Beyond the carbon footprint: Virtual conferences increase diversity, equity, and inclusion

Abstract Among many roles, conferences disseminate research, grow professional networks, and train employees. They also significantly contribute to climate change due to their sizable carbon footprint. More recently, additional negative aspects have surfaced. Namely, they present significant barriers to achieving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Here, we perform a meta-analysis of events that transitioned to virtual formats during the COVID-19 pandemic and show that this approach may provide a solution. Our analysis compared demographic and travel data of the same scientific conferences. When evaluating DEI, we considered factors including cost, gender, career stage, and geographic location. Costs associated with attending in-person conferences varied between 3% to 142% of attendees’ regional annual per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An increase in the fractional make-up of 2020 virtual conference delegations was observed for students (29% to 43%). Notable increases in attendance were observed for women (66% to 253% increase) and non-research-intensive countries (29% to 482% increase).