EFI Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct was updated on June 2, 2021.

EFI’S CORE VALUES 

  • We treat others with kindness, respect, and consideration
  • We empower and create space for one another
  • We welcome and support a diverse community
  • We express gratitude and recognition

The following is a set of principles and practices to foster a welcoming environment for all EFI activities. Our goal is to develop a courteous, respectful, and supportive community that provides thoughtful and constructive discussions that will move the field of ecological forecasting forward.  This document governs all EFI members, the EFI virtual forums, and participants at EFI-sponsored virtual and in-person meetings, working groups, and events. Although you may disagree with others in EFI meetings, activities, and in the EFI virtual forums, we expect participants to voice their disagreements in a manner that is not personal or disparaging.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR 

  • Treat all participants with kindness, respect, and consideration, valuing a diversity of views and opinions (including those you may not share).
  • Be considerate, respectful, and collaborative. 
  • Communicate openly, with respect for other participants, critiquing ideas rather than individuals.
  • Refrain from personal attacks, demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. 
  • In person venues: Respect the rules and policies of the meeting venue, hotels, EFI-contracted facility, or any other venue.
  • Obtain consent from individuals before photographing or recording them or their materials, and before sharing photos, recordings, or other materials. 

UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR

  • Harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying, or discrimination in any form will not be tolerated. 
  • Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or any other attribute.
  • Harassment is speech or behavior that is not welcome or is personally offensive. Behavior that is acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another, so use discretion to be certain respect is communicated. Harassment intended in a joking manner still constitutes unacceptable behavior.
  • Physical or verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, EFI Member or participant, service provider, or other meeting guest, will not be tolerated. 
  • Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to:
    • Unwelcome or offensive verbal comments, exclusionary behavior, or microaggressions related to age, appearance or body size, employment or military status, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, individual lifestyle, marital status, national origin, physical or cognitive ability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, race, or religion
    • Inappropriate physical contact
    • Unwanted sexual attention
    • Use of sexual or discriminatory images in public spaces or in presentations
    • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
    • Harassing photography or recording
    • Intentionally talking over or interrupting others
    • Bullying behavior
    • Retaliation against reporting of conduct concerns or assisting in conflict resolutions
    • Disruption of virtual meetings (e.g., “Zoom-bombing”) or engaging in harm or threats of harm of any kind
    • Engaging in any of the above behaviors on social media in relation to EFI meetings or related events or representing EFI as an organization (e.g, when using or responding to posts using EFI event hashtags or discussing EFI events)
    • Engaging in any of the above behaviors on the EFI Slack group or other EFI virtual forums

REPORTING UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR

  • All Ecological Forecasting Initiative community members should feel empowered to enforce the Code of Conduct. Ideally, we would all be able to defuse an incident. In practice, we have varying comfort with situations depending on our current experience and the environment. If you can, move from being a bystander to being a Code of Conduct first responder. If you see something inappropriate happening, speak up. 
  • If you are the subject of unacceptable behavior or have witnessed any such behavior at a virtual or in-person meeting and don’t feel comfortable intervening, but feel someone should, please contact the meeting host (email and phone will be provided) and if it is not appropriate to contact that person, a secondary contact will be provided reach out to (email and phone will be provided).
  • If you are the subject of unacceptable behavior or have witnessed any such behavior through the EFI virtual forums or other activities or if you wish to remain anonymous, please submit a report to the Code of Conduct Incident Report Form which will be addressed by the EFI Steering Committee.
  • Concerns will be treated confidentially unless/until the person raising them agrees to have them communicated further or unless the person contacted is required to report a misconduct allegation by institutional rules or by law. Issues arising under this Code of Conduct will be treated with discretion to the extent practical, but if the complainant wishes to pursue a consideration of formal remedial actions this will necessarily involve some information sharing with relevant members of the project and collaboration management.  

CONSEQUENCES

  • Anyone requested to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.
  • EFI leadership members (or their designee) or security may take any immediate action deemed necessary and appropriate, including removal from the meeting or event without warning.
  • EFI reserves the right to impose temporary suspensions, prohibit attendance at future meetings or working groups, revoke EFI membership, and notify the individual’s employer. This list is not comprehensive, and the EFI Steering Committee reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary to resolve an incident. EFI expects all participants to abide by these guidelines in all EFI-related activities.

We will re-evaluate and update this document as needed.

Acknowledgment: This code was created following examples provided by the AAAS Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Statement, ESA’s Code of Conduct for ESA Events, AGU’s Meeting Code of Conduct (see Appendix B), the Carpentries Code of Conduct, NBERG Conference Code of Conduct, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.