Learning from the First Citizen Science Association Virtual Conference

The Citizen Science Association (CSA) is a member-driven organization that connects people with interest in community/citizen science (c*science) from a wide range of backgrounds, disciplines, and experiences. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bi-annual CSA conference pivoted away from an in-person format to a virtual format. CitSciVirtual: Local, Global, Connected occurred throughout May 2021 and brought together more than 700 attendees from 36 countries. The conference prioritized interactive experiences for attendees, including 16 collaborative poster sessions featuring 240 virtual posters, 55 workshops to learn and practice new skills, and 7 social events. This paper summarizes the impacts of the rapid transition to a virtual format on the conference goals, planning and decision-making processes, practices, outcomes, and attendee experiences. Both the strengths and weaknesses of this first virtual conference are featured to outline opportunities for growth for the CSA, c*science at large, and science conferences in general. © 2023 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.

Shifting from academic air travel to sustainable research exchange: Examining networking efficacy during virtual conferences

Academic conferences are important places for exchanging scientific knowledge and building professional networks, but they also contribute to climate change through emissions caused by air travel. Hence, more sustainable conferences are needed. The unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to develop more sustainable conferences by shifting to effective virtual communication. Studies have demonstrated that virtual conferences are often more sustainable, but also more inclusive than in-person conferences, but that they – like in-person conferences – also have drawbacks. Researchers perceive ineffective networking due to a lack of social interaction as the biggest disadvantage of current virtual conferences. This study aims to examine researchers' experiences with virtual conferences by investigating the factors that influence networking efficacy during virtual conferences. To do so, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with virtual conference organisers and attendees from various career stages, countries and scientific fields. The input-process-output framework was used to structure the factors that participants mentioned as facilitating or constraining networking. The results demonstrate conference organisers' important role in thinking carefully about technical equipment that facilitates networking and specifically planning virtual conferences' networking sessions. This study is the first to structure factors that influence networking efficacy systematically during virtual conferences. The results of this study revealed that best practice examples of effective virtual networking exist, thus providing a starting point for the shift from academic air travel to more sustainable research exchange.

Adapting the Evidence Academy model for virtual stakeholder engagement in a national setting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised the importance of adaptive capacity and preparedness when engaging historically marginalized populations in research and practice. The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics in Underserved Populations' COVID-19 Equity Evidence Academy Series (RADx-UP EA) is a virtual, national, interactive conference model designed to support and engage community-academic partnerships in a collaborative effort to improve practices that overcome disparities in SARS-CoV-2 testing and testing technologies. The RADx-UP EA promotes information sharing, critical reflection and discussion, and creation of translatable strategies for health equity. Staff and faculty from the RADx-UP Coordination and Data Collection Center developed three EA events with diverse geographic, racial, and ethnic representation of attendees from RADx-UP community-academic project teams: February 2021 (n = 319); November 2021 (n = 242); and September 2022 (n = 254). Each EA event included a data profile; 2-day, virtual event; event summary report; community dissemination product; and an evaluation strategy. Operational and translational delivery processes were iteratively adapted for each EA across one or more of five adaptive capacity domains: assets, knowledge and learning, social organization, flexibility, and innovation. The RADx-UP EA model can be generalized beyond RADx-UP and tailored by community and academic input to respond to local or national health emergencies.

The impact of COVID-19 on the format and nature of academic conferences in mathematics education.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to re-examine the possibility of organising virtual conferences in mathematics education, in which the social needs of participants can also be addressed. In this study we investigated the future impact that this change may have on the format and nature of mathematics education conferences. The study was conducted in two phases. We used an online questionnaire in which we asked participants to give us some input on the issues above. In the second phase of the project, focus group interviews were conducted with international mathematics education researchers. This study is an exploratory study, in which the sample was not developed in a way that could generate comparisons. The aim of the study was to raise possibilities about what may be the future of mathematics education conferences. Findings indicate that although academics are pro-actively thinking about alternative conference formats, the proven value of face-to-face conferences is still very real, showing that it is too early for us to have a clear vision of the future format of academic conferences.

