iPres2021 Code of Conduct^[1]

iPres2021 Organizing Committee

iPRES2021 seeks to provide an inclusive, collaborative, caring, and respectful community environment for every participant. Open, critically-engaged, and often challenging discourse is expected to flourish at iPRES conferences. At the same time, participants are encouraged to respect and celebrate cultural and linguistic differences, and to be mindful of the international nature of our community in preparing presentations and engaging in conversation.

We are committed to diversity and free expression of ideas, and creating a conference in which participants feel welcome to learn and exchange ideas in an environment of mutual respect, regardless of personal, professional or social background. We also are dedicated to providing a conference experience that offers rich and joyful learning experiences for everyone.

The iPRES2021 conference organization asks all those who are participating in the conference to be positive, accepting, and sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. There is no place at iPRES 2021 meetings for harassment or intimidation based on race, religion, ethnicity, language, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, physical or cognitive ability, age, appearance, level of knowledge, or other group status.

Harassment includes a wide range of behaviors, online as well as in person, that intimidates or threatens another person or group of persons. Among others, it includes offensive verbal comments and insults related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion; sexual or discriminatory images in public spaces and online meeting rooms; stalking or following in physical environment; inappropriate photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact and sexual attention; inappropriate selling and marketing.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If you find a participant engaging in harassing behavior, please report it to the session chairs and iPRES2021 organizing team as soon as possible. The chairs and iPRES2021 organizing team will initiate any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender, cutting off the person’s online participation, or reporting to a higher authority such as a representative from the offender’s institution.

Participants are expected to follow the anti-harassment policy at all conference-related venues, virtual or physical, conference-related events, and online communication channels.

We value your participation in the iPRES community and your support in keeping the iPRES community a safe, welcoming, inclusive and friendly space, physical or online, for all participants.

Feedback on your experience at iPRES2021 is welcomed as an opportunity for continuous learning and towards meeting our goals of inclusion and equity.

What You Can Do and How We Will Respond

If you feel uncomfortable in a situation or observe someone else being mistreated, or have any other concerns, please contact the chairs of your session and the iPres20221 Organizing Team support member assigned to the session, via private chat of the session through the Zoom platform, if you participate online, or contact them personally if you participate physically. The chairs and the support member will be specially indicated on-line and onsite.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the chairs and the support team member will take action in response, including but not limited to, warning the offender, requiring the offender to leave the session in which the harassment takes place, contacting a higher authority such as a representative from the offender’s institution or reporting the offender to appropriate law enforcement.

Where immediate action is required we request the issues to be reported to a member of the iPRES 2021 organizing team. We will respect the rights of any individual reporting negative interactions who requests anonymity. Issues may also be raised by email to ipres2021@mail.las.ac.cn or to the iPRES2021 twitter account. We will respond to those as soon as we can.

Harassment in-session

Session chairs and iPRES 2021 Organizing Team members are expected to monitor the session. Should harassing behavior manifest or be otherwise reported, session chairs and Organizing Team members will immediately request the offender to cease. If an incident occurs, the organizers will work to understand and document what happened to determine an initial response. All incidents will be handled on a case-by-case basis, using a thoughtful approach, based on procedures known to all members of the organizing team, while keeping the iPRES Steering Group (STG) apprised.

Harassment out-of-session

Should harassing behavior manifest elsewhere associated with the conference and be reported, iPRES 2021 Organizing Team members will respond. Issues requiring immediate action must be acknowledged straightaway by at least one Organizing Team member and subsequent actions or investigations initiated. Responding and reporting will be handled by the Organizing Team on case-by-case basis in a manner that fits the nature of the offense, while also keeping the iPRES Steering Group informed. Issues requiring discussion with the complainant before agreeing to a response should be dealt with sensitively in a private space and the complainant made aware of how the Organizing Team wishes to respond. Complaints against members of the Organizing Team can be reported directly to the iPRES Steering Group, https://ipres-conference.org.

Important contact information

Prior to the start of the conference, contact information (phone numbers and/or email addresses) for these and possibly other primary contacts will be made available to attendees:

·                  Conference venue

·                  Online conference site

·                  One emergency email, twitter, telephone contacts of the Organisation Team

A report will be filed with the iPRES Steering Group (STG) at the end of the conference summarizing any Code of Conduct violations or issues.