We acknowledge our individual biases and privileges, which undoubtedly influenced this manuscript, and apologize for any oversights or omissions. We extend our thanks to all members of the @NewPICellDev community who attended the Emerging Concepts in Cell and Developmental Biology meeting in Denmark, at which some of the ideas included in this manuscript were implemented or discussed, as well as diversity strategist K. Knudsen (the Living Institute). S.M. is funded by a Medical Research Council (MRC) Career Development Award (MR/T010789/1). B.L.-L. is funded by a Springboard Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences, Wellcome Trust, Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK (SBF003/1170), and by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, University of Bristol and the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (204813/Z/16/Z). U.L.M. is funded by North West Cancer Research (RDG2021.15) and the MRC (MR/X00855X/1), as well as by a European Molecular Biology Organization Installation Grant. S.E. is funded by the MRC (MR/R026610/1). R.M. is funded by a Sir Henry Wellcome fellowship (220464/Z/20/Z) and is also a paid member of the UK Committee on Research Integrity (UK CORI). V.A. is funded by EMBL Australia. F.M.D. is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (2003832) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF20OC009705). We are grateful for conference funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF21OC0072611 and NNF20OC0062124), The Company of Biologists (SCG7) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (w21/19).