Advice for ensuring a Welcoming Environment for Events
The Advice for ensuring a Welcoming Environment for Events has been approved by the EMS Executive Committee on 16 November 2024 as part of the Code of Ethics of the European Mathematical Society.
Conference organisers should strive to provide a welcoming atmosphere that stimulates exchange of ideas, communication, and open debate.
During the planning stage of an event, organisers should endeavour to achieve an appropriate balance in gender, geographical location and seniority of invited speakers and participants. They should bear in mind the accessibility of the meeting, with the aim of facilitating participation for all attendees without requiring excessive levels of disclosure.
Participants at the meeting should act respectfully and must refrain from disruptive or harassing behaviour, which includes disparagement or discrimination based on academic career stage, age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, nationality, physical appearance, religion, sex, sexual orientation or any other characteristic.
Interpersonal boundaries should be kept in mind at all times, to ensure respectful communication and to avoid causing distress. Whether words or actions are perceived as offensive or not can differ from person to person. In particular, this can depend on factors such as the relative positions of authority of those involved in the interaction, social and cultural norms, and other considerations.
The EMS recommends to the organisers that:
- The event has a Code of Conduct that is made available to all attendees, who are asked to subscribe to it. The organisers may use the Code of Conduct for EMS Events.
- There should be designated conference representatives to whom attendees with any concerns about harassment, other difficult behaviours, or accessibility issues, can voice their concerns and obtain advice.
- There should be a clear procedure for handling complaints (possibly the local procedure at the host institution), and an effective process for excluding participants if their behaviour warrants this.
If complaints at an EMS event are not resolved at the local level, they can be submitted to the Procedures to raise complaints against the Code of Conduct for EMS Events, run by the EMS itself.