Inclusion Statement and Code of Conduct

Diversity and inclusion statement

The open exchange of ideas, the freedom of thought and expression, and respectful scientific debate are central to the aims of RaAM 2024.

These require a community and an environment that recognizes the inherent worth of every person and group, that fosters dignity, understanding, and mutual respect, and that embraces diversity. We are thus committed to sharing values of diversity and inclusion. We view diversity with respect to racial and ethnic background, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, (dis)ability, socio-economic background and language background to be assets within our community and a source of learning and opportunity. In order to foster diversity and inclusion, we seek to provide forums for varied perspectives and an open exchange of ideas in an unbiased and non-prejudicial way. The values expressed in this statement are recognized and supported fully by the organisers of RaAM 2024. We will not tolerate behaviour that runs counter to these values, as explicitly stated in our accompanying code of conduct.

Code of conduct

Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, (dis)ability, race, religion, nationality, or language background.

We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form at any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, receptions, and the 'hallway track'. We regard online harassment social media as equally serious as face-to-face harassment. Our goal with this code of conduct is to further promote the open exchange of ideas, the freedom of thought and expression, and respectful scientific debate, as expressed in our diversity and inclusion statement.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• offensive verbal comments or gestures related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, physical appearance, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or language background
• gratuitous sexual images in public spaces
• deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording
• sustained disruption of talks or other events
• inappropriate physical contact and unwelcome sexual attention

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of conference staff immediately. 

Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We will take any report of harassment seriously, investigate it, and take appropriate action. We value your attendance.

Our code of conduct applies equally to all RaAM 2024 participants, including sponsors, organizers, volunteers, keynote speakers and conference delegates. We expect participants to follow these rules at conference and workshop venues and conference-related social events.

Credits: Our diversity and inclusion statement and Code of Conduct are based on the ones used at previous RaAM conferences and draw on the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers.