Rhode Island Microbiome Symposium Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

The Rhode Island Microbiome Symposium is intended to provide a supportive environment to promote networking and scientific discourse.  All organizers and participants are responsible for promoting such an environment.  Any actions or words that detract from this mission will not be tolerated.

All meeting participants are expected to:

  • -conduct themselves in a professional manner that is welcoming to all participants and free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation
  • -treat each other with respect and consideration and to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment
  • -avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or religion (or lack thereof)
  • -communicate openly and with civility, critiquing ideas rather than individuals
  • -immediately alert meeting organizers [Chris Hemme, Peter Belenky, or any member of the steering committee] if you experience or if you notice someone in distress, perceive a potentially inappropriate situation or dangerous situation. If your concerns are with a meeting organizer, please contact Bongsup Cho in person or by email (cho@uri.edu)
  • -contact 911 if you experience or witness behavior that constitutes an immediate or serious threat to public safety, or a criminal act

Unacceptable Behavior includes but is not limited to:

  • -harassment (intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, unwelcome sexual attention)
  • -verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion
  • -use of inappropriate sexual language and imagery outside of a legitimate scientific context
  • -threats (real or implied) of physical, professional or financial harm

Social media etiquette:

  • Live-tweeting of the symposium by attendees is allowed, but images or audio of presenters, attendee, presentations or posters should not be posted without permission of the attendee or author.  Please use the hashtag #RIMicrobiome2020 when posting to social media
  • Taking pictures of posters is not permitted without permission of the presenting author.  
  • If a meeting speaker does not wish to have his/her research shared by Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks, he/she should discuss this with Chris Hemme in person or via email (hemmecl@uri.edu). We will verify the symposium MC communicates this to the audience
  • Public relations (PR) personnel will be taking video/interviews during the symposium. If you do not wish to be captured in this information, please let organizers [Chris Hemme, Peter Belenky] know so we can protect your anonymity  

Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior:

  • Anyone requested to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to immediately cease and desist. Meeting organizers will institute actions including immediate removal from the meeting at their discretion

Code of Conduct adapted from the Front Range Microbiome Symposium