The big debate: is attending conferences in real life worth the carbon footprint?

Many early-career professionals are expected to attend conferences all over the world, but what about the carbon footprint? While real-life conferences are an excellent opportunity to meet people in the field, make connections and further your career, is it possible to have those interactions without flying?

We bring together a panel of professionals to discuss if we can conduct conferences in a climate-friendly way.

We will be hearing from:

• Andy Johnson, academic from the University of Derby, who travelled extensively for research and conferences, including regularly to the US by boat
• Isabella Stephens, PhD student at the University of Birmingham, who has attended conferences in Europe and studied in Scandinavia flight-free
• William Smith, PhD student at Cambridge University, who has travelled to conferences in Vienna by train (and turned down the ones in New York!)
• Richard Parncutt, who devised multi-hub conferencing to reduce the need for air travel
• Christine Bell, event facilitator who has been flight-free for three years and has discovered new ways of facilitating events without flying

This is an online event, held on Zoom. Joining instructions will be sent in an email confirmation once you have registered.