Friendly space policy

Commitment and ethics

We are committed to ensuring that this conference is welcoming and inclusive to all participants. To this end, we encourage all participants, including attendees, speakers, volunteers, staff and service providers of Undone Computer Science 2026 to read this policy, which they are expected to abide by during Undone Computer Science 2026 (whether on the premises, in the socialization spaces, or online).

The goal of this conference is to engage in open discussion, present scientific research, and debate the scientific topics in a spirit of intellectual openness and goodwill. Participants commit to upholding the highest standards of scientific integrity (reliability, honesty, respect, accountability), responsible behavior toward others (politeness, fairness, respect), and toward the environment (keeping the premises clean, avoiding waste, and not damaging equipment), as well as ethical and professional conduct.

We believe in the importance of addressing issues related to race, gender, disability, position and hierarchy in and outside of academia, and other forms of inequalities, and in working to reduce the impact of these oppressions. Our aim is to listen and support you to the best of our abilities. You can reach out to anyone in the organisation committee. However, if you do not feel represented by anyone on the organisation committee, you can also reach out to anyone you trust among the participants. Additionally, we have included some tools and guidelines below to help ensure the conference is a positive and welcoming experience for everyone.

Communication

Outside of sessions, everyone is welcome to choose their preferred language for communication, although please be inclusive of people in the group who might not master your language and adapt accordingly, and please be mindful of integrating newcomers.

Please be mindful of not interrupting or talking over someone else, but also not to monopolize the discussion, both during and outside of sessions.

During sessions, Q&A and discussions

Speakers express themselves in English (unless they have discussed their language choice in advance with the organisers), and are recorded and broadcast to online attendees so the use of the microphone is essential.

Short Questions & Answer (Q&A) sessions follow each talk (5 min), and a joint discussion takes place at the end of each session (15 min). The Q&A and discussions are broadcast to online participants but will not be published online after the conference.

  • Participants must ask questions with a microphone. Please hold the mic close to your mouth and speak clearly and slowly. Please note that online attendees cannot hear what is spoken without the microphone. In case you have chosen not to consent to the recording of your voice on the registration form, we ask that you avoid speaking in a microphone (for instance, feel free to ask someone else to relay your question).

  • Please be clear and avoid disciplinary jargon in your questions. Not everybody comes from the same field and has the same references. Please try to be concise and avoid using this time for a long comment on your own work. If you are frustrated by a presentation, please try to remain respectful and nice. Questions are also meant to help the authors. Speakers are encouraged to reformulate the question.

  • Whenever anyone speaks, they should say their name and if they wish, their affiliation, so that people who are participating remotely can follow along with the conversation.

  • For on-site participants, please raise your hand so the moderator notices and acknowledges you. They will give you the mic.

  • All sessions are accessible remotely. For remote participants, the chat will be open during the sessions for side-conversation and questions. There will be someone (e.g. the moderator) to select and read online questions to the speakers.

Quoting participants and taking pictures (e.g. live blogging on social media)

Undone CS seeks to be a space where people can discuss freely, express tentative and non fully-formed thoughts, try to get beyond their areas of expertise, and make mistakes. To this end:

  1. Regarding presentations and Q&As:
    Quoting the contents of the presentations and publishing photos of the slides and the speakers (e.g. live blogging) is permitted by default. However, you should be ready and able to unpublish the quote or the picture upon simple request (or ask the speaker for specific consent if the medium does not allow this). Regarding the Q&As, explicit consent is required for quoting, given their spontaneous nature.

  2. Regarding informal discussions during the conference, between the sessions and on the remote chat:
    By default, we expect everyone to keep the informal parts of the conference private and confidential. As such, unless you have the participants’ explicit consent for a specific use, please do not take pictures, record off-conversations, or reproduce the contents of such discussions (with or without quotes). In particular, recording or taking pictures of participants without their explicit consent is a serious offense that may lead to being asked to leave the conference.

On mutual respect and microaggressions

Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free and inclusive conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, class (including academic social class), culture, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, beliefs, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for the conference venues, including talks (by default), social gatherings, and online media. Participants violating these rules may be asked to leave the conference.

We recognize that subtle, often unintentional behaviours, comments, or interactions can be harmful and damaging. Microagressions can be defined as “commonplace verbal, behavioural or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes” (Wikipedia) toward those of different social groups. We expect all participants to be mindful of microaggressions, in particular along the factors listed above.

