Scientists want virtual meetings to stay after the COVID pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced scientists to share their research at virtual conferences in the past year. LAURENCE DUTTON/GETTYA Nature poll shows that a year of online research conferences has brought big benefits, but blending them with in-person meetings will be a challenge.

Maintaining Career Momentum: Women-Centered Strategies for Social Sciences Career Success in the Context of COVID-19

“…We re/connected with faculty members within our college and across the university and WOMEN-CENTERED STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE CAREER SUCCESS DURING COVID-19 6 other institutions through virtual meet-and-greets and happy hours. Virtual events lower barriers to attendance, particularly for faculty with children at home (Remmel, 2021;Viglione, 2020) and may create more equitable spaces where BIPOC and women faculty feel more at ease to participate fully (Ferguson, 2020). We also connected with other academic mothers through social media groups, which offers both academic-related and motherhood-related support (Pontes et al, 2019).…”

Technological Advances in Remote Collaborations

“…The biggest disadvantage, certainly for Australia, has been juggling timezones, coupled with the difficulty in separating conference and domestic duties as few international conferences overlap with normal working hours. For developing countries technological accessibility is the biggest problem and a recent a poll of 900 Nature readers [57] cited "poor networking opportunities" as the biggest drawback.…”

Online Meetings During the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…There are, of course, several disadvantages of virtual meetings. Nature pooled its readers regarding their experience with online scientific meetings [2]. Poor networking opportunities appeared as the biggest drawback of virtual conferences (69%), with time-zone differences being the second most reported drawback (12%).…”

“…On the other hand, the readers also appreciated some of the advantages of virtual meetings. Accessibility (49%), lower carbon footprint (21%) and lower cost (19%) were appreciated the most about virtual meetings [2].…”

“…Despite its challenges, the perceived positive benefits of videoconferencing make it likely to be continued after the COVID-19 pandemic [4]. Seventy-four percent of the readers who responded to Nature's pool think that conferences should continue to be virtual or have a virtual component after the COVID-19 pandemic [2]. A cross-sectional, internet-based survey evaluated physicians' attitude towards webinars and online education [5].…”