Welcome to the virtual event
"Sustainable Conference Design of the Future"
26th / 27th January 2023
26th January: 2 pm to 6 pm (CET) + 90-minute social event, 27th January: 8.30 am to 1 pm (CET)
The conference report and the report on the conference team’s experiences are online
Scientific conferences are seen as an integral part of their work by many researchers and serve, among other things, knowledge exchange, networking and inspiration. After individual voices were raised in the past calling for a change in conference culture (primarily due to high CO2 emissions of traditional conference formats and the associated travel activity), the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in conference culture. Large in-person conferences were no longer possible and conferences were held more and more virtually or hybrid.
As part of the project "TraMocee - Transformation of mobility behaviour through corona-related restrictions and new experiences" (funded by the DBU [Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt; German Federal Environmental Foundation]), we are investigating conference mobility and see the pandemic as a window of opportunity for changes in conference culture.
The focus of the upcoming two-day (half days each) virtual event is on gaining knowledge and initiating a transformative process towards more sustainable conferencing. We present and discuss scientific input on the one hand, but also give the opportunity to experience new formats and platforms ourselves and discuss them afterwards. To stimulate exchange between relevant actors in the field of conference mobility, we bring together initiatives and researchers in this field, conference organisers and conference service providers and explore the possibility space for change. The event is not based on any commercial interest and participation will be free of charge; we are only interested in making future conferences more sustainable. In order to make the event accessible to as many interested people as possible, the event language will be predominantly English.
The conference is addressing a wide range of issues in the field of academic conferences in various formats and with a variety of invited speakers.
You can get a glimpse of the programme below, the full programme can be found on the subpage Programme.
Which functions do conferences fulfil for researchers? What are the positive and negative implications of traditional conference formats?
Scientific input on conferences and emissions from conferences
Rhetoric, expectations and performance – The cost-benefit ratio of conference activities
- Nicholas Rowe, independent researcher, dual fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy and Society for Education and Training, Finland
How sustainable are sustainability conferences? – Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment of an international on-site conference series in Europe
- Sabrina Neugebauer, iPoint systems gmbh, Germany
Emission reduction potentials for academic conference travel
- Stijn van Ewijk, University College London, UK
Why virtual conferencing matters and what needs to be improved: Some insights from a recent survey
- Anna Schreuer, Transflight/University of Graz, Austria
Is a change in conference culture necessary and how can it be achieved? Which perspectives should be taken into account?
Paneldiscussion
- Susann Görlinger (ifeu Insitut – FlyingLess, Germany)
- Dylan Ruediger (Ithaka S+R, Projekt "The Future of Scholarly Meetings", USA)
- Holger Finken (DAAD [Germany Academic Exchange Service], Germany)
- Astrid Eichhorn (Junge Akademie, ALLEA Working Group on Climate Sustainability in the Academic System, University of Southern Denmark)
- Lorraine Whitmarsh (Director of the Centre for Climate Change & Social Transformations (CAST), UK)
- Jason Hartline (President and Co-Founder of Virtual Chair, USA)
Which ideas and options are there for designing more sustainable virtual conferences? Who supports the implementation of virtual conferences?
Exhibition of conference service providers
Breaks and evening programme to try out and discuss new software
How can conference organisers run more sustainable conferences? Which experiences have been gained so far and how can they help for the future?
Scientific input on alternative conference formats
World-Café
- Virtual UNconferences (Tracey Weissgerber; QUEST Center, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, Germany)
- The Future of Meetings: Going Beyond “Being There” (The Future of Meetings Community)
- Representative of VirtualChair
