Shifting a food system conference online mitigates structural barriers to equitable participation, but hinders meaningful interpersonal connections

Abstract

Scientific conferences foster career development and collaborations while nurturing scientific communities that are especially critical to transdisciplinary research and mentorship. Recent transitions to virtual conference formats mitigate financial and logistical barriers to attending but the social and intellectual implications are less well understood. In this mixed-methods study, we examine participation by gender and country income level in the second virtual year of a well-established agriculture, nutrition, and health conference in 2021. These data are interlinked with qualitative insights into the challenges and benefits of virtual participation. We find that virtual conferences facilitate access for women and participants in low- and middle-income countries by removing visa requirements and travel costs and enabling attendance alongside care obligations. Virtual interactions can disrupt power dynamics and increase the efficiency of knowledge exchange, but the loss of rich in-person human connections, compounded by inequitable internet access is not conducive to nurturing scientific communities. We need an intentional shift in how and why we organise and participate in conferences in order to maximise the benefits to inclusion, equity, and sustainability; and minimize trade-offs to intellectual and social connections online.