Reimagining academic conferences: Toward a federated model of conferencing

What should the post-COVID conference look like? In our attempt to answer this question, we first describe the primary functions and affordances of conferences. Our frank appraisal reveals the breadth of reasons why academics attend conferences, and how conference attendance often blends personal and professional motivations. We also elaborate some of the shortcomings of in-person conferences, spanning personal, professional, and societal concerns. Recent alternative (virtual) formats for convening scholars provide means for alleviating some of these shortcomings, but do not seem entirely up to the task of providing a fully satisfactory solution to all that conferencing can be. Moreover, we extrapolate from prior history and ongoing trends to predict that technological solutionism to conferencing is likely to unleash both positive and negative dynamics, some of which will exacerbate current ills in our profession. We then sketch out a values-based approach that can serve as a basis for reimagining academic conferences. This vision promotes a federated model of conferencing, grounded in principles of inclusion, diversity, community, and environmental stewardship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Reverse adoption of information and communication technology among organisers of academic conferences.

This study examines the formats offered for academic conferences in the mature stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two out of three organisers discontinue their usage of online video tools and focus on in-person conferences. Only one out of five conferences offers hybrid solutions and even fewer a virtual alternative (13%). Data for the analysis originate from 547 calls for proposals announced in Spring 2022 for conferences to be held during the period August 2022 to July 2023. Estimates using a multinomial logit model show that the planning time is significantly related to the choice of format offered. The longer the lead time, the more likely it is to offer an in-person conference. International travel restrictions and bans on gatherings for the location of the venue at the time of planning are significantly related to the choice of virtual, but not hybrid formats. There are also large differences in the choice across disciplines, with conferences in arts and humanities as well as natural sciences showing the lowest preference for the virtual format.

Let's Start Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Academic Conferences

The COVID-19 pandemic forced researchers to move academic conferences to a virtual format;but also brought attention back to the carbon footprint of their physical format. In general, while conferences can follow different formats with a different carbon footprint, the related factors of influence remain unclear, hence hindering informed decisions on how to organize and attend them.This work provides a preliminary study of the carbon footprint of academic conferences and the trade-offs between alternative conference types. First, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify factors that contribute to the carbon footprint of on-site, virtual, and hybrid conferences. Second, we conducted an interview survey among steering committee members of a pilot of prominent international conferences to complement the SLR.There is agreement in the literature and the research community that on-site conferences suffer from travel-related emissions among many other factors. While the on-site type benefits from strong networking possibilities, the virtual and hybrid types can reduce carbon emissions significantly. Notwithstanding, we miss a generic framework that accounts for all revealed carbon footprint factors in each conference type. Also, compared to carbon offsetting, carbon handprinting as a footprint reduction option is considered in neither the literature nor the research community. Among the results, we provide a first sustainability model to compare current and future conference types according to their sustainability trade-offs. The model can be used as a decision-making tool by, e.g., conference organizers. © 2022 IEEE.

Gender diversity of keynote speakers at virtual academic conferences

In this study, the gender representation of keynote speakers at conferences before and during the Covid-19 pandemic is investigated. Data is based on 162 academic conferences in tourism and related fields during the period 2019 to mid-2022. These conferences have 546 keynote speakers of which 4 per cent are representing low- or middle-income countries and slightly more than a third are women. Results based on Fractional Logit estimations reveal that the opportunity to attend conferences online during the pandemic does not significantly increase the proportion of women among keynote speakers. The proportion of female keynote speakers is unevenly distributed across the original regions for the scheduled conferences or the hosting institutions. It is highest for conferences organised in Australia/New Zealand and lowest in Asia. Conferences that span over several days have a relatively larger offer of female keynote speakers than shorter ones.

When international academic conferences go virtual.

This study investigates the extent to which international academic conferences changes format to virtual when faced by sudden Covid-19 related immobility. Data on 587 conferences in the fields of business, economics, information technology, management and other social sciences that were planned to be held between March and August 2020 are retrieved from authorised conference listings. Approximately 28% of the conferences changed to virtual format during the period of time studied. Probit estimations reveal that the probability of changing format to virtual increases with the country of location (United States), planning horizon and the available quality of broadband infrastructure in the scheduled conference country. However, the role of planning horizon differs across fields and location of the conference. The probability of virtual conferences is highest in the United States and for academic conferences in the field of information technology.

