The Big Team Science Conference (BTSCON) aims to provide a harassment-free event experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, ethnicity, caste, national origin, citizen status, age, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, body size, religion, socioeconomic status, other group status, or their intersection. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned, including being expelled without a refund.

Purpose and Scope

This purpose of this code of conduct is to protect BTSCON event participants from harm. “Participants” are any people present at BTSCON, regardless of registration status. “Events” include conferences and other activities organized or sponsored by BTSCON.

This code of conduct may also apply to unacceptable behavior that occurs outside of BTSCON when such behavior has the potential to create a hostile climate for participants at BTSCON.

Unacceptable Behaviors

Unacceptable behaviors include the following:

  • Intimidating, harassing, lewd, demeaning, bullying, stalking, or threatening speech or actions
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Unwelcome physical contact
  • Any real or implied threat of physical harm
  • Sustained disruption of speakers or events (verbally or physically)
  • Retaliation against an individual for reporting harassment or other unacceptable behaviors or for participating in an investigation of such a claim
  • Advocating or encouraging any of the above behaviors

Consequences

Participants who are asked to stop any unacceptable behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Potential consequences for violations of this code of conduct include, but are not limited to: warning the offender, and expulsion from the conference with no refund, banning from future events.

Meeting Rules & Enforcement

  1. Session leaders are granted authority to use their judgment to confront, warn, and/or remove participants who are being disruptive or otherwise potentially in violation of the CoC in their sessions without involving the Conference Organizers. In short, we believe it is important to empower session leaders to make on-the-fly decisions on how to best provide a harassment-free environment within their online conference sessions (e.g., dealing with “Zoom bombing” and other disruptive, offensive, aggressive, or otherwise unwanted behaviors). If session leaders are put in a position where they have removed a participant from a session, they should report it after the session using the procedures articulated in the CoC (“How to Make a Report”).
  2. Meeting registrants agree to adhere to the following forms of digital etiquette. We urge session leaders to explicitly inform participants about these at the start of their sessions, periodically remind participants, and include these on any written materials being co-created (e.g., at the top of working documents):
    • Do not share links to the Zoom session on social media or elsewhere. Only those who have registered for the conference should be able to join the session on Zoom.
    • Do not share collaborative working documents (e.g., google docs) on social media during the session. The participants in the session should agree on whether they want these materials shared on social media following the session.
    • Sessions will be recorded by session leaders with the consent of presenters and the notification of attendees. Recording and photographing of sessions by other attendees are not allowed unless all participants consent. This includes recording the audio/video of the session in Zoom (or with any other media-capturing software or device), as well as taking screenshots of the session.

How to Make a Report

You can report a suspected code of conduct violation using the form embedded at the bottom of this page or by sending an email to the conference email or any member of the BTSCON organizing team. (See Contact)

All reports will be considered by the conference organizers, who will decide on appropriate action.

Recusal

Conference organizers and any others responsible for enacting or overseeing this policy will recuse themselves if they have a significant conflict of interest, such as being a specific target of harassment, an alleged harasser, or having a close personal or professional relationship with a target or alleged harasser.

Sources

This code of conduct uses language and concepts adapted from:

Aurora, V., & Gardiner, M. (2019). How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports.

SIPS Code of Conduct & SIPS Online Conference Rules

adopted August, 2022

Reporting Form

To report a violation of the Code of Conduct and/or Meeting Rules, please fill out this form or contact us directly.