DEI booth, but also the Early Career Network Booth, Veterans Network Booth, JEDI Booth and the Women’s Network Booth.
This area provided a relaxed space where attendees could visit, network, and explore while highlighting the sometimes less visible social aspects within our industry. Of course, social is the “S” in ESG and something that we should celebrate at any opportunity!
During the conference, the DEI booth was attended by various volunteer members of the IMAGE ’23 Committee. There were interactive activities such as the Diversity board and the Equity and Inclusion board (pictured below), where attendees could post where they are from, and what equity and inclusion means to them.
There was also our Male Ally Glossary, which stemmed from an interactive glossary of terms found in the United Nations Global Compact Academy (unglobalcompact.org) course “How to be a Male Ally for gender equality.” Did you know that Shearwater Employees all have access to the UNGC Academy and its many useful courses? Do you know these terms?
Lots of interesting conversations were held over the course of the conference, with many attendees showing appreciation for being able to openly discuss various topics that they or their families deal with on a day-to-day basis. Some topics are light and easy to discuss while others are much more sensitive and depending on a person’s culture, where they are from, how they were raised, these topics may be more difficult to openly share.
To be a part of creating this safe and inclusive space for our industrys' community at IMAGE ’23 was an experience I am honored to be a part of. To be able to showcase our continued commitment to all our employees through Ardenna, our Gender Inclusivity Network is something we at Shearwater should all be proud of.