In Times of Restricted Mobility: Cancel, Change Date, Or Change Format of Tourism Conferences

The aim of this article is to examine how tourism conference organizers react to the restricted mobility incurred by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Do they cancel, change format, or change date for the event? This study contributes to an initial analysis of how organizers of international academic conferences in the tourism and hospitality industry deal with whole groups of participants who are no longer mobile and therefore cannot actively network personally. This uniquely compiled data covers a large representative number of conferences in this field. A Multinomial Logit model is used to estimate the options available. Data are based on unique information on almost 100 conferences, meetings, and congresses in the tourism and hospitality sector, including related fields such as leisure and recreation, planned to be held during the period of March to November 2020. Descriptive evidence shows that approximately one out of five conferences changes to a virtual format, somewhat more than half moves the date (mainly to the year 2021), and the remaining 25% cancel the event without alternative offers. Estimation results reveal that the decision to change to an online format increases nonlinearly over time in the form of an inverse U-shaped curve. This indicates a certain resistance to virtual conferences, although with more time for planning, a gradual adaptation to the actual situation appears to be possible. Longer conferences are less likely to change format. The probability of cancellations is lower for association conferences, which are held regularly.

PROMOTING SOCIAL ACTIVITIES IN AN ONLINE CONFERENCE DURING COVID TIMES: THE CASE OF THE EHSEMI CONFERENCE

While the lockdown significantly reduced face-to-face meetings, video conferencing platforms began to be used widely to leverage different sectors, such as academia. In this scope, scientific events such as seminars and conferences were migrating to the online environment. However, online events usually do not dedicate time to group activities, decreasing the chances of building academic and professional partnerships and decreasing social interactions and networking opportunities that naturally occur in face-to-face events. This paper aims to present a series of dynamics carried out using Zoom and Mentimeter platforms within the scope of the “ehSemi” Conference to create interaction between people and encourage potential scientific networking, which happens in face-to-face conferences and is significantly lost online. Furthermore, the paper discusses the role of timing, and moderators, among other essential factors that boost the social components in the online environment. Despite, given the current pandemic situation, studying the new role of videoconferencing and interactions therein appears timely and interesting, limitations and ideas for future work are presented to improve results and provide details that were not covered in this work. © 2022 15th International Conference on ICT, Society and Human Beings, ICT 2022, 19th International Conference on Web Based Communities and Social Media, WBC 2022 and 14th International Conference on e-Health, EH 2022 - Held at the 16th Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems, MCCSIS 2022. All rights reserved.

Rethinking Authentic Assessments - A Peer-Assessed Virtual Conference for Online Collaborative Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the teaching challenges of engaging students, building a learning community, and creating enriching learning experiences. Here, we present an authentic, asynchronous assessment method applied as a peer-assessed virtual conference task. The peer assessment and facilitation effectively generated a strong sense of community and teamwork (95% agreement) and enabled the students to generate a deeper understanding of the course content (73% agreement) by fostering critical self-reflection (87% agreement). Student engagement excelled whereby many choose to engage in additional presentations outside of their allocated peer markings. Consistently positive feedback highlighted the task's utility as an online learning tool and its efficacy in shaping a collaborative class community besides remote teaching condition. Additionally, the multi-faceted nature of the assessment promoted a broad range of effective teaching qualities, including collaboration, communication, and application of theory in innovative contexts which lends itself to higher education. Overall, the virtual conference tool and its peer-based facilitation can be considered for effective engineering education practice, which may also apply to other scientific disciplines to improve student learning and experiences.

