Motivation

The pandemic has shown the scientific community the benefits and limitations of virtual conferences. While a lower carbon footprint is a clear advantage of virtual meetings, it has become clear that creativity and exchange of ideas happen best through personal interaction.  However, there is a growing concern about how to make travel and attendance more sustainable and respectful for the planet. The ISMB/ECCB 2023 Sustainable Conference Travel Award aims to promote sustainable travel to scientific meetings by rewarding delegates who show environmentally friendly travel to attend the ISMB/ECCB 2023 Conference in Lyon, France.

How to participate

Do you have a plan for more sustainable travel to Lyon for the ISMB/ECCB 2023 conference? This could be travel using land rather than air transport for the totality or parts of your trip, or traveling with other participants using a common rental, or simply implementing environmentally friendly actions during your trip. If you wish to participate in the ISMB/ECCB 2023 SCTA, this is how it works:

• Click HERE to submit your entry to the ISMB/ECCB 2023 Sustainable Conference Travel Award describing how you are planning to make your trip different and more sustainable. Your abstract should include:
  • how you will travel/plan for travel,
  • how many ISMB/ECCB 2023 attendees are involved in your trip,
  • how many miles you will cover, an estimate of the carbon footprint savings, and
  • how you will communicate your travel through social media.

You should provide documentation that demonstrates your sustainable travel (tickets, rental contracts, twitter posts, etc). You are encouraged to use the hashtag #GreenTravel2ISMB

• At the registration desk in Lyon at the Palais des congres de Lyon, indicate you are participating in the Sustainable Conference Travel Award to receive the SCTA ribbon.
• The GreenISCB committee will select the two best sustainable conference travel experiences. We will consider not only the carbon footprint saving, but also the number of participants involved, the creativity and effort at designing an alternative travel choice, and the dissemination of the initiative. Each winning proposal will receive prizes - monetary cash prizes, memberships, and other items.
• Winners may be asked to give a short presentation about their proposal and experience during the conference.

If you plan to participate in this programme, please submit your plans by July 14, 2023.  You will have the opportunity to upload your PDFs and other documentation closer to the conference. This is the documentation that demonstrates your sustainable travel (tickets, rental contracts, twitter posts, etc). This is an illustration that your travel choice was more sustainable than other travel options, how many miles covered in travel, demonstration of how you are communicating your sustainable travel choices.