ESOCC aims to encourage the free exchange of ideas and support freedom of thought and expression among researchers. This requires an environment that values every person and group, promotes dignity, understanding, mutual respect, and embraces diversity.

Therefore, ESOCC is committed to offering an inclusive, harassment-free experience for participants at our events and in our official communication channels, including social media. We want all participants to feel welcome, included, respected, and safe. We do not tolerate any behavior or speech that is unwelcome, hostile, intimidating, or makes anyone uncomfortable or hinders their participation in our conferences and events.

Expected Behaviour

We expect all ESOCC conference participants to act professionally and contribute to a safe and welcoming environment for everyone involved, including attendees, volunteers, sponsors, organizers, speakers, venue staff, and exhibitors at all conference locations, including side events and unofficial social gatherings:

• Be considerate and respectful in your speech and actions.
• Be aware of cultural differences, as attendees come from various parts of the world and may have different comfort levels regarding language and personal space.
• Avoid demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
• Focus on discussing and critiquing ideas, not individuals.

Unacceptable Behaviour includes: abusive or degrading language, sustained disruption of a talk or other activity, discrimination, deliberate intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact, sexual imagery and unwelcome sexual attention.

Harassment includes: comments, writings, or actions including jokes that discriminate or denigrate an individual on the bases of race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, religion, national origin, disability, pregnancy, medical conditions, veteran status, or any other status protected by laws in which the conference is being held.

Sexual Harassment includes: unwelcome advances or propositions; inappropriate touching of an individual’s body; degrading or humiliating comments about an individual’s appearance; displaying or distributing sexually explicit images or messages.

Alert community leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this policy, even if they seem inconsequential.

How to Report Unacceptable Behaviour

Anyone witnessing or subject to unacceptable behavior should notify anyone on the venue staff or security, or report the incident to any member of the Steering Committee. If you feel that you or someone around you is in immediate danger, please dial 112 on your phone (police, fire, ambulance).

Any individual violating these standards may be sanctioned or excluded from further participation at the current conference, without refund, at the discretion of the event organizers.

Code of Conduct

The ESOCC committee believes that science, technology, and engineering are essential human activities that require openness, international collaboration, and the free flow of talent and ideas. Its meetings, conferences, and other events aim to foster engaging, thought-provoking conversations that support the core mission of advancing technology for humanity. Therefore, ESOCC conferences are dedicated to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all participants, including staff and vendors.

The ESOCC committee does not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or bullying in any form. All participants have the right to engage in shared interests without facing harassment or discrimination, in an environment that supports diversity and inclusion. Participants are expected to follow these principles and respect others’ rights.

The ESOCC committee strives to ensure a secure environment at their events. Participants should report any behavior that violates these principles to on-site staff, security or venue personnel, or any member of the ESOCC Steering Committee.

Conference organizers are also requested to report incidents to any member of the ESOCC Steering Committee. If you hear an inappropriate remark, intended or misjudged, this list of comebacks may prove useful in the moment. A useful resource is the Geek Feminism Wiki, which includes models for public announcements and guidance for conference staff.

Attendance policy

Presentations must be delivered on-site by a co-author of the paper to ensure that questions can be properly addressed at the end of the presentation and during the poster session. Presentations by non-authors are not acceptable, and remote presentations via Skype or video conferencing will not be accepted. Failure to follow this policy may result in the paper being removed from the conference proceedings. Please make timely arrangements for visas, travel, and other necessities, as it is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that one of them presents the paper. Non-refundable registration fees must be paid when submitting the final version of the paper.