F63. “FOCUS LESS ON THE WHERE AND MORE ON THE GOING”: CREATING SPACES TO NURTURE (DIVERSE) EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS

Background The need to increase inclusion and diversity in psychiatric genetics, and genetics in general, is commonly discussed. However, the focus of these discussions typically centres on working with non-European ancestry populations to improve representation within data structures. Parallel to this, but less frequently discussed, there are several on-going programs working towards improving representation within the research community including the GINGER program and the SING consortium.Our capacity building program which is funded from two Australian Medical Research Future Fund grants (focusing on pharmacogenomics and polygenic prediction) aims to provide paid research trainee positions (one day a week for one university semester) for undergraduate level university students. Within our program, research trainees work in groups of four with mentors to collectively research topics relating to research processes that are being used in the studies funded by these grants. In the first round of this program, we offered eight traineeships (two groups of four). Methods To attract diverse applicants, we advertised these positions on the most commonly used job-advertisement website in Australia, and we also directly emailed relevant university departments at three local universities and asked them to share the information with their students. We included the following text in the advertisement:"Our team recognises the value brought by supporting diverse voices in the research process and within the research community. We sincerely believe this improves the quality of research we conduct, to ensure our work helps the entire community.From this perspective, we would like to encourage applications from people of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent.We would also like to welcome applications from people with culturally- and linguistically-diverse backgrounds, people with lived experience of mental-health challenges and people with LGBTQIA+ identities." Results We received over 300 applications for these positions. As we will discuss there was a marked diversity among the applicants with many applicants sharing information about themselves and their identities within their applications. Information about the structure and format of the program will also be presented. Discussion Our experience has shown that although there are no universities offering programs in complex trait or psychiatric genetics in Australia there is a marked interest in these areas among current students. Secondly, by including explicit statements about valuing diversity and inviting applications from people with diverse backgrounds and identities we are likely to receive applications that are more representative of the communities in which we are based. Through working with the trainees we hope to further develop the program, from optimising recruitment, to improving the research experience itself.