This includes in particular the respect of people’s pronouns and identities. People’s pronouns are specified on their badge (for people who gave them in the registration form). We also kindly invite people attending remotely to add their pronouns to their displayed name. If you have a doubt about somebody’s pronouns please ask them politely “What are your pronouns?”. Do not assume someone’s pronouns based on their looks.

If you notice someone having such behaviour (e.g., misgendering someone), you can react and re-clarify (example: “Just to clarify, Dr. Dupont uses ‘she’ pronouns. Thank you for your understanding.”). If you notice or are told that you are misgendering someone, you can simply repeat the sentence corrected, no need to justify. If you notice or are told you are committing a microaggression, simply say “sorry” and be careful in the rest of the interaction. For examples of microaggressions, see: https://www.themicropedia.org/#/category/2slgbtq+.

If any issues arises:

  • We want a space where mistakes are allowed, however, if you said something that may be hurtful, first genuinely apologize, and take responsibility. To help each one grow and reflect, we have provided resources above and below.
  • If you experience distress or discomfort, we invite you to reach out to organizers.
  • If you observe or are a victim of discrimination or microaggression, here are some recommended reactions:
    1. Redirect the interaction to immediately stop the conversation to prevent further harm from occurring. For example, you could say: “Let’s take a break now. I’m concerned that the language used may hurt someone.”
    2. Ask probing questions to the aggressor to help them understand their statements and actions and how they can be perceived as rude, threatening, or harmful. For example, you could say: “You say that (name) doesn’t look like they have a disability. What do you mean by that?”
    3. Values clarification involves identifying shared organizational values and conveying to the perpetrator that their actions or statements are not aligned with these values. For example, you could say: “In this event, we are committed to values of inclusion, diversity, and equity. We respect and value each other. Do you think that what you said aligns with our values?”
    4. If the person still fails to recognize that they might have been harmful or discriminatory, express your own thoughts and feelings. For example, you could say: “I feel hurt by what you said. I feel like you think people with disabilities don’t have the same rights as people without disabilities.”
    5. Suggest a next step to the perpetrator of micro-aggression: remind them to read the resources included with this code of conduct. If relevant, encourage them to make a genuine apology to the person(s) who might have been hurt, acknowledging the next steps to prevent future microaggressions.
    6. If these steps did not help, please communicate with the organizers who will evaluate the situation and take further actions, as relevant. Further actions may include meeting with the perpetrator, emphasizing our values and directing them to appropriate resources, and revising this code of conduct and procedures to prevent future discrimination. In the case that the perpetrator repeats these harmful actions, they may be asked to leave the conference.

Accessibility, health and sanitary self-defense

Participants are invited to be accessibility allies and report any accessibility issues (e.g., broken automatic doors, lack of ramps, inaccessible language or visuals) to organizers.

There is a quiet room available next to the auditorium in case you need a break from noise or socializing.

The auditorium has a ventilation system but no windows. Lunches and coffee breaks take place near the entrance of the building, with air circulation from the doors, and making it possible to carry your glass and plate outside if you need fresh air and/or a quiet space.

Health prevention, self-care and mutual care are political. In the unfortunate event that you suspect you might be sick, please consider staying at home or at the hotel (and attending remotely). For those who would like to wear a protective facemask, we will make boxes of FFP2 masks available at the entrance of the conference room. Even if you do not have symptoms, or if they seem like allergies, testing before travelling to the conference is encouraged, since up to half of contaminations can come from asymptomatic or presymptomatic people, and autotests can show false negatives.

To conclude

We hope that you will enjoy the conference and the conversations, and go back home healthy and happy from the scientific presentations and discussions, the organisation and venue, the food and drinks, and the informal interactions.

Sources and resources for participants to read

This text was written by the organisers of Undone Computer Science 2026, by extensively reusing the Code of Conduct of the 2025 second edition of the conference “Scienc·e·s: No science without us!”" (thanks to the organisers for the PDF and the kind permission to reuse) and the accessibility page of the same conference: https://scienc-e-s-2025.sciencesconf.org/page/accessibility.

It also reuses some part, modified, of the Conference Code of Conduct https://confcodeofconduct.com/ (CC BY 3.0).

Resources include the stated sources of Scienc·e·s: No science without us! :

Other useful resources, in French

Greendays 2026, Code de Conduite
https://greendays.sciencesconf.org/page/code_de_conduite?lang=fr

Miriam Backens, Magali Bardet, Jérémie Bettinelli, Marie van den Bogaard, Sylvie Boldo, et al. Code de Conduite du GDR-IFM. GDR-IFM. 2026. ⟨hal-05539615⟩
https://hal.science/hal-05539615