The 4th Palaeontological Virtual Congress

Abstract

The emergence of new applications and technological advances has opened new and wider pathways for people to ensure effective science communication. This has become more significant after more than two years of difficulties and restrictions due to the COVID-19 epidemiological crisis, in which online platforms gained great relevance and proved key to keep up the drive for science communication (Barral, 2020). Aware of this, the first edition of the Palaeontological Virtual Congress (PVC) was organised in December 2018 by a team of young researchers from different nationalities. The purpose of that new congress format was simply to disseminate worldwide the most recent scientific advances in palaeontology in a fast, easy, inexpensive and inclusive way.

3rd Palaeontological Virtual Congress: palaeontology in the virtual era

“…The Palaeontological Virtual Congress (PVC) was innovative in palaeontological science as it was the first congress designed and developed in an exclusively virtual environment and held every year and a half (Sánchez-García et al . 2023). We were driven by three primary objectives to undertake this third meeting: social; ecological; and pandemic-related.…”

“…Thanks to the creation of a social fund, the congress offers free registration to participants from low-income and middle-income countries listed as such by The World Bank (Sánchez-García et al . 2023). In addition, these kinds of congresses allow us to reduce the carbon footprint that we leave on our planet, as we avoid the pollution associated with in-person congresses, including the emissions from air travel, car, or train (Abbott 2019).…”