Inclusive Scientific Meetings

Scientific meetings form the connective tissue of the global scientific enterprise. Challenging meeting agendas invigorate thinking and promote the exchange of ideas. Social events and serendipitous encounters foster new collaborations and opportunities to reconnect with colleagues outside home institutions. Side meetings provide time and space to collaborate on new projects, create scientific programs and sustain collaborations.

Scientific meetings also serve as a valuable gateway to career development. Many people rely on scientific meetings to grow the knowledge and networks needed for a successful career in science. This is especially true for academics, as scientific meetings are often where researchers and senior faculty scout graduate students to hire as postdocs, postdocs are vetted for future teaching and research positions, and junior faculty can garner recognition for their scientific contributions. 

Whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid, scientific meetings are essential for building relationships and trust, and bridging different perspectives on challenging problems. Because participation in scientific meetings is so essential for a successful career in science, it’s imperative that they be designed as equitable, inclusive, accessible, and just spaces. Only by creating such conditions can we support diversity in career advancement and, in turn, produce more robust scientific exchange and science-informed solutions.