Greetings from CARINAs!

Our name, "Cosmology and Astronomy Researchers of Indian Nationality And Sisters" was coined in 2022 unanimously by the members of the forum. Here Astronomy encompasses all theoretical/ computational/ observational/ instrumentation aspects of the field, i.e., Astrophysics (including Plasma Astrophysics, Particle Astrophysics), Astrostatistics, Astrobiology, Astrochemistry, etc.

CARINAS' mandate is to empower early-career women researchers in India and first-generation Indian women researchers outside the country through networking, support, mentorship, knowledge sharing, and collaboration when required. We aim to address gender inequity in a bottom-up approach, create a safe, friendly, and inclusive environment, and collaborate with other national/international organizations to amplify our impact. We are committed to mutually connecting the current generation of Indian women researchers around the globe in the mentioned disciplines to the best of our abilities.

This forum began with several unplanned conversations between the three earliest members (mentioned below) in March 2022. We had a consensus that due to diverse sociocultural background many women appear less confident at various stages of scientific careers than their male counterparts. Moreover, confidence is defined from a narrow perspective since the demography in Cosmology and Astronomy is not race and gender diverse. This apparent lack of confidence often leads to a poor representation because many of us do not build trust fast enough within the scientific community. The problem is fed and aggravated by the small number of leading women in responsible roles and implicit biases in the scientific community prevalent across generations in every country. We were also concerned about more critical issues of aggression, abuse and harassment of women researchers in academia and societal deterrents in career path specifically for women across the globe. We wanted to include all these issues in our discourse. Our shared cultural identity helped us to identify the issues relevant for Indian women immediately. Thus, to begin with, we started a forum for Indian women scientists to address our problems.

We have assembled and built a network of accomplished early-career Indian women researchers in Cosmology and Astronomy. It is an informal, supportive space where we socialize, share our experiences and sometimes nerdy jokes, discuss, debate, and learn from each other about leadership, collaboration, developing confidence, balancing work-life, and beyond. Like other similar forums, we exchange information about opportunities that would help us accelerate our careers.

We will be happy to have fellow women scientists (of other nationalities) and male scientists as our allies. We want to inform and share our thoughts with you and collectively progress towards more inclusive scientific endeavors.