Universities will never become equitable and diverse without confronting the myth of meritocracy.

As a white, cis man working in a discipline where race/gender inequality is widespread, it would be willfully naive for me to attribute my success solely to merit.

Acknowledging my privilege does not detract from my achievements any more than acknowledging the support I've had from mentors and colleagues. But it concedesa that I have benefitted from a system at the expense of others.

More fundamentally, we need to challenge whether 'meritocracy' is even worth aspiring to in academia, with the accompanying league tables, metrics and competition. Instead, we need a new paradigm that is instead focused on the collective search for and sharing of knowledge.