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Reducing academic air travel: An analysis of shifting conference practices

Individual Projects

Studies have shown that scientists see a direct correlation between academic air travel and academic success. Therefore, academic air travel must be reduced without jeopardizing academic success. One alternative, which has been used as a substitute for air travel, is virtual communication – in particular since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, two ETH internal surveys with external page scientific staff (doctoral students, postdocs, senior assistants, and senior scientists) and external page professors have shown that scientists perceive current virtual communication as ineffective and unsuitable for informal exchange and scientific networking. In her dissertation, Ariane Wenger focuses on conference air travel by examining current conference practices, as well as the opinions and perspectives on the different formats in which conferences can be held (in-person, hybrid, virtual). The aim is to inform scientists and conference organizers, as well as ETH’s air travel project, on how to reduce academic air travel through the use of virtual communication without sacrificing academic success.

The dissertation is closely related to the practice of ETH Zurich, and its air travel project "Stay grounded, keep connected".

About ETH’s air travel project "Stay grounded, keep connected"

Since 2017, the air travel project of ETH Zurich aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by its members’ air travel. The individual reduction goals of the departments amount to an average decrease in air travel emissions of 15% by 2025 compared to the period of 2016-2018. Implemented reduction measures vary between departments, although almost all departments decided on an increased use of virtual communication. ETH internal surveys showed that the air travel project is positively perceived by all ETH members, although project support varies across academic positions and time. Especially professors perceive air travel relevant for their work, whereas the scientific staff view it as somewhat less important for their work. Further, ETH members see the Covid-19 pandemic as a window of opportunity to reduce emissions from academic air travel, as opinions on virtual communication have improved.

Further information on ETH Zurich’s air travel project, can be found here: www.ethz.ch/airtravel

First study: Shifting from academic air travel to sustainable research exchange – examining networking efficacy during virtual conferences

Scientific conferences are an integral part of scientists’ work, as they provide opportunities to exchange knowledge and build professional networks. However, there have been calls for more sustainable and inclusive conferencing, as in-person conferences cause many emissions especially through the associated air travel. During the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual conferences provided a more sustainable and inclusive alternative, although virtual networking was often perceived as ineffective. To examine scientists’ experiences with virtual conferences, semi-structured interviews were conducted with virtual conference organizers and attendees. Factors mentioned as influencing networking efficacy during virtual conferences were categorized using the input-process-output framework. The resulting factors that facilitate or constrain virtual networking have revealed conference organizers’ important role to consider the structure of the conference carefully and to plan specific virtual networking sessions, as well as use technical equipment that facilitates networking. This study shows that best practice examples for effective networking during virtual conferences exist, thus providing a starting point for the shift from academic air travel to more sustainable research exchange.

People from TdLab

Ariane Wenger, Michael Stauffacher

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