When scientific conferences went online, diversity and inclusion soared
New data show that female attendance at virtual science and engineering meetings grew by as much as 253%, and gender queer scientist attendance jumped 700%
The transformation of in-person science and engineering conferences to virtual events due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has not just reduced their associated carbon footprints, it also significantly improved diversity and inclusion at such meetings, according to a new study led by the University of Southern California (USC), the University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University.
‘Factors including cost, gender, career stage and geographic location were evaluated,’ the study authors explained. ‘Virtual conferences demonstrated a clearly discernible and, in some cases, orders of magnitude improvement across nearly all metrics.’