Gatekeeping via Conferences

Prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is not just an ancillary or separate initiative, but an integrated part of the framework to produce innovative plasma and fusion science. Industry and national laboratories personnel, graduate students, and faculty must be affirmed once on the inside of your industry workplace or academic learning and workplace environments. Two key evidence-based practices to achieve this are the establishment of a Human Relations Code and a Bias Incident Policy. DPP has a history of promoting policies like these yet more work is needed. There are several equity barriers that remain in our division and are often made evident at conferences. Alternatives to unofficial and ambiguous dress codes and expectations of presentations, poster session “flirting,” and the availability of travel funding reimbursements that do not address a lack of upfront funds nor the “evaluation” of merit of submitted requests, must be implemented. Steps to address conference audio and visual and facilities accessibility, childcare, and who gets invited talks, or is encouraged to submit a talk at all are vital aspects of conference equity that can inform our communities culture in and out of conference season. In this module, Innovative practices like double anonymous peer review will be explored with a tight connection to equity gap and psychological safety monitoring to ensure our collective success and health.