Ten simple rules for switching from face-to-face to remote conference: An opportunity to estimate the reduction in GHG emissions

PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 Oct 18;17(10):e1009321. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009321. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Abstract

In 2020, the world faced the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic that drastically altered people's lives. Since then, many countries have been forced to suspend public gatherings, leading to many conference cancellations, postponements, or reorganizations. Switching from a face-to-face to a remote conference became inevitable and the ultimate solution to sustain scientific exchanges at the national and the international levels. The same year, as a committee, we were in charge of organizing the major French annual conference that covers all computational biology areas: The "Journées Ouvertes en Biologie, Informatique et Mathématiques" (JOBIM). Despite the health crisis, we succeeded in changing the conference format from face to face to remote in a very short amount of time. Here, we propose 10 simple rules based on this experience to modify a conference format in an optimized and cost-effective way. In addition to the suggested rules, we decided to emphasize an unexpected benefit of this situation: a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to travel for scientific conference attendance. We believe that even once the SARS-CoV-2 crisis is over, we collectively will have an opportunity to think about the way we approach such scientific events over the longer term.

Publication types

  • Editorial

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / transmission
  • Computational Biology* / organization & administration
  • Congresses as Topic*
  • Feasibility Studies
  • France
  • Greenhouse Gases / analysis
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Pandemics*
  • SARS-CoV-2*
  • Teleworking
  • Travel
  • Videoconferencing*

Substances

  • Greenhouse Gases

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.