In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, academic conferences are being cancelled on an unprecedented scale. These are needed actions to protect public health, but how can we help researchers adapt and thrive in our new working conditions?
As part of the Early-Career Advisory Group for eLife, I recently collaborated in putting together recommendations that could help lessen the impact of conference and travel cancellations in response to COVID-19 on early-career researchers and scientists from countries with limited research funding. These cancellations might disproportionately affect these vulnerable groups, and we hope our recommendations might help mitigate these affects. We also think some of these potential solutions may also offer long-term benefits for those who normally cannot attend conferences, and hope they could continue to be applied in the future to help promote a more equitable and inclusive scientific community.
Below is the overview of our seven recommendations, but please check out the full article too for more details and some, potentially, helpful examples.
The Early-Career Advisory Groups' seven recommendations to help mitigate the impacts of conference and travel COVID-19 cancellations on researchers