Meeting the new normal: A case study of an online simultaneous interpreting course

With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, interpreting educators faced the daunting prospect of adopting virtual platforms to adapt to new ways of teaching provision. Common challenges included: re-designing the original curriculum, selecting an appropriate platform with all the features required for efficient interpreting classes, tackling technical issues, and ensuring student active participation. This article presents the results of introducing a fully online simultaneous interpreting course (from February to June 2021) for second-year MA students of English Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. The research objectives of this study include assessing the usability of two online conference platforms (Zoom and Microsoft Teams) for simultaneous interpreting training, presenting the students user experience, and the trainer s reflections on using virtual platforms in the context of socio-constructivist principles such as incorporating situated learning activities, i.e. activities simulating real-life interpreting assignments, collaborative learning, ongoing feedback, and self-reflection. © 2022 International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies. All rights reserved.

SDG 13 and Sustainability of Academic Conferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing rules have impacted on the academic community. Air travel to national and international conferences ceased and virtual conferences and meetings are increasing in momentum. This article seeks to discuss two models of academic conferences in relation to their main benefits to participants and the broader implications to the environment and SDG 13 “Climate Action.” While many participants recognize the benefits of virtual conferences, it is questionable whether this new wave of online (virtual/ video) conferences will continue post pandemic. Thus, universities should actively encourage academic and research communities to take a greater part in SDG 13 and to travel CO2-neutral or convert to virtual conferences and meetings moving forward.

Integration of virtual platforms for enhanced conference experience: Data-based evidence from the Society of Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies 2021 conference.

Background: The Society of Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) was one of many organizations that hosted a virtual scientific conference in response to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Retaining essential benefits of an in-person conference experience was a primary objective for the SIPS conference planning committee and guided the selection of a virtual platform on which to host the 2021 meeting. This article reports on the methods used to design and analyze an engaging, virtual scientific conference, along with the findings and implications for future meetings. Methods: Participant use of and interaction with different features of the conference platform were recorded and exported for analysis. Additionally, all SIPS conference attendees were invited to complete a brief, online post-conference survey that inquired about their perceptions of the SIPS conference specifically as well as their opinions of virtual and hybrid conferences in general. Using these data, we assessed (1) attendance patterns, (2) level of engagement, and (3) attendee satisfaction. Results: The platform recorded 438 unique, active conference attendees who used either a mobile app, web browser, or both to participate during the 3-day program. Seventy-four percent (N = 324) of active users attended all 3 days with 30 and 26 new attendees on Days 2 and 3, respectively. The connections feature offered on the platform was the most utilized function within the online forum. Attendance in the parallel workshop sessions remained constant across the 3 days, with an average of 44.6% (SD = 6.77) of people moving between workshops within a single session. The two poster sessions had an average of 47.6 (SD = 17.97) and 27.8 (SD = 10.24) unique views per poster, respectively. Eleven percent (N = 48) of attendees completed the post-conference survey. Thirty-six percent of these responders stated they were only able to attend because the conference was offered virtually. Further, the quality of the conference had an average satisfaction rating of 68.08 out of 100 (SD = 22.94). Conclusion: Results of data analyses suggest the virtual platform allowed for those who were unable to attend to join virtually, produced moderate engagement throughout the conference, and that the majority of attendees were satisfied with the quality of the fully-virtual conference. Therefore, incorporating virtual aspects in future in-person conferences could enhance conference experience and participation.

The Utility and Educational Impact of a Virtual Webinar to Deliver an International Undergraduate Cardiovascular Conference.

