While conferences are an integral part of scientific identity, culture, and career development, there are barriers that exclude people from participating and gaining corresponding benefits of knowledge sharing and professional growth. The ECODIVE project evaluates how the modality and design of conferences in environmental fields can facilitate more sustainable and improved access and participation of non-research-intensive and non-academic organizations, and individuals associated with those organizations. We focus on organizational diversity because it is (i) associated with demographic diversity, (ii) facilitates exchange between academic and non-academic perspectives, and (iii) supports career path identification and development for students and early-career professionals in ecology, environmental science, natural resources management, and allied fields.
In summer 2024, we administered a large-scale survey (4,000+ respondents) to environmental professionals in the United States across career stages, organization types, and identities to better understand barriers to participation and inclusion in conferences and expected benefits. Top barriers across identities, career stages, and organizations included lack of funding to attend and inflexibility in responsibilities; these are persistent bottlenecks in efforts to improve access for potential conference participants. The relative importance of other barriers, such as environmental costs, risk of getting sick, and feeling unsafe at the venue varied among groups with different identities and from different types of organizations. A majority of respondents preferred that future conferences are offered in hybrid (virtual and in-person) modalities. Our results also reinforced the value that conferences can provide, particularly to students and early career participants, by offering the chance to learn about careers and funding opportunities. At the same time, students and early career respondents were more likely to rank the demonstration of priorities by the host organization and offerings for people of their identity as important considerations when choosing whether or not to attend a given conference.