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.

Ten Steps to Organize a Virtual Scientific Symposium and Engage Your Global Audience.

The paper describes guidelines for the planning, organization, and successful execution of virtual, global scientific conferences for global audiences. The guidelines are based on experience and lessons learned during the organization of the 3-day 2020 Virtual Systems Chemistry Symposium hosted on Zoom webinar and Twitter, held on May 2020 with over 1000 registered participants from 46 different countries.

Mentoring in Times of Crisis and Beyond.

During the global crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, university programs, meetings, and conferences have moved to virtual settings, with consequent erosion of mentorship opportunities for students and early-career professionals. This calls for mentorship platforms that are adapted to the new landscape in order to bring about a positive change. Our Viewpoint Article shares the perspective of the Transformative Education program and Mentorship Talks initiative at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, with the aim of providing insights that could stimulate other mentorship platforms.

Heads in the clouds: On the carbon footprint of conference-seeded publications in the advancement of knowledge.

The carbon footprint of flying overseas to conferences, meetings, and workshops to share and build knowledge has been increasingly questioned over the last two decades, especially in environmental and climate sciences, due to the related colossal carbon emissions. Here, we infer the value of scientific meetings through the number of publications produced either directly or indirectly after attending a scientific conference, symposium, or workshop (i.e., the conference-related production) and the number of publications produced per meeting (i.e., the conference-related productivity) as proxies for the academic value of these meetings, and relate them to both the number of meetings attended and the related carbon emissions. We show that conference-related production and productivity, respectively, increase and decay with the number of meetings attended, and noticeably that the less productive people exhibit the largest carbon footprint. Taken together, our results imply that a twofold decrease in the carbon footprint F CO 2 of a given scientist would result in a twofold increase in productivity through a fivefold decrease in the number of meeting attended. In light of these figures, we call for both the implementation of objective and quantitative criteria related to the optimum number of conferences to attend in an effort to maximize scientific productivity while minimizing the related carbon footprint, and the development of a rationale to minimize the carbon emission related to scientific activities.

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.

Virtual conferences raise standards for accessibility and interactions.

Scientific conferences have an important role in the exchange of ideas and knowledge within the scientific community. Conferences also provide early-career researchers with opportunities to make themselves known within their field of research. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has brought traditional in-person conferences to a halt for the foreseeable future, the growth of virtual conferences has highlighted many of the disadvantages associated with the in-person format and demonstrated the advantages of moving these events online. Here, based on data from in-person and virtual conferences in a range of subjects, we describe how virtual conferences are more inclusive, more affordable, less time-consuming and more accessible worldwide, especially for early-career researchers. Making conferences more open and inclusive will provide both immediate and long-term benefits to the scientific community.

The new norm: Computer Science conferences respond to COVID-19.

The disruption from COVID-19 has been felt deeply across all walks of life. Similarly, academic conferences as one key pillar of dissemination and interaction around research and development have taken a hit. We analyse an interesting focal point as to how conferences in the area of Computer Science have reacted to this disruption with respect to their mode of offering and registration prices, and whether their response is contingent upon specific factors such as where the conference was to be hosted, its ranking, its publisher or its original scheduled date. To achieve this, we collected metadata associated with 170 conferences in the area of Computer Science and as a means of comparison; 25 Psychology conferences. We show that conferences in the area of Computer Science have demonstrated agility and resilience by progressing to an online mode due to COVID-19 (approximately 76% of Computer Science conferences moved to an online mode), many with no changes in their schedule, particularly those in North America and those with a higher ranking. Whilst registration fees have lowered by an average of 42% due to the onset of COVID-19, conferences still have to facilitate attendance on a large scale due to the logistics and costs involved. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of our findings and speculate what they mean for conferences, including those in Computer Science, in the post-COVID-19 world.