Lippman, Abby

Williams-Jones, Bryn

English

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Blog  Conference fees and accessibility: when doorsare barred  May 3, 2017   Bryn   accessibility, conférence, costs, ethics, fees, justice, registration  EditBlogAbby Lippman, Scholar in Residence at BioéthiqueOnline; Professor Emerita in the Departmentof Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University; Bryn Williams-Jones, Editor-in-chief of BioéthiqueOnline; Professor and Director of the BioethicsProgram, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Université deMontréalPublié/Published: 3 May 2017 2017 A Lippman, B Williams-Jones, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseCon it d’intérêts Con icts of InterestAbby Lippman avait espéré avoir un laissez-passer depresse à la SCB (demande rejetée pour des raisons nancières). En signe de protestation au sujet desfrais à PO, elle va peut-être décider de ne pasparticiper à un panel accepté pour présentation àcette conférence.Bryn Williams-Jones est membre du comité consultatifscienti que de l’SCB 2017 et n’a pas assisté à la SCB2016 à Toronto en raison des coûts (il préféraitsoutenir 3 étudiants). Il a soulevé cette question desAbby Lippman had hoped for a press pass to the CBS(application rejected for  nancial reasons) and who,in protest over the fees at PO, may decide not to takepart in a panel accepted for presentation at thatconference.Bryn Williams-Jones is on the 2017 CBS Scienti cAdvisory committee, didn’t attend the 2016 CBS inToronto because of the costs (he preferred tosupport 3 students in attending), and has raised theACCUEIL  AUTEURS  PUBLICATIONS  COMMUNAUTÉ coûts avec les organisateurs de la conférenceet l’exécutif du SCB.issue of cost with the conference organizers and theCBS Executive.Exonération DisclaimerLes opinions exprimées ici sont celles de l’auteur et nere ètent pas nécessairement celles de la revue.The views expressed here are the author’s and donot necessarily re ect those of the journal.There is, for many of us, a serious problem and one that is increasingly likely to negatively a ect allthose with some interest in biomedicine, healthcare policy and practice, and bioethics. This problemis, in fact, an ethical issue since it’s a problem of justice.The problem arises when some conference, meeting or other gathering you wish to attend is notbroadly accessible. This means it is not only unwelcoming for those with all kinds of physical abilities,but also unwelcoming for those with limited  nancial resources. The welcome mat is de nitely not outwhen the cost of attending is disproportionately high and constitutes a  nancial barrier. And theseexclusive events are becoming increasingly frequent.These occasions have, over the years, often been the only times and places when we can meet friendswho we see infrequently, or colleagues we only know online or from their published work. The usualgatherings are, among other things, privileged opportunities to share expertise face-to-face and evenbuild new collaborations. And they are especially important for students and junior researchers whowant to identify emerging research areas, test out potential supervisors, etc. But even when the eventis in our hometown and we can thus avoid the expenses of travel or lodging, and we bring our ownco ee or food to eat and thereby leave the lightest “footprints” possible, we are increasingly stillbarred from attending.The purpose of writing here is not to whine but rather to sound an alarm. This is not only ourproblem, and we think that it is time, in fact that it is urgent, for others who may be excluded to speakup with us.Two events, both planned for Quebec in the coming months, exemplify our concern. The 2017Canadian Bioethics Society conference, Falling Through the Cracks: Equity, Ethics and the Challengesof Vulnerability, to be held May 24-26 in Montreal, has regular registration fees of more than CAD$800for non-members and $250-285 for students (tax incl.). For its part, the 2017 Protecting Overdiagnosisconference, Towards Responsible Global Solutions, August 17-19 in Quebec City, has even higherregistration fees with an “early bird” rate of £395 or almost CAD$700. Both conferences are likelyattractive to the same people. But how can anyone – without the support of the deep pockets ofindustry or other commercial groups – a ord these costs? Even to attend just one of them? More tothe point, though: should scienti c conferences such as the CBS and PO ever charge such highregistration fees to students, community members, professionals who will be paying out of pocket, oreven to college or university researchers working with ever shrinking research grants?A local, attending only one of these two upcoming conferences would have to lay out more than$1000; those living outside the host city who have to pay for their hotel and travel might be set backeven further, with this perhaps representing a month’s income for “precariate” workers in the  eld.These two conferences, as with many others in the health sector, appear to be following the lead ofthe major bioscience and medical conferences: they schedule events at high-end downtown hotels inattractive tourist cities (e.g., Montreal and Quebec) to maximize participation. But this model is, initself, very problematic: this breed of downtown, tourist-friendly conference often also has to beheavily subsidized by the pharmaceutical and device (or other relevant industry) sectors. This allowsorganizers to pay extravagant honoraria and  y in high pro le conference presenters, and to providelots of conference goodies (bags, gifts, etc.) for those visiting their glitzy display kiosks. And merelylisting supporters in various categories (platinum to silver) is little assurance that the obvious con ictsof interest are in any way managed appropriately.Yes, the CBS and the PO groups are underfunded, have their own  nancial problems, and so areseeking to organize quality events for their members as well as to generate revenue to keepfunctioning as organizations. But this “outsourcing” of  nancial problems in the form of elevatedregistration fees is as problematic as is outsourcing in other areas. Should not the problems ofneoliberal austerity, about which CBS and PO members have likely protested loudly elsewhere, notalso be questioned in the context of their own conferences?More to the point, should not those of us who are members of these groups also question our owndesire to have our annual events at high-end downtown hotels (to facilitate academic tourism),receive goodie bags, and be treated like royalty? Could we not instead, in the interest of encouraginggreater access to and diversity of participants, hold our events on university campuses, negotiateinstitutional support, do away with the goodie bags and high-end hotels, and radically reduce costs?In so doing, we could make our gatherings much more accessible.More and more, the doors of academic conferences are becoming locked, with fewer and fewerhaving the means to pay the registration costs that will open these barred entries. This is unlike thegrowing trend of researchers who are posting raw data and publishing in open access journals,thereby opening wide windows to knowledge. We now need to open the doors to academicconferences, and that means working for change, in solidarity and through both personal andcollective action. Unless there is authentic accessibility, bioethicists and others working on healthissues may need to do what those excluded from other high-pro le festivals and events do and haveour own “o ” conferences…“o ” the expensive lists but de nitely “on” for what should happen whenall can gather and exchange ideas.← BRCA Previvors: Medical and Social Factors That Di erentiate Them From PrevivorsWith Other Hereditary CancersPlaidoyer pour une reconnaissance de l’enfant comme agent moral : Une réponse àVerpaelst et Couture →Partager:ISSN 1923-2799Copyright © 2018 BioéthiqueOnline. All rights reserved. Theme: ColorMag by ThemeGrill. Powered by WordPress.   

Conference fees and accessibility: when doors are barred

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Conference fees and accessibility: when doors are barred

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