We recognise that women and minority groups tend to be underrepresented in professional senior roles, which often ends up being reflected in the speaker line-up at conferences and other aspects of conference programme.

 

We believe that it is possible and desirable to organise conferences that are both high quality and inclusive. At REACH, this is something that we spent a lot of time thinking about. We have done our best to ensure this conference is as inclusive as possible.

 

Speaker line-up diversity

50% of speakers are women, 50% of speakers are from Africa and Asia, and nearly a third are early career researchers. View the programme . 

 

Encouraging active participation

Beyond speaker line-up, we recognise that not all participants at the conference have the same opportunity to share their views and actively participate. It is important for us to ensure that all speakers are given the same space to express their views and share their knowledge. More generally, we will do our best to ensure that attendees can actively participate, whether through Q&A or discussion sessions, or through more informal networking opportunities. All session chairs will have been briefed accordingly. 

 

Venue accessibility

All of the conference facilities accommodate disabled access, including lifts and ramps, and parking is available upon request. Attendees are encouraged to report any access or disability needs in the registration form, and we will do our best to address them.

 

Discrimination and harassment 

REACH is committed to creating and maintaining a friendly, safe and inclusive environment at the REACH 2019 Conference, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, disability, physical appearance, religion or other status. We value the participation of each attendee and want them to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

 

We do not have any previous experience of incidents of discrimination or harassment happening at any REACH event but recognise that they sometimes do at conferences.We have developed this code of conduct, which any participant registering to the conference  is asked to sign. 

 

A number of conference staff on site will have received appropriate training in dealing with a report of unacceptable behaviour. Conference attendees will be able to report incidents to conference staff with a red lanyard. They can also do so via email (REACH2019conference@ouce.ox.ac.uk) or via this online form .

 

 

Additional quiet space

We have planned a busy three days of conference, and we recognise that some participants may require some quiet space. We have made some additional rooms available for participants:

• One room that can be booked for up to 60 minutes (please sign up at the registration desk)

• One room that can be used as a quiet working space

• One room that can be used as a prayer area