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By attending any ESA event, you agree to voluntarily abide by our ethics policy.

A code of conduct is a collection of rules and regulations that include what is and is not acceptable or expected behavior. By attending any ESA event, you agree voluntarily to abide by our code of conduct policy.

Authorship: All authors connected to a presentation and/or abstract must agree on all information contained in the presentation. Failure of an author to agree to the presentation format will lead to the presentation being withdrawn from the conference.

An author who submits a presentation to any ESA Meeting must have intentions of attending, registering, and presenting at the meeting once the submission is accepted into the program. Repeated or consecutive last-minute cancellations by presenters may result in future submissions being denied.

Capturing, Sharing, and Posting without Permission: Presenters and attendees cannot photograph, screenshot, capture, or otherwise share images or presentation data without a presenter’s expressed written permission. Presenters are encouraged to use our share (downloadable)/do not share (downloadable) icons. Presentations without “share” icons should be considered privileged and should not be shared outside the virtual platform.

COVID-19 Safety: Before, During and After the Meeting

• Follow relevant guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), or your local health authority.
• Adhere to government issued travel restrictions and guidance issued by the region you will be traveling to and the regions you are traveling through and from.
• Evaluate your own health and that of people you are in close contact with; contact the meeting/event organizers if you have concerns.
• Stay home if you feel sick.

Onsite During the Event

• Abide by the venue and ESA’s rules and requirements for onsite attendance.
• Assume all risks of attending an in-person event, including the potential risk of becoming infected with COVID-19
• Follow guidance from the local health authority, for everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including:
• Washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or an alcohol-based sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Throw used tissues in the trash.
• Agree to show proof of immunizations if required by ESA or the local venue officials.
• Agree to wear a mask or facial covering, as required by ESA or the local venue officials.
• Adhere to social distance protocols put in place by [Event Organizer] and respect others’ personal space.
• Go to the event First Aid office (or equivalent) at any time if you feel unwell or are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
• Stay in your room and contact ESA for further instructions if you wake up not feeling well during the event. Contact information can be found below.

Post-event: Based on current contact tracing advice from many health authorities, if you test positive for COVID-19 up to 14 days after returning home, please contact ESA to advise them.

Harassment and Safety: ESA is dedicated to providing a safe, hospitable, and productive environment for everyone attending our events, regardless of ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. It is important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is neither healthy nor productive. Accordingly, ESA prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during our conferences. This policy applies to speakers, staff, volunteers, and attendees. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference, at the discretion of ESA leadership.

Harassment of ESA participants will not be tolerated in any form. Harassment includes offensive gestures or verbal comments related to ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome attention. In addition, online harassment includes spamming online discussion boards, chats, question section, or social media by saying or reposting the same word/content repeatedly to disrupt the conversation. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant or exhibitor engages in harassing behavior, ESA leadership may take any action ranging from a simple warning to the offender to expulsion from this and future conferences. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact ESA staff who can work with appropriate ESA leadership to resolve the situation.

ESA staff will revoke meeting credentials to anyone engaged in online harassment and may seek the assistance of law enforcement if necessary. We value your attendance and want to make your experience as productive and professionally stimulating as possible.

Expected Behavior:

• Communicate openly with respect and consideration for others, valuing a diversity of views and opinions.
• Avoid personal attacks directed toward other attendees, participants, volunteers, exhibitors, staff and suppliers/vendors.
• When appropriate, be mindful of your fellow participants. Alert staff if you notice a dangerous situation or someone in distress.
• Respect the rules and policies of the online virtual platform, mobile app, or any other venue.
• Request permission from speakers before screen capturing or taking photographs of their presentation. Turn off any ringers or otherwise disrupting devices during oral or poster sessions.

Unacceptable Behavior:
It is important that our meeting be a place where no attendee or staff is ever bullied, belittled, criticized, or made to feel unsafe. The following behavior will not be tolerated:

• Harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in any form.
• Physical, written, or verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, staff member, service provider or other meeting guest.
• Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to, verbal or chat comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, national origin, inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces, in presentations or online, threatening or stalking any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, staff member, service provider or other meeting guest.
• Being negligent and unwilling to follow the rules and regulations listed in this code of conduct, even after a verbal warning or other guidance has been provided by ESA.

Want to file a complaint, have questions, or need assistance?
Please contact Stacie East, ESA's Director Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at +1 (301) 731-4535 x3030 or e-mail.

• All reports are kept confidential to the extent possible. We do not share the names of reporters with leadership when determining next steps.
• You may choose to submit an anonymous report. Please note that while we will keep track of anonymous reports, we cannot act on a single anonymous report without further corroboration.
• All reports are taken seriously and will be investigated.
• We will gather all relevant details and information (verbal or written) from the reporter, the target (if they are not the reporter), and witnesses, and the digital archive. Investigations may extend beyond the end of the meeting.
• The outcomes of investigations and subsequent sanctions will not be made public; however, those reporting incidents will be informed of the outcome.
• In addition to the actions that may be taken at meetings (as described above), violators of the code of conduct will receive written documentation of the actions taken at and following the meeting.