Morphic Code of Conduct for Events

Draft provided to SC - May 3, 2023; FINAL approval by SC on……

Primary Authors: Mazhar Adli (Adapted from HuBMAP code of conduct policy)

MorPhic is dedicated to maintaining an inclusive, safe, and respectful environment for everyone attending or participating in events such as annual meetings, demo days, webinars, and other events. We do not tolerate harassment of people in any form, and we empower all participants in our community to actively engage in creating a friendly and safe environment for all.

Furthermore, MorPhic recognizes that a diversity of perspectives is not only beneficial but critical to doing the best scientific work and aims to provide an atmosphere conducive to the open exchange of ideas and collaboration. As stated in https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOTOD21053.html, NIH's ability to ensure that the nation remains a global leader in scientific discovery and innovation is dependent upon a pool of highly talented scientists from diverse backgrounds who will help to further the NIH's mission. Supporting a diverse scientific workforce fosters creativity and innovation, helps to ensure that different perspectives are considered when addressing complex scientific problems, and ultimately improves the quality of research

Expectations of Behavior

Our world is rich in diversity, and MorPhic embraces those differences, including in ability, age, color, ethnicity, race, family or marital status, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy and related medical conditions, language, national origin, political affiliation, religion, socioeconomic status, veteran status, health status, and other dimensions of diversity.

As an attendee, presenter, researcher, sponsor, or guest at all Morphic meetings, events or programs organized by MorPhic, I will:

• Embrace MorPhic's diverse community of professionals, and be inclusive of all audiences in my presentations, demonstrations, and conversations.
• Exercise consideration and respect toward all persons in my speech and actions
• Encourage and contribute to productive scientific discourse. Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior, speech, and imagery.
• Seek advice from MorPhic personnel if I do not know how to fulfill these responsibilities.

Examples of inappropriate behavior include but are not restricted to:

• Disrupting the meeting or engaging in harm or threats of harm of any kind, including implied threats of physical, professional, or financial harm.
• Creating or contributing to a safety threat or unsafe or exclusionary situation. This includes deliberately engaging in intimidation, micro-aggression, stalking, or following.
• Making harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments or using visual images related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, personal characteristics, political ideology/identity, race, ethnicity, or religion (or lack thereof). Using inappropriate nudity and/or sexual images (including presentations, slides, or video chats).
• Retaliating against an individual for reporting discrimination or harassment, or intentionally filing a false report of discrimination or harassment.
• Making audio or visual recordings of the meeting in any medium or distributing audio or visual recordings of the meeting (via social media or any other means), with the exception of recordings made by event organizers. Screen shots and photographs of presentation slides are fine for personal use within the consortium, but are not for distribution outside the consortium.

Reporting

This Code of Conduct is in place to protect the safety of all participants. Contact, language, or imagery of a violent, threatening, sexual, discriminatory, demeaning, or disruptive nature is not appropriate during either in-person or online conferences, presentations, and events. If you witness any misconduct of this code, please report it to any Morphic program project PIs and the conference chair and organizing committee or in-person through the conference facility, including at the registration desk.

Criminal activity should be reported to the police.

Attendees or project participants asked to stop any harassing or discriminatory behavior are expected to comply immediately. Morphic leadership, at their sole discretion, may take action to redress behavior that is disruptive or that is making the environment unsafe for participants. This may include asking individuals to leave the event at their own expense and without a refund of any fees paid.

Resources:

NIH Policy: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-053.html

ASTC Code of Conduct: https://www.astc.org/membership/code-of-conduct/#:~:text=Conduct%20myself%20with%20integrity%2C%20respect,organization%2C%20ASTC%2C%20or%20myself.

Experimental Biology Code of Conduct: https://www.experimentalbiology.org/code-of-conduct