Below is my oral presentation at the 2020 International Marine Conservation Congress, in which I condense my PhD into a ten minute talk (which is a great science communication exercise!).
This was my first online conference, which I really enjoyed because if you missed anything you could watch it later, asking questions wasn’t as intimidating as in person, and talks were spread out over two weeks which made the whole experience less draining than an in person conference! As I mention in my talk, online is definitely the future of conservation conferences!
But of course with Murphy’s law, we had unexpected power cuts right before my talk, and so thankfully everything was charged and it was daytime (but my stress levels still went way up)! This experience showed me that even though online conferences make it much easier for those in the Global South and developing countries to attend, there are still biases that occur, such as access to electricity and internet, which still need to be addressed for fully equitable conferences in the future.
Here’s to making science and research more accessible to all. Hope you enjoy!