Research meetings need more than one mode of participation

Dr Jens Klump1, Dr Vanessa Moss2, Dr Rika Kobayashi3, Dr Coralie Siégel1, Dr Stefanie Kethers4, Dr Lesley Wyborn3

1CSIRO, Kensington, Australia, 2CSIRO, Marsfield, Australia, 3Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 4Australian Research Data Commons, Melbourne, Australia

Biography:

Jens Klump is a geochemist by training and Group Leader Exploration Through Cover in CSIRO Mineral Resources, based in Perth, Western Australia. Jens's work focuses on data in mineral exploration, data capture, and data analysis. This includes automated data and metadata capture, sensor data integration in the field and laboratory, data processing workflows, data provenance, data analysis by statistical methods, machine learning, and numerical modelling. Jens is the President of the Earth and Space Science Informatics Division of the European Geosciences Union.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5911-6022

Abstract:

Many agree that watching the Olympic Games in one of its venues is the best way to experience the event. However, less than one percent of the billions worldwide audience could be present in person. The majority watched the Olympics at public events, at home with families and friends, or by themselves on their mobile devices. While all the available modes of watching the Olympics were different, they all allowed a global audience to join a major sports event.

International research meetings were pushed into mainly online modes by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-2022. While participation in online formats was initially high, it has since dropped, and only a small fraction of meeting organisers have made efforts to develop new formats that offer value to online participants. This is a missed opportunity; it disregards the high environmental costs of large international meetings and favours those who can afford the high costs and time commitment of international travel and are, therefore, already advantaged.

There are many opportunities to innovate by blending in-person, hybrid, and online formats and adopting new technologies (see e.g., https://thefutureofmeetings.wordpress.com), including local or regional hubs where participants can gather to discuss and network.

This poster is about how we can make research meetings more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable by being more creative about modes of participation and thinking outside the box. We could draw inspiration from completely different types of events, like games, international sports or cultural events.

 

 

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