FENS Regional Meeting 2025 Code of Conduct
FENS Regional Meetings (FRM) are professional scientific meetings that provide a respectful, harassment-free and inclusive environment for all participants, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, appearance, ethnicity, race, national origin, pregnancy, medical condition, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, citizenship, age or religion.
All delegates, in person and online, including speakers, exhibitors, poster presenters, media, staff and other participants are expected to behave with integrity and respect towards other delegates attending or involved with the FRM and/or any related event or activity.
FRM is committed to informing the FRM delegates about the Code of Conduct for meeting attendees. Likewise, FRM is committed to installing procedures and guidance for appropriate reporting of unacceptable behaviour of any kind.
The present Code of Conduct is not a legal document or prescriptive in nature. It supplements, but does not affect, the application of other relevant policies, regulations, rules and laws, including laws regulating the country, the premises in which the FRM takes place and any applicable host country agreement. FRM complies with such policies and will report all inappropriate conduct accordingly.
Reporting
In case of a breach of the Code of Conduct, the concerned individuals or witnesses are encouraