What counts as "research" is bound up with history, in this case the history of academia. And the history of academia has its foundations in colonialism, patriarchy, racial capital, militarism, and other systems of domination. Most notably, many academic disciplines find eugenics interwoven into their foundations, with many founding fathers also self-identifying as eugenicists. While scholars today may disavow this racist pseudoscience, they have not fully reckoned with the legacies of eugenics and other (il)logics of oppression.
This must change.
Research justice reckons with these biases based in racist, sexist, imperialist histories.
Research justice uncovers ongoing assumptions that reinforce stereotypes, practices that tell aspiring scholars that they do not belong, and methods that undermine lived experience.
Research justice centers the voices, knowledge, and methods that have been appropriated, exploited, disappeared, devalued, and disdained.
Research justice shows us how to create more accurate, impactful knowledge.
Asking Different Questions
Asking Different Questions is a training program that teaches researchers how to reckon with the histories of their field in order to create research that counters harmful biases and forge new research agendas. We do this by teaching how seemingly innocuous norms, practices, foundations, and processes of science may perpetuate systems of exclusion.
Want to hear some examples? We have a library of training videos available for viewing.
Interested in hearing about upcoming workshops or seminars? Join our listserv.
Would you like to bring this training to your research community? Contact us to plan an in-person or virtual training.
Publications
Balaraman, A., S. McCullough, N. Graham, and E. Hestir. (2023) Impact of Shared Values & Power on Successful Mentoring for Minorities in STEM. Journal of Business Diversity 23, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.33423/jbd.v23i1.5825.
Cannon, C. E. B. (2025). A feminist community-based participatory action research approach to advance climate justice. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105631
Hauptmann AL, Bisset Perea J, Maroney S, Marco ML. (2025). Growing microbiology literacy through interdisciplinary approaches to food fermentations and an Indigenous Peoples’ human rights framework. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education 26.1. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00152-24
Novella, C., Sigala, D. M., Reeves, R. L., Moglen, D. J., Meyers, F. J., McCullough, S. R., & Medici, V. (2025). Asking Different Questions: Development and implementation of Clinical and Translational Science Award diversity, equity, and inclusion and community engagement training course for TL1 scholars. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 9(1), e69. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2025.36.
Vora, K., McCullough, S., & Giordano, S. (2022). Asking different questions in STEM research: feminist STS approaches to STEM pedagogy. ADVANCE Journal, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/ADVJRNL.3.1.10
Pozzi, T., Legg, E., McCullough, S., & Lubell, M. (2025). Transformative climate change education for graduate students: Developing a theory of change to increase equity in climate change science. Environmental Education Research, 31(11), 2351–2373. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2411310