Code of conduct

What we expect from everyone at GBA-CCN Network seminars, workshops, summer schools, the chat group and the repository, and what happens when someone falls short.

The GBA-CCN Network only works if people feel safe to present unfinished work, ask questions and disagree. This code sets out what we expect from each other and what we do when someone falls short.

Where it applies

It covers every activity run under the network’s name: the seminar series, workshops, summer schools, the WeChat group and announcement list, and the repository. It applies to everyone taking part: speakers, hosts, coordinators and audience alike. Coordinators are held to it like everyone else.

What we expect

• Be considerate. Many participants are students giving their first talk, often in a second or third language. Ask questions to understand, not to score points.
• Criticise the work, not the person.
• Let the chair run the session. Keep questions short so others get a turn.
• Unpublished results shown in a talk stay in the talk unless the speaker says otherwise.
• Keep the chat group for network business. No advertising, no chain messages.

What we do not accept

• Harassment, including unwelcome sexual attention, intimidation, and repeated contact after being asked to stop.
• Discrimination or demeaning remarks about gender, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, accent, institution or career stage.
• Sustained disruption of a talk, a discussion or the chat group.
• Recording, screenshotting or sharing any part of a session, including slides and chat messages, without the speaker’s written consent. See Privacy and consent.
• Doxxing: publishing someone’s private information, such as a home address or personal phone number, or threatening to.

Languages

The working language is English, but nobody is excluded for not being fluent in it. You may ask a question in Cantonese, Mandarin or English; if needed, the chair will summarise it in English. Do not mock anyone’s language or accent.

Reporting a problem

If you experience or witness a breach, tell any coordinator, or write to the contact address on the About page. During a session you can message the host privately. Say what happened, when, and who was involved, as far as you can. You do not have to be the target to report.

Reports are handled by two coordinators not involved in the incident and not from the same lab as anyone involved. They will acknowledge the report within a week, hear the people concerned, and tell you the outcome. Reports are confidential: details go only to the coordinators handling the case and, where needed to act, to the person the report is about. Nobody faces consequences for reporting in good faith.

Consequences

Depending on what happened, coordinators may give a warning; remove someone from an event, the chat group or the repository, for a period or permanently; or, as a last resort, delist a lab from the roster. Decisions are taken by the coordinators handling the report and confirmed by the coordinator group. Anyone affected may ask once for a review by coordinators who did not make the decision.

Review

This is a first version, written for an online seminar series. Coordinators will review it with member labs before the network’s first multi-day event and add what an in-person event needs, such as on-site contacts and venue rules. Suggestions are welcome as issues or pull requests in the repository.