Moving academic conferences online: Aids and barriers to delegate participation

Abstract

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Can virtual events achieve co-benefits for climate, participation, and satisfaction? Comparative evidence from five international Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy Week conferences

“…This study provides a novel opportunity to compare key metrics for climate impacts, equity of attendance, and participant satisfaction in substantially different conferencing formats. Although there is a rich and growing literature on aviation-related emissions from individual academic conferences, 2 , 3 , 11 as well as participant evaluations of different conference formats 25 —or both combined 26 —a strength of this study is comparing these two formats, alongside data on geographical participation and interaction, using evidence from a well-established in-person conference and its online counterpart. That this transition happened overnight provides valuable insights into what is both possible and challenging in such unanticipated circumstances.…”

The uneven distribution of fees for virtual academic conferences

“…Unfortunately, the few studies that examine this willingness to pay for virtual conferences relate to specific cases where respondents subjectively give their views on pricing strategies. Raby and Madden (2021b) find that 87% of conference participants accept a fee of £10, but only half of them agree on a fee of £25 and more. Participants at a virtual reality conference in the United States appear to accept fees up to US$237, but this is a specific case that might benefit more than others from the fully virtual version (Ahn et al, 2021).…”

“…An analysis of 270 in-person conferences held by 150 scientific societies in 2018-2019 concludes that these events are generally costly, exclusive, and lack environmentally sustainable organization (Sarabipour et al, 2021). Thus, one apparent advantage of virtual conferences is the potentially lower cost and an environmentally friendly format (Foramitti et al, 2021;Raby & Madden, 2021b). Another is that they can help to overcome many access barriers that surround traditional conferences (Bottanelli et al, 2020;Niner & Wassermann, 2021).…”

“…Often a subscription to video conferencing software is required, as only a certain number of people can participate when using versions for free (Gottlieb et al, 2020). As an example, Raby and Madden (2021b) mention that a one-month license for Zoom webinar access with up to 1,000 participants renders a price of £330.…”

Neuromuscular ultrasound training courses in the post COVID‐19 era: Is virtual training here to stay, and should the pre‐pandemic training design be revised?

“…It offers similar opportunities to trainees from different socio‐economic and cultural backgrounds by imposing less cost and time‐related restrictions. It also dramatically reduces the carbon footprint impact of long‐distance travel, which environmental scientists have consistently advocated for over the past decade (with little success in the healthcare sector, in particular, until the COVID‐19 pandemic made this an abrupt reality) 9,10 Some respondents in the Tawfik et al study 8 requested similar courses, as well as an advanced course in the future.…”