Code of Conduct – EPEC AW26


EPEC AW26 is committed to providing a safe, welcoming and inclusive experience for all participants and abides by Europlanet’s diversity commitment.

All participants (defined here as organisers, speakers, poster presenters, session leads, volunteers, sponsors, staff and other attendees) are expected to abide by the following code of conduct.

Professional conduct

  • EPEC AW26 is a professional networking experience and all participants should be kind to, and respectful of, all.
  • EPEC AW26 is committed to equality of opportunity to ensure the conference experience does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of their gender, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital status, age, nationality or socioeconomic background, or other protected characteristic not related to scientific merit.
  • EPEC AW26 expects a diversity of views and opinions to be welcomed by open and constructive criticism of ideas rather than personal attacks on individuals.
  • Derogatory or belittling comments regarding an individual’s research are unacceptable.
    • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, ethnicity, national origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker,
    • Inappropriate comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices.
  • Harassment, bullying, discrimination or intimidation will not be tolerated, and anyone asked to stop unacceptable behaviour is expected to comply immediately. Anyone violating the code of conduct may be asked to permanently leave the event without refund. Harassment includes but is not limited to:
    • Inappropriate or intimidating behaviour and language or threats of violence,
    • Inappropriate jokes,
    • Unwanted touching or attention,
    • Displaying of offensive images,
    • Photography without permission,
    • Stalking,
    • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, ethnicity, national origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker,
    • Inappropriate comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices.

Anyone that observes or is subject to any violations against these rules should follow the reporting procedure as per below.

Recording by photo, film, or other means

  • It is prohibited to retain or share scientific material shown in any oral or poster presentations if they have been marked as ‘private’ in the programme and/or include the ‘no sharing’ icon.
  • EPEC AW26 follows the guideline for consent related to pictures of a person in a public space under the EU General Data Protection Regulations. Recording via video, photograph, or other means of participants to the EPEC AW26 is, in general, allowed as long as people are not shown in incriminatory or private situations and images are not used in a misleading or derogatory way. It is recommended that permission be sought from anyone that is identifiable on a recording.

Social media and Discord

Social media and Discord

EPEC AW26 encourages open discussion on social media (Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), blogging platforms and channel-based messaging platforms (Discord) during the conference. The following rules aim to provide means by which EPEC AW26 participants can embrace social media and Discord while at the same time remaining respectful of presenting authors’ work and protecting their research output:

  • It is prohibited to retain or share any scientific material at the conference if it has been marked as ‘private’ and/or includes the ‘no sharing’ icon. Never post any images or video online without the authors’ explicit permission.
  • The default assumption is to allow open discussion of EPEC AW26 oral and poster presentations on social media. However, please respect any request from authors to not disseminate the contents of their presentation if it has been marked as private and/or if they display the ‘no sharing’ icon.
  • On Discord, poor behaviour (e.g. repeated @mentions, uploading irrelevant/large numbers of files, creating large numbers of threads), harassment or discrimination of any kind may lead to a permanent ban from the Europlanet Discord platform.

You are invited to include the official hashtag, #EPECAW26, when sharing snippets of your time at the conference on social media.

The “No sharing” icon

The ‘no sharing’ icon may be downloaded for inclusion on slides or posters to clearly express when an author does not give permission to have their results shared via any social media networks, blogs, or any other communication channel.

Questions

Any questions about this code of conduct should be directed to the organisers by email on epec.network@gmail.com.

Handling of Complaints

EPEC AW Organisers will work to resolve informally any complaints following a breach of the code of conduct. If the problem cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties by such informal means, or if the matter is so serious as to risk compromising the overall stability, reputation or probity of Europlanet, the complaint or dispute shall be resolved by means of an investigation of the allegation by the Board and, if there is a case to answer, a hearing by the Board. Participants that do not follow the EPEC AW26 code of conduct may be asked to leave the EPEC AW26 programme. On receipt of an allegation, the EPEC AW26 first responders shall notify the complainant, and the person(s) against whom the allegation has been made, of the procedures that will be followed in resolving the dispute.

Reporting Procedure

EPEC aspires to be a safe and respectful community. EPEC will not tolerate harassment, bullying, discrimination or intimidation in any setting (online or face-to-face).

If you have experienced or have witnessed behaviour which is contrary to the EPEC AW26 code of conduct at EPEC AW26 or via the online meeting, please submit a report by filling in the form below.

The reporting form is received by the EPEC AW first responders: the EPEC Co-Chairs (Nimisha Verma and Thomas O’Sullivan), the Europlanet Membership Coordinator (Callum Piper), Europlanet Vice President (Stavro Ivanovski) and Diversity Chair (Solmaz Adeli). If the breach involves the EPEC AW first responders, please submit your report by email to the Europlanet Secretary, Edita Stonkute via edita.stonkute@tfai.vu.lt.

Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif – 0800.634.634) is hosted by the Department of Planetary Atmospheres of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium.