Code of Conduct

Diversity pledge: Diversity is one of the core values of the QM 2023 organization, and will be respected and promoted at QM 2023 at all times and in all its forms. The key goals of our effort will be

Code of Conduct: It is the expectation of the conference organizers that all participants, including attendees, vendors, and all other stakeholders will conduct themselves in a professional manner that is welcoming to all participants and free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. 

Participants will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment at Quark Matter 2023. Creating a supportive environment to enable scientific discourse at meetings is the responsibility of all participants.

Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking. Any violation of these guidelines should be reported to the conflict resolution committee, chaired jointly by Prof. Vickie Greene and Prof. Daniel Cebra. The committee will follow up, in confidentiality, with the accuser and the accused prior to taking any action.

Code of Conduct violation resolution: The diversity committee can receive any complaints during and after the conference as long as accused and accusers were registered participants of the conference. The jurisdiction of this committee and its decisions are valid for the actual conference alone. In other words any punishment that the committee chooses to impose can only pertain to participation in the ongoing conference. Any type of further action (e.g. restraining orders, banning of violators for multiple conferences) falls in the realm of a deeper investigation, which would require involvement of legal offices connected to the organizers and/or law enforcement. These secondary steps are at the discretion of the accuser, but they can be facilitated by the diversity committee. If a case is reported to any of the diversity committee members, the committee chairperson should arrange and hold interviews with both parties prior to making a decision. The decision by the diversity committee does not have to be unanimous. In case the diversity committee comes to the conclusion that a violation has taken place the suggested course of action is immediate removal of the person from the conference and any associated online platform. The decision should be communicated to the conference participants as soon as possible. It is important, though, that the anonymity of the accuser and the accused is preserved, even if the accusation is found to be true.

After the removal has occurred the conference chairs can choose to involve the IAC as an extended diversity committee and discuss further steps. The most far reaching step would be a notice to the next QM Conference Chairs or other chairs of international conferences, regarding the violation and the violator. In other words, since the conference chairs have knowledge about the identity of the violator, this knowledge can be passed on to the next conference organizer(s). This knowledge cannot be distributed to the public, the participants or any social media plat- forms, though. In particular any social media platforms linked to the conference needs to be free of any name calling. A breach of this anonymity clause by any member of the LOC and IAC is a CoC violation in itself and could lead to punishment by the diversity committee. The conference organizers need also to be aware that any breach of the anonymity clause could lead to legal actions by the violator.

Neither LOC nor IAC can make binding decisions that reach beyond the ongoing conference. In other words a multi-conference ban is not possible without involvement of a special committee outside of the conference committees and advising legal offices.