Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) are concepts centered on the development of attitudes toward providing equal opportunity for individuals (equity), recognizing personal, social, and cultural differences (diversity), and welcoming everyone to engage, feel part of, and participate in spaces and debates (inclusion).
The following text is subject to revision as ICSE 2025 planning progresses:
ICSE 2025 aims to recruit a diverse set of speakers and committee members considering various social, cultural and economic statuses and skills (e.g., gender, geolocation, seniority, research expertise, affiliation, and academia/industry). Additionally, we encourage reviewers to accept high-quality research but provide clear, consistent, empathetic, and kind feedback when reviewing papers.
We expect every person participating at ICSE 2025 to contribute to the establishment of an environment where everyone feels welcome, included, respected, and safe about their social, cultural, and economic status (e.g., national origin, gender, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, race, or any other individual aspects). In order to support participation, we are planning the following strategies:
- Quiet rooms during the conference and during social events for everyone who needs moments away from noise and crowds.
- On-site licensed childcare inside the conference venue with fun and educational activities for kids. More details soon.
- Student travel awards – in addition to merit and need, decisions about student travel awards will consider diversity with respect to social, cultural, and economic concerns such as gender, geolocation, and research area.
- Mentoring school – We want to increase the representation of authors from underrepresented countries in the coming years through creating a movement of mentoring schools for writing papers. While we can’t cover all countries at once, and the immediate impact of ICSE EDI 2025’s actions may not be realized due to impending deadline constraints, the EDI team recognizes the importance of laying the groundwork for future gains. The first mentoring workshop will happen in South America, Brazil, led by Prof. Bianca Trinkenreich (Colorado State University): https://cbsoft.sbc.org.br/2024/escola/
Events
In alignment with previous editions of ICSE, our strategy is to foster inclusive spaces within the conference that facilitate connections and interactions among individuals from various underrepresented groups. As part of this initiative, we intend to have a series of events (about each, we will provide details here on the website), including: Conversation on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) was a great success in 2024 and we plan to have it again, but in a larger space and with more time. This event will host a dynamic panel discussion featuring 3-5 expert panelists presenting cutting-edge research and engaging in thoughtful discussions on various EDI-related topics, addressing challenges, sharing insights, and exploring innovative solutions. This interactive session aims to showcase EDI’s importance in the field and foster a collaborative environment where attendees can actively participate, learn, and contribute to advancing EDI principles within the software engineering community. All the following events aim to create a safe space for networking and ideas exchange:
- WomenCafe@ICSE welcomes women and non-women allies and will happen in the conference space.
- BIPOCafe@ICSE will be held in the conference space and welcome people who identify their ethnicity as black indigenous people, other people of color, and non-BIPOC allies.
- DisabiliTEA@ICSE welcomes people with disabilities and their allies, and will be held in the conference space.
- LGBTQI+@ICSE and Neurodiverse@ICSE Lunches will be announced closer to the conference and will be held in a designated space near the conference to preserve participants’ privacy.
These events will be announced and advertised accordingly. Please contact us if you would like to organize a meet-up for a certain affinity group or if you have any other ideas to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion at ICSE.
IEEE Computer Society Open Conference Statement
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion are central to the goals of the IEEE Computer Society and all of its conferences. Equity at its heart is about removing barriers, biases, and obstacles that impede equal access and opportunity to succeed. Diversity is fundamentally about valuing human differences and recognizing diverse talents. Inclusion is the active engagement of Diversity and Equity.
A goal of the IEEE Computer Society is to foster an environment in which all individuals are entitled to participate in any IEEE Computer Society activity free of discrimination. For this reason, the IEEE Computer Society is firmly committed to team composition in all sponsored activities, including but not limited to, technical committees, steering committees, conference organizations, standards committees, and ad hoc committees that display Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
IEEE Computer Society meetings, conferences, and workshops must provide a welcoming, open and safe environment, that embraces the value of every person, regardless of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, religion, national origin, ancestry, or disability. All individuals are entitled to participate in any IEEE Computer Society activity free of discrimination, including harassment based on any of the above factors.
SIGSOFT Cares
CARES is a subcommittee of ACM SIGSOFT. All ACM SIG events and communications abide by ACM’s policy against discrimination and harassment. The role of CARES is to serve as a resource comprising of well-known and respected people in the software engineering community who are approachable and willing to listen to and help people who experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or other ethical policy violation, either at our events or related to ACM publications; the committee members can be a sounding board for these people and can provide advice on the steps necessary to have the matter further investigated by ACM.
The motivation for providing a standing CARES committee is: (1) people are more likely to report harassment, discrimination, or other ethical policy violations if familiar and respected members of the community are available for support, (2) unlike conference chairs, the members of the CARES committee will be chosen largely for their commitment and record on the targeted issues, (3) longer membership terms and an (eventually) established committee enable building experience and a record that inspires more trust for those considering coming forward about an incident, (4) committee members are expected to be physically present at our main events and work with event leaders to publicize their role, and (5) the presence of such a committee with respected and trusted members from the community assigned to watch for these issues should serve as a deterrent for such behavior as well as encourage us all to be aware of and speak up if we observe such behavior.
What CARES does. CARES is dedicated to providing completely confidential support to members of the software engineering community. We listen to members who come to us for advice or who just want to talk. If they would like advice on what kinds of actions they can take, we do our best to provide such advice.
Contacts
Please contact the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Co-Chairs Amy Felty and Bianca Trinkenreich).