Code of Conduct

The organizers of ECML-PKDD 2020 are dedicated to providing a welcoming, inclusive, and harassment-free conference experience for everyone regardless of age, color, race, ethnicity, physical appearance, disability, family status, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, labor union membership, military status, religion or belief (or lack or thereof), political opinion (insofar it does not lead to disrespect for others), or any other factor.

All participants (including attendees, speakers, sponsors and volunteers) at ECML-PKDD 2020 are required to agree to the following code of conduct.

The code of conduct applies to all conference activities including talks, panels, workshops, reviewing activities, and social events. It extends to conference-specific exchanges on social media, for instance posts tagged with the identifier of the conference (e.g. #ecmlpkdd2020 on Twitter), replies to such posts, and replies to the official social media account (e.g. ECMLPKDD on Twitter).

Organizers will enforce this code throughout and expect cooperation in ensuring a safe environment for all.

Expected Behavior

All conference participants agree to:

  • Participate in an authentic and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.
  • Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
  • Attempt collaboration before conflict.
  • Be considerate in language and actions, and respect the boundaries of fellow participants.
  • Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behaviour and language. Please refer to Unacceptable Behavior for more details.
  • Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert a member of the staff or organizing team, who will be clearly identified as such, if you notice someone in distress, or observe violations of this code of conduct, even if they seem inconsequential. Please refer to the section titled, What To Do If You Witness or Are Subject To Unacceptable Behavior for more details.
  • Remember that community event venues (should the conference contain a physical on-site component) may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.

Unacceptable Behavior

Behavior that is unacceptable includes, but is not limited to:

  • Written or verbal comments which have the effect of excluding people on the basis of membership of any specific group
  • Causing someone to fear for their safety, such as through stalking, following, or intimidation
  • Violent threats or language directed against another person
  • Display of sexual or violent images
  • Unwelcome sexual attention, which can include inappropriate questions of a sexual nature, asking for sexual favours or repeatedly asking for dates or contact information
  • Non-consensual or unwelcome physical contact
  • Sustained disruption of talks, events or communications
  • Insults or put downs (including via inappropriate irrespectful tone of voice)
  • Use of sexualised or discriminatory imagery, comments, or jokes
  • Excessive swearing
  • Incitement to violence, suicide, or self-harm
  • Continuing to initiate unwanted interaction (including photography or recording) with someone after being asked to stop
  • Publication of private communication without consent

If you are asked to stop harassing behaviour you should stop immediately. Even if your behaviour was meant to be friendly or a joke, it was clearly not taken that way and for the comfort of all conference attendees you should stop.

Attendees who behave in a manner deemed inappropriate are subject to actions listed under Procedure for Code of Conduct Violations.

Additional Requirements for Conference Contributions

Presentation slides and posters should not contain offensive or sexualised material. If this material is impossible to avoid given the topic (for example text mining of material from hate sites) the existence of this material should be noted in the abstract and, in the case of oral contributions, at the start of the talk or session.

Additional Requirements for Sponsors

Sponsors should not use sexualised images, activities, or other material. Both staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualised clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualised environment. In case of violations, sanctions may be applied without return of sponsorship contribution.

Procedure for Code of Conduct Violations

The organizing committee reserves the right to determine the appropriate response for all code of conduct violations. Potential responses include:

  • A formal warning to stop harassing behavior
  • Expulsion from the conference
  • Removal of sponsor displays or conference posters
  • Cancellation or early termination of talks or other contributions to the program

Refunds may not be given in case of expulsion.

What To Do If You Witness or Are Subject To Unacceptable Behavior

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns relating to harassment, please contact any member of the ECML-PKDD 2020 staff.

Event staff will be clearly identified during the event. You can also contact the Inclusion and Diversity Chairs or the General Chair via the conference app (whova), or directly via email: inclusion_chairs@ecmlpkdd2020.net or gc_chairs@ecmlpkdd2020.net.

We will take all good-faith reports of harassment by ECML-PKDD 2020 participants seriously. This includes harassment outside our spaces and harassment that took place at any point in time. The ECML-PKDD 2020 organizing committee reserves the right to exclude people from ECML-PKDD 2020 based on their past behavior, including behavior outside ECML-PKDD 2020 spaces and behavior towards people who are not part of ECML-PKDD 2020.

We reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith. This includes reports intended to silence legitimate criticism.

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent. All data will be stored securely, and access will be limited to the Inclusion and Diversity Chairs (see specific members below) and the General Chair of ECML-PKDD 2020, or if you prefer any subset thereof.

Conference staff will also provide support to victims, including, but not limited to:

  • Providing a companion within ECML-PKDD 2020 and affiliated events (should the event have a physical on-site component)
  • Contacting hotel/venue security or local law enforcement (should the event have a physical on-site component)
  • Briefing key event staff for response/victim assistance
  • And otherwise assisting those experiencing harassment to ensure that they feel safe for the duration of the conference

The ECML-PKDD 2020 Inclusion and Diversity Chairs (inclusion_chairs@ecmlpkdd.net)

  • Michele Berlingerio (michele.berlingerio_at_gmail.com)
  • Oliver Guhr (oliver.guhr_at_htw-dresden.de)
  • Heidi Seibold (Heidi.Seibold_at_stat.uni-muenchen.de)
  • Peter Steinbach (p.steinbach_at_hzdr.de)

The ECML-PKDD 2020 General Chair (gc_chairs@ecmlpkdd2020.net)

  • Tijl De Bie (tijl.debie_at_ugent.be)

Questions or concerns about the Code of Conduct can be addressed to gc_chairs@ecmlpkdd2020.net.

Acknowledgements

Parts of the above text are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit to SRCCON. This code of conduct was based on that developed for useR! 2020 which was a revision of the code of conduct used at previous useR!s and also drew from rOpenSci’s code of conduct.