Introduction: Conferences are an important avenue for dissemination of knowledge, research and provide networking opportunities for career development. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted adoption of virtual platforms for delivery of these conferences. The aim of the study was to determine the utility and educational impact of a student-led virtual webinar to deliver an undergraduate cardiovascular conference compared to a traditional in-person conference. Methods: We conducted a two-day virtual conference using the Zoom platform in June 2021. The conference consisted of cardiology subspecialty lectures, and workshops were conducted by a junior doctor, senior cardiology trainees and consultants. The conference also outlaid a virtual poster hall and oral presentation session while networking opportunities were encouraged using breakout rooms and poster hall chat function. A 38-item self-administered online questionnaire was designed and disseminated at the end of the conference to all attending delegates. All data analysis and data visualisation strategies were conducted on R statistical programming. Results: Eight-hundred and forty students from 55 countries attended the event. Four hundred and ninety participants (58.5% response rate, 55.9% female) completed the questionnaire. Factors such as weekend conference (84.9%), student-led or organised (84.1%), environmental/sustainable (82.3%), appropriate level for me (81.5%) and comfort to present (80.8%) were deemed to be at least equal to traditional in-person conference. The conference also increased participants' interest, their core cardiology knowledge and improved their critical analysis and basic echocardiography skills [median 4 (IQR 3-5) for all parameters]. Overall, participants also found it easy to use the virtual platform [median 5 (IQR 5-5)] and easier to ask questions compared to in-person conferences [median 5 (IQR 4-5) vs median 4 (IQR 3-5), p < 0.001]. Conclusion: Our virtual conference provided opportunities to students that the COVID-19 pandemic would have otherwise affected; however, its utility and educational impact will need to be assessed within its individual context of delivery.

Migration of an Interactive Global Health Conference to a Virtual Platform: Engaging Learners During the Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has halted many large gatherings, and research conferences are no exception. Large conferences, once attended in-person, have primarily switched to a virtual format, utilizing online platforms. Every January, Medical Students Providing Across Continents (MedPACt), the University of Central Florida College of Medicine's global health interest group, hosts a student-run Global Health Conference that features a keynote speaker, discussion panel, and research presentations, and workshops for participants to engage in. Though planning this event is always challenging, organizing the 2021 conference was particularly strenuous as accommodations had to be made to optimize the conference to fit a never-attempted virtual format.  This drastic shift warrants further investigation into the efficacy and audience engagement of the virtual format. Using a post-conference survey with specific questions geared towards each component of the conference along with registration data, the virtual conference in 2021 was compared to the in-person conference in 2020. This study found that the virtual format was comparably efficacious in creating relevant and global health-oriented programming for the 2020 in-person conference. Additionally, the 2021 virtual conference received more registrants and cost less to plan, meaning the virtual model is a cost-effective way to deliver quality conference content.

Carbon Emissions from Virtual and Physical Modes of Conference and Prospects for Carbon Neutrality: An Analysis From India

Virtual conferences are environment-friendly alternatives to physical conferences. COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of virtual conferences. However, they are not without their share of impact on the environment. We assessed the carbon emissions (CE) of a three day national public health conference with 1474 attendees held in virtual mode and the potential CE saved compared to the physical mode. The CE of the virtual conference were estimated to be 6.44 Metric Tonne (MT) carbon dioxide (CO2) Equivalent (Eq). Potential CE that would have resulted from the physical mode of the conference were 355.85 MT CO2 Eq which is 55 times higher than the virtual mode. The live video streaming of the proceedings was the highest contributor to the virtual conference’s overall CE (81.5%). A digitally sober conference would have emitted 1.27 MT CO2 Eq, translating to a CE reduction of 80.3% from the estimated virtual conference emission. Academic conferences should strive to become carbon neutral by adopting the virtual mode of conferencing, and within that, digital sobriety should be the policy of action. Policies to motivate the adoption of virtual conferencing and digital sobriety need to be undertaken at the organizational and individual levels. © The Author(s) 2022.

The 2nd Annual US Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: A virtual coming together to support equity in palliative care access.

