In keeping with the ACM Policy Against Harassment at ACM Activities, and IEEE Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment, ICSE 2023 is committed to providing a welcoming space for all attendees.
A primary goal of ICSE 2023 is to promote the open exchange of ideas and the freedom of thought and expression among researchers. These require an environment that recognizes the inherent worth of every person and group; fosters dignity, understanding, and mutual respect; and embraces diversity.
For these reasons, ICSE 2023 is dedicated to providing an inclusive harassment-free experience for participants at our events and in official communications channels, including social media. We want every participant to feel welcome, included, respected, and safe. There is no tolerance for unwelcome or hostile behavior or speech that intimidates, creates discomfort, or interferes with a person’s participation or opportunity for participation at our conference and events.
Expected Behaviour
We expect all ICSE 2023 participants to behave professionally and to help create a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees, volunteers, sponsors, organizers, speakers, venue staff, and exhibitors in all conference venues, including ancillary events and unofficial social gatherings:
- Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions;
- Be mindful of cultural differences in engagement – attendees come from all over the world and may have a different level of comfort with respect to language and personal space;
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech;
- Discuss and critique ideas, not people;
Unacceptable Behavior 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 EDI committee through the ICSE Information desk (Joshua Garcia, Ita Richardson, John Grundy, Mansooreh Zahedi) or venue staff or security, or report the incident to ACM via this form for Reporting Violations of the ACM Policy Against Harassment and to IEEE (eventconduct@ieee.org). If you feel that you or someone around you is in immediate danger, please dial 112 on your phone (police, fire, ambulance).
An individual violating these standards may be sanctioned or excluded from further participation at ICSE 2023, without refund, at the discretion of the event organizers. Violations that are reported to ACM or IEEE will be investigated and may result in further sanctions (ACM Policy Against Harassment at ACM Activities, IEEE Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment).
If you need additional support, SIGSOFT CARES have a desk in the Exhibition area. CARES seeks to raise awareness of and deter discriminatory, harassing, or other unethical behaviour and incidents related to SIG activities and publications. It seeks to support those who have had such experiences directly, offering them an open and confidential conversation. Our goal is to empower all SIGSOFT community members to speak up if we observe such behaviour. Note that in certain cases of imminent danger, including threats of violence, suicide, harm to children, etc., CARES committee members are required to report to appropriate authorities.
IEEE Code of Conduct
IEEE believes that science, technology, and engineering are fundamental human activities, for which openness, international collaboration, and the free flow of talent and ideas are essential. Its meetings, conferences, and other events seek to enable engaging, thought provoking conversations that support IEEE’s core mission of advancing technology for humanity. Accordingly, IEEE is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment to all participants, including staff and vendors, at IEEE-related events.
IEEE has no tolerance for discrimination, harassment, or bullying in any form at IEEE-related events. All participants have the right to pursue shared interests without harassment or discrimination in an environment that supports diversity and inclusion. Participants are expected to adhere to these principles and respect the rights of others.
IEEE seeks to provide a secure environment at its events. Participants should report any behavior inconsistent with the principles outlined here, to on site staff, security or venue personnel, or to eventconduct@ieee.org.