Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new set of unprecedented challenges not only for healthcare, education, and everyday jobs but also in terms of academic conferences. In this study, we investigate the effect of the broad adoption of virtual platforms for academic conferences as a response to COVID-19 restrictions. We show that virtual platforms enable higher participation from underrepresented minority groups, increased inclusion, and broader geographic distribution. We also discuss emerging challenges associated with the virtual conference format resulting in a decreased engagement of social activities, limited possibilities of cross-fertilization between participants, and reduced peer-to-peer interactions. Lastly, we conclude that a novel comprehensive approach needs to be adopted by the conference organizers to ensure increased accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity of post-pandemic conferences. Our findings provide evidence favoring a hybrid format for future conferences, marrying the strength of both in-person and virtual platforms.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵* These authors jointly supervised this work.
theyueshen{at}gmail.com
anushkar{at}usc.edu
yuninghu{at}usc.edu
chhugani{at}usc.edu
acharyar2{at}upmc.edu
keruipen{at}usc.edu
ruthjohnson{at}ucla.edu
andradaf{at}gmail.com
drobles{at}liigh.unam.mx
francisco.delavega{at}stanford.edu, Twitter: ribozyme
baor{at}upmc.edu, Twitter: RiyueSunnyBao
serghei.mangul{at}gmail.com, Twitter: smangul1