OBJECTIVE: On October 5-6, 2021, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Supportive Care Service and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences hosted the 2nd Annual United States (US) Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD). The purpose of this article is to describe the event within the broader context of the international WHPCD theme: "Leave No One Behind - Equity in Access to Palliative Care." We reflect on lessons learned in anticipation of the 3rd annual conference to be held October 3-4, 2022. METHODS: Description of the 2nd annual event, conference planning team reflection, and attendee evaluation responses. RESULTS: The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance launched WHPCD in 2005 as an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The 2021 US-based innovative virtual conference featured 37 interprofessional hospice and palliative care specialists and patient and family caregiver speakers across 11 diverse sessions with a focus on health equity and COVID-19 considerations. Two primary aims continue to guide the event: community building and wisdom sharing at the intersection of art and science. 278 registrants from at least 14 countries and 21 different states across the US joined the program, which served as a global debriefing for hospice and palliative care workers from diverse settings, contexts, and disciplines. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The US WHPCD Celebration creates a virtual coming together for collective reflection on hospice and palliative care delivery amid vast changes in clinical practice, research, and policy, both locally and globally. In addition, our goal to ensure an internationally relevant, culturally inclusive, and multidisciplinary agenda will continue to draw increased participation worldwide during future annual events.

Conference time in the library and information sciences. part 1: Conference proceedings and proceedings (conference) paper

Objective. This study aims 1) to acquire new information on alternative conference formats, including in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS), which have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on physical communication;2) to clarify the role of such a communication channel as Conference proceedings within the scientific ecosystem, as well as the concepts "proceedings paper" and "conference paper". Methods. Examining the new conference formats and special features of the Conference proceedings involved the content from the web-sites of international conferences in the field of LIS and related sciences, the analysis of subject-specific papers and data from the bibliographic and databases such as Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS). Results. It has been proven that over the year 2020 the online and hybrid events have become an alternative format of physical conferences. It has been confirmed that the Conference proceedings from the influential international conferences refer to the types of publications categorized as "high-quality papers". The peculiarity of LIS university researchers is that, in addition to studying problems focused only on the library activities, there is a need to conduct research into various subjects that are major for their institutions. Conference proceedings can be published as a book (a series of books), in a journal, or as a serial publication. Papers from them may be indexed by WoS (as "proceedings paper") and/or by Scopus (as "conference paper");however, the impact factors of the publications themselves are not available in these databases. Conclusions. In the year 2020, the new pandemic reality, representing a circumstance of irresistible force, stimulated the flourishing of creative and technological solutions for online conferences. For international conferences, it is mandatory to publish the materials presented by their participants. Proceedings paper (conference paper) in journals are similar to standard journal articles in their structure but they have a less rigorous review process, they are published faster at a lower scientific impact (citation level). © T. O. Kolesnykova, 2020.

Virtual conference participant's perceptions of its effectiveness and future projections.

BACKGROUND: The virtual conference format has become an essential tool for professional development of researchers around the world since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to identify empirical evidence of the benefits and challenges of virtual conferences by investigating participants' experiences with them. METHODS: The study participants were delegates to the 40th annual meeting of the Korean Society of Nephrology, which was held virtually in September, 2020. A questionnaire was developed and implemented among the conference attendees. The 44-item questionnaire included five sub-scales related to participant perceptions of the virtual conference, which were (a) convenience and accessibility, (b) planning and organization, (c) technology use, (d) social exchanges, and (e) overall satisfaction, their preferences of conference formats, and their views of future projections for a virtual conference. RESULTS: A total of 279 delegates completed and returned the questionnaires (18.8% response rate). Participants varied in gender, age, profession, work location, and prior experience with conferences. On a four-point Likert scale (1 = "strongly disagree" and 4 = "strongly agree"), participants showed positive perceptions of the virtual conference in general, where the total mean (M) was 3.03 and less positive perceptions on social exchanges (M = 2.72). Participant perceptions of the virtual conference differed across age groups, professions, and prior experience with conferences (p < .05). Approximately half of the participants (n = 139) preferred the virtual format, and 33% (n = 92) preferred the conventional format. Participant preferences for the virtual format were somewhat evenly distributed between asynchronous (32.9%) and synchronous (29.1%) modes. Participants predicted a virtual conference would continue to be a popular delivery format after the end of the COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Although participants had positive perceptions of the virtual conference, more support needs to be offered to those who may be less comfortable with using technology or with online interactions, and there is a need for improvement in supporting social exchange among attendees. Also, it is suggested that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous delivery methods should be considered to meet the varied needs of attendees.

