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BOSC Invited Speaker Rubric

2023-01-31

This document is an ongoing attempt to provide transparency about how the BOSC organizing committee selects invited talks, including keynotes. The organizing committee is responsible for choosing these speakers, and seeks to invite prominent individuals and emerging leaders who are accomplished in their fields, and whose work is likely to be informative and of interest to the bioinformatics open source community.

The committee seeks to have several invited speakers at each BOSC who represent a diversity of backgrounds and ideas. Here are factors we consider when trying to select a slate of speakers - including keynote speakers:

  • Speakers who work on issues or topics relevant to the biological or bioinformatics research community
  • Speakers who can contextualize their own work with the open source bioinformatics community
  • Speakers who have gained acclaim in their field
  • Speakers who have unique educational value
  • Speakers who can challenge the BOSC community with new ideas and/or challenge them to think deeply about new topics
  • Representation in gender diversity, ethnic diversity, and geographic diversity

In addition to these and other positive characteristics that may make a speaker appropriate for a BOSC there are also characteristics which will exclude a speaker. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Speakers who have made documented racist, sexist, homophobic, statements, or any statements which could be classified as hate speech (e.g. as defined in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hate-speech/ ) and/or there is evidence that they engage in or condone this type of speech and/or related conduct.
  • Speakers who have been found guilty of, are credibly accused of, or under investigation for the above and/or other offenses including but not limited to sexual abuse or research misconduct.

While the organizing committee seeks to follow this rubric, there may be circumstances or information which may cause us to reconsider an invited talk. To address this, we will follow the following procedure:

  1. We invite any BOSC attendee, community member, or person with knowledge of the speaker to contact the organizing committee about their concerns. If they choose, they may also present any evidence or materials we should consider. This communication will be treated confidentiality.

  2. If this information makes it clear that the speaker is disqualified, the organizing committee will revoke their invitation.

  3. If it is unclear if a speaker should be disqualified, the concerns (assuming no conflict of interest) will be presented to the organizing committee. That committee will contact the speaker and seek to determine the speaker's commitment to following the Code of Conduct, before, during, and after the BOSC conference, including the potential for retaliation and harassment in online spaces and after the conference has concluded. Conduct or the potential for conduct that does not quite rise to the level of a code of conduct violation may still ultimately be disqualifying.

  4. This confidential discussion between the invited speaker and the committee is a courtesy which provides the opportunity for the invitee to defend themselves against unfair or inaccurate accusations.

  5. The code of conduct committee will communicate their decision to the organizing committee, which will abide by that decision and follow up with the speaker.

  6. If a concern about a speaker is raised at a point where there is insufficient time to follow the above process, the organizing committee will make a decision about allowing a talk to proceed.

The organizing committee expects all attendees, including invited and keynote speakers. to abide by our code of conduct. We hope this policy, which we invite comments on by our community, can help us avoid arbitrary decisions and work towards a fair and transparent process. We will update this process as required. We know we won't get things perfect, so we value your feedback in helping us to keep doing better.

Honoraria

BOSC recognizes that participating as an invited speaker is an effort provided by the speaker. BOSC will provide support including complimentary registration to the event and a $500 honorarium. The honorarium can be accepted by the speaker or if they prefer they may forgo the honorarium so that funds can be used to help offset registration fees for attendees who need financial assistance to participate.

Credit

JW: Jason Williams

MS: Malvika Sharan

MMT: Moni Munoz-Torres

NH: Nomi Harris

NOMINATION PROCESS AND TIMELINE 2024

  1. Nominations will be open from Jan 10, 2024 through Jan 17, 2024 via an anonymous form and any community member (including the Organizing Committee) can nominate people they think would make a good keynote speaker.
  2. A list of all nominations received will be made public from Jan 18, 2024 through Jan 24, 2024 (the link will be added to the BOSC home page. During this time community members can make the Organizing Committee aware of any speakers who may violate the policy.
  3. The Organizing Committee will draw on the nomination list to extend invitations. Since we cannot know in advance which speakers might accept the invitation, we may have to go beyond the list of those nominated. In that case, we will not rerun this process, but community members will always be encouraged to inform the Organizing Committee if any speaker does not meet our standards.