Diversity and Inclusion in Conservation: A Proposal for a Marine Diversity Network

Why Conferences Matter—An Illustration from the International Marine Conservation Congress

“…It includes a paper written following an IMCC3 focus group attended by biologists, policy experts, and mathematicians, that models and assesses impacts from whale-watching tourism (New et al, 2015), as well as a manuscript that collates different and diverse ideas on how to fill historical gaps in marine conservation datasets, where the ideas were contributed by scientists from Australia, the USA, and UK during an open discussion at the same conference (Thurstan et al, 2015). A paper in the more recent IMCC4 proceedings, is an output of several focus groups at that conference oriented toward supporting a new global initiative for increased diversity in marine conservation networks (Smith et al, 2017).…”

Moving academic conferences online: Aids and barriers to delegate participation

“…Therefore, calls to remove the barriers that are limiting global networking and communication are vital to improve the inclusivity of ecological and conservation science (Smith et al, 2017).…”

Editorial: Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene – Reflecting on 20 Years of Reef Conservation UK

“…We interpret diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense, with the aim of ensuring all potential attendees feel welcome and have equal access to the conference. Many of the actions we have taken and summarise below have previously been highlighted by researchers and are also being taken up by other conferences in conservation science (e.g., Sardelis et al, 2017;Smith et al, 2017) and by other organising societies (e.g., the Equity and Diversity Committee of the American Elasmobranch Society and the Marine Section Diversity Committee of the Society for Conservation Biology). Such approaches are also being formalised as codes of conduct (e.g., Favaro et al, 2016).…”

“…Our analysis suggests that RCUK, and likely UK reef science more generally, still requires progress to address gender balance. While we do not have data available, we are aware there is a need for RCUK, as there is for marine science in general (e.g., Mauleón et al, 2013;Smith et al, 2017), to also improve representation of a broader range of ethnic groups and wider socio-economic backgrounds.…”