# Code of Conduct - DER symposium

:::info
:bulb: We want all spaces (online or in person) at the Data Hazards, Ethics and Reproducibility (DER) symposium to be places where people feel welcome to discuss their thoughts and ideas. This Code of Conduct aims to ensure that those participating in the Symposium are protected from abuse, harassment or discrimination, and that the discussions we have are supportive and productive.
:::

## :hammer: Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to outline the rules governing the conduct of facilitators and attendees of the DERR symposium at the Alan Turing Institute and provides guidance on the expected standards of conduct during the symposium.

## :straight_ruler: Scope
This policy applies to all attendees of the symposium (which includes, but is not limited to, permanent staff, temporary staff, volunteers, speakers and external institute attendees).

## :book: Policy
The key principles of this policy are:
#### :small_blue_diamond: Attendees are required to familiarise themselves with this policy, (this will be covered during the Induction process) and to adhere to the required standards of conduct;
#### :small_blue_diamond: Attendees are expected to act in accordance with the Institute’s policies and procedures;
#### :small_blue_diamond: Attendees are expected to conduct themselves at work with integrity, objectivity and honesty;
#### :small_blue_diamond: Attendees have a duty to act in a way that promotes the good name of the Institute; and, conversely, have a duty not to bring the Institute into disrepute by their actions (or inactions), statements or neglect of their responsibilities;
#### :small_blue_diamond: All attendees must actively seek to create a working atmosphere that is based on trust, co-operation and mutual respect for others;
#### :small_blue_diamond: Disruptive, unethical or illegal conduct will not be tolerated. Allegations of such conduct will be investigated thoroughly and addressed appropriately under the relevant policy.

## :pencil: Expected Behaviour
We are confident that our community members will together build a supportive and collaborative atmosphere at our events and during online communications. The following bullet points set out explicitly what we hope you will consider to be appropriate community guidelines:

- **Be respectful of different viewpoints and experiences.** Do not engage in homophobic, racist, transphobic, ageist, ableist, sexist, or otherwise exclusionary behaviour.

- **Use welcoming and inclusive language.** Exclusionary comments or jokes, threats or violent language are not acceptable. Do not address others in an angry, intimidating, or demeaning manner. Be considerate of the ways the words you choose may impact others. Be patient and respectful of the fact that English is a second (or third or fourth!) language for some participants.
- **Do not harass people.** Harassment includes unwanted physical contact, sexual attention, or repeated social contact. Know that consent is explicit, conscious and continuous—not implied. If you are unsure whether your behaviour towards another person is welcome, ask them. If someone tells you to stop, do so.
- **Respect the privacy and safety of others.** Do not take photographs of others without their permission. Do not share other participant’s personal experiences without their express permission. Note that posting (or threatening to post) personally identifying information of others without their consent (“doxing”) is a form of harassment.
- **Be considerate of others’ participation.** Everyone should have an opportunity to be heard. In update sessions, please keep comments succinct so as to allow maximum engagement by all participants. Do not interrupt others on the basis of disagreement; hold such comments until they have finished speaking.
- **Don’t be a bystander.** If you see something inappropriate happening, speak up. If you don’t feel comfortable intervening but feel someone should, please feel free to ask a member of the Code of Conduct response team for support.
- As an overriding general rule, **please be intentional in your actions and humble in your mistakes.**

## :warning: Unacceptable behaviours
Unacceptable behaviours will result in immediate action and potentially lead to removal from the rest of the symposium. This being said, consistent and intentional disregard for the Discussion Guidelines below can also be regarded as unacceptable if such behaviour significantly disrupts the group and makes it an unwelcome environment for others.

Unacceptable behaviours include but are not limited to:

- Intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning speech or actions. Within this definition, we include refusal to use a person’s stated pronouns and denying the existence of someone’s experiences of discrimination.

- Harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments or visual images related to age, background, belief, disability, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, identity, national origin, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics, including those protected by law.
- Inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images.
- Real or implied threat of professional or financial damage or harm.
- Inappropriate disruption of meetings or events.
- Photographing, video or audio recording of slides, oral or poster presentations without presenter/author’s permission.
- Violating the rules and regulations of the online platform (e.g. Zoom)
- Publication of private communication without consent.

## :pencil: Discussion Guidelines
The below Do-s and Don’t-s are guidelines to remind us all of best standards of behaviour in meetings, and to make sure the discussion environment is a welcoming place!

## :heavy_check_mark: Do...

- Be respectful of differences in experience, knowledge and background.
- Be conscious of how much space you’re taking up in a conversation; be extra conscious if you hold a privileged or dominant identity when discussing a form of inequality or oppression.
- Give people space and time to make their point if they need it.

## :no_entry: Don’t…
- Interrupt only to correct unrelated points. This derails the person speaking, and is unnecessary if the correction does not have any relevance to the point being put forward.
- Play devil’s advocate unnecessarily: specifically, do not argue for contrarian positions that you do not actually hold.
- Feign shock/incredulity when someone doesn’t know something you think is obvious.

## :scroll: Reporting Procedure
If you have been subject to or witnessed unacceptable behaviour, either during a meeting or on this repository, then you can get in touch with either Susana or Ceilidh.

- Susana: [e-mail]
- Ceilidh: [e-mail]
- If you would prefer to contact someone who is not directly involved in organising the event, then you can direct your concerns to Mishka Nemes: [e-mail]

## :bookmark_tabs: Response process
Once an incident has been reported, we will respond as quickly as possible, according to the following guidelines:

- Severe and clear breaches of the code of conduct could result in immediate removal from a symposium.
- In less severe cases, we will:
- Ask reporters to fill out a short form detailing what happened.
- Assemble a small committee of 2-5 people (which would not include anyone with conflicts of interest) who would:
* Where appropriate, meet with the reportee to gather information. Not all committee members need to attend this meeting, but at least two must.
* The committee would then meet to determine whether or not the code of conduct was breached and whether we need to amend the code of conduct for the future.
* The committee would also determine what an appropriate response would be to best protect our community from harm.
- Responses could include:
* A warning (verbally or via email) to the party who has breached the code of conduct.
* Ensuring that the reporter and reported person are not allocated to the same small group activities.
* Banning from future workshops as an attendee, and/or as a facilitator.

This Code of Conduct has been developed for an the DERR Symoposiums. It is based on the [Alan Turing Institute](https://www.turing.ac.uk/events/policies-and-guidelines#:~:text=The%20Alan%20Turing%20Institute%20is,tolerate%20harassment%20in%20any%20form) and the [Data Hazards](https://datahazards.com/contents/code-of-conduct.html)' and the content from the [Jean Golding Institute’s Code of Conduct](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/golding/what-we-do/people/code-of-conduct-/) for online events, [Arizona Diversity Journal Club Code of Conduct](https://www.as.arizona.edu/diversity_coffee/#two), and the [Recurse Centre’s Social Rules](https://www.recurse.com/manual#sub-sec-social-rules).