Diversifying (the) Conference Campaign
The need for conference speakers and presenters to better represent the diversity of the research workforce, explicitly including lived experience/disability groups and those with intersecting experiences of poverty, homelessness, structural racism, migration in adversity and incarceration, has long been recognized in theory. Nevertheless, many psychiatry and mental health conferences persist, year after year, in failing to diversify conference planning committees, keynote, plenary and invited speaker lists, and the membership of the scientific advisory groups that review proposals. These manifestations of exclusion and marginalization in turn reinforce unstated hierarchies of value, power and knowledge, situating those with mental health conditions as objects and informants rather than inquirers and experts. Inclusion of researchers based in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), especially for any conference with an ostensibly global scope, is also common and perpetuates the devaluation of those living and working in these countries and regions.
Inspired by the Gendered Conference Campaign (in philosophy) and similar initiatives, we call on conference organizers and the leadership of organizing bodies such as professional associations, to reconsider invited/plenary/keynote speakers lists that do not include a single person with disclosed personal or family experience of the conditions/diagnoses or themes of the conference, and, moving forward, to begin building in structures and mechanisms that can and will help ensure the integration of diverse voices in planning, review and leadership.
To support the DCC, we have developed an FAQ and How To Guide. Want to sign on/endorse the campaign? Please fill out the form below. (Once we have critical mass we will list all signatory individuals, organizations, and programs/centers on a dedicated page.)
Inspired by the Gendered Conference Campaign (in philosophy) and similar initiatives, we call on conference organizers and the leadership of organizing bodies such as professional associations, to reconsider invited/plenary/keynote speakers lists that do not include a single person with disclosed personal or family experience of the conditions/diagnoses or themes of the conference, and, moving forward, to begin building in structures and mechanisms that can and will help ensure the integration of diverse voices in planning, review and leadership.
To support the DCC, we have developed an FAQ and How To Guide. Want to sign on/endorse the campaign? Please fill out the form below. (Once we have critical mass we will list all signatory individuals, organizations, and programs/centers on a dedicated page.)
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