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Abstract For many, 2020 was a year of abrupt professional and personal change. For the aquatic sciences community, many were adapting to virtual formats for conducting and sharing science, while simultaneously learning to live in a socially distanced world. Understandably, the aquatic sciences community postponed or canceled most in‐person scientific meetings. Still, many scientific communities either transitioned annual meetings to a virtual format or inaugurated new virtual meetings. Fortunately, increased use of video conferencing platforms, networking and communication applications, and a general comfort with conducting science virtually helped bring the in‐person meeting experience to scientists worldwide. Yet, the transition to conducting science virtually revealed new barriers to participation whereas others were lowered. The combined lessons learned from organizing a meeting constitute a necessary knowledge base that will prove useful, as virtual conferences are likely to continue in some form. To concentrate and synthesize these experiences, we showcase how six scientific societies and communities planned, organized, and conducted virtual meetings in 2020. With this consolidated information in hand, we look forward to a future, where scientific meetings embrace a virtual component, so to as help make science more inclusive and global.
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The AIBS IDEA Conference
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is an umbrella organization of biological societies. In 2020, AIBS developed a plan to intentionally assess its current programs, as well as to develop and expand programs and policies to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the biological sciences. Therefore, AIBS decided, for the next 5 years, to focus its annual meeting of member societies and organizations, the AIBS Council Meeting, on topics related to DEI. In 2021, AIBS was funded by the National Science Foundation and received additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for its expanded annual council meeting, Enabling Scientific Societies to Create Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, and Accepting (IDEA) Environments. The IDEA conference was created to engage like-minded organizations committed to increasing diversity in the biological sciences. The conference consists of two meetings, an initial virtual 2-day meeting followed by a virtual 1.5-day workshop. The initial meeting included 27 scientific societies with representatives from five minority-serving scientific organizations. This meeting of the IDEA conference, held 4–5 November 2021, served as a call to action that would allow participants to come together to learn, plan, and strategize. This report provides details of the discussions around characteristics of IDEA environments, barriers to creating IDEA environments, strategies to overcome these barriers, and opportunities for action. The agenda can be found within the supplemental material.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2134480
- PAR ID:
- 10337184
- Editor(s):
- Collins, Scott; Verdier, James
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- BioScience
- ISSN:
- 0006-3568
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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