Adjusting to the Reign of Webinars: Viewpoint.

BACKGROUND: With the integration of COVID-19 into our lives, the way events are organized has changed. The Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Days held on May 8-9, 2021, was one of the conferences that was affected. The annual conference of the student-based Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Society transitioned to the internet for the first time and had the premise of going international. OBJECTIVE: With this study, we aim to both discuss how a virtual conference is organized and perceived, and where our conference stands within the literature as a completely student-organized event. METHODS: The conference was planned in accordance with virtual standards and promoted to primarily medical schools. During the execution, there were no major issues. The feedback was collected via a form developed with Google Forms. RESULTS: Out of 2195 registrations, 299 qualified to receive a certificate. The feedback forms revealed a general satisfaction; the overall quality of the event was rated an average of 4.6 out of 5, and the ratings of various Likert scale-based questions were statistically analyzed. Open-ended questions provided improvement suggestions for future events. CONCLUSIONS: The virtual Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Days was a success in organization and received positive feedback from the participants. We aim to ground future events on this experience.

Analysis of challenges faced and the scientific content of a hybrid pediatric surgical conference arranged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Scientific conferences which are considered as an important event for dissemination of research and related academic activities were badly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual format for interaction was used as an alternative method to continue such academic discourse. However, this did not provide the same level of communication and interest as that of in-person meetings. With evolving knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic especially its transmission, role of vaccine, and observing standard operating procedures (SOPs), fear among healthcare providers is mitigated to some extent. Keeping in mind the importance of scientific conferences in the context of sharing knowledge and its impact on the training of faculty members and postgraduate residents, a hybrid conference was planned by the national association of pediatric surgeons.The purpose of this study was to retrospectively review the challenges faced during the organization of this conference as well as to analyze the pattern of registration, number of abstracts received, the gender of the participants and their status, region of the country they represented, type of presentation made, and scientific subject covered. SPSS version 22 was used for data entry. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present data. Chi square test was applied to find out the association between categorical variables and a p value < 0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS: A total of 170 pediatric surgeons and postgraduate residents participated from all over the country and abroad. Nearly half (47.1%) of the registrants were postgraduate residents. Most of the participants (90%) opted for in-person attendance. The venue was selected with a capacity to house more than double the number of registrants with provision of safe distance. Availability of face masks, gloves, and sanitizers was ensured by the organizers. Packed meal boxes were arranged and served at the venue site in an open place on the terrace. A total of 97 abstracts were accepted for presentation that included 57 (58.8%) long oral podium and 40 (41.2%) poster presentations. Most of the studies (n=48-49.4%) were related to the subject of gastroenterology including pancreatico-hepatobiliary system and spleen. Majority of the presenters were male (p = 0.046) and postgraduate residents (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: It was possible to organize a hybrid annual medical conference where most of the participants preferred physical presence. A rich scientific program was made to cater the needs for pediatric surgical fraternity. Residents made attractive presentations. It was noted that physical presence during clinical conference produced effective communication and learning.

Peer Learning and Operationalizing During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

The main objective of the article is to describe the changes in managing the peer learning system in the Department of Abdominal Imaging at our institution during the pandemic and its restrictions. The pandemic poses diverse challenges to academic institutions across the country including radiology education and peer learning. The health sector in some areas of the country has been stretched by the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. In March 2020, our institution cancelled all in-person conferences as per guidelines from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and the conferences were shifted to virtual platforms. Our recent peer learning approach allowed us to practice appropriate social distancing while following the institutional and national guidelines with minimal disruption. Other institutions that are facing similar challenges can adopt or modify our framework of a successful and efficient virtual peer learning process.