Academic conferencing in the age of COVID-19 and climate crisis: The case of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES).

In this article, organisers of the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), held during March and April 2020, share their story of moving the planned on-site conference to a virtual space, as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis of the vCIES (the name given to the virtual conference) process not only provides an example of a disruption to the status quo of the institution of conferencing as a result of a global pandemic, but also extends it by addressing the multiplying concerns, urgent considerations and actions needed within academic communities for more equal and accessible conferencing in the unfolding climate catastrophe. The authors begin by discussing the challenge of academic conferencing in the age of COVID-19 and climate crisis. They highlight how their decolonial political stance (which critiques accepting Western knowledge and Western culture as the norm) and their climate-conscious approach informed their preparation of a virtual conference pilot already intended as an experimental extension to this year's on-site event. They suggest the development of this pilot provided the necessary platform for transforming the vCIES into an effective and engaging virtual experience for participants. The vCIES process, including considerations concerning its structure and format and the necessary technology, is detailed in the subsequent sections. In the final part of their article, the authors briefly identify and discuss some of the opportunities, challenges and implications emerging from their vCIES experiences. Ultimately, they suggest that in a time of instability, insecurity and uncertainty, there need to be alternatives to large on-site conferences which require excessive and extensive academic mobility. The vCIES was a step in that direction as an accessible, environmentally responsive, more equal, and intergenerational and multispecies event that welcomed families, children and pets, while opening the space for new interdisciplinary encounters.

Les congrès scientifiques à l'ère de la COVID-19 et de la crise climatique : le cas de la Comparative and International Education Society (Société d'éducation comparée et internationale/CIES) ­ Dans cet article, les organisatrices de la conférence annuelle de la CIES, qui s'est tenue en mars-avril 2020, nous racontent comment, contraintes par la pandémie de COVID-19, elles ont transplanté une conférence prévue en présentiel dans un espace virtuel. Leur analyse de la vCIES (comme elles ont baptisé la conférence virtuelle) illustre l'effet disruptif de la pandémie mondiale dans le contexte des congrès. Elle aborde toutefois aussi cette question dans l'optique des préoccupations qui se multiplient, des questions pressantes qui se posent et des actions devenues nécessaires au sein des communautés scientifiques pour instaurer davantage d'égalité et d'accessibilité en ce qui concerne les conférences, et ce sur le fond de la catastrophe climatique qui se joue actuellement. Les auteures se penchent d'abord sur le défi posé par les congrès scientifiques à l'ère de la COVID-19 et de la crise climatique. Elles soulignent la mesure dans laquelle leur position politique décoloniale (critiquant le fait que la culture et le savoir occidentaux sont acceptés comme la norme) et leur approche qui intègre les questions climatiques ont étayé la préparation de cette conférence pilote virtuelle initialement prévue pour s'inscrire dans le prolongement de la conférence en présentiel de cette année. Elles indiquent que le développement de cette formule pilote leur a fourni l'espace nécessaire pour que la vCIES offre à ses participants une expérience virtuelle efficace et attrayante. Dans les chapitres suivants, elles présentent en détail le déroulement de la vCIES, en abordant notamment des questions liées à sa structure, à son format et à la technique nécessaire à sa mise en œuvre. Dans la dernière partie de l'article, les auteures identifient et abordent un certain nombre de possibilités, de défis et d'implications découlant de leur expérience de la vCIES. À la fin, elles indiquent que dans une période marquée par l'instabilité, l'insécurité et l'incertitude, il faut proposer des solutions de rechange aux grands congrès en présentiel qui exigent des scientifiques des déplacements massifs. Manifestation accessible, écoresponsable, plus équitable, intergénérationnelle et plurispécifique, puisqu'elle a accueilli des familles, des enfants et des animaux de compagnie, tout en offrant un espace à de nouvelles rencontres interdisciplinaires, la vCIES a fait un pas dans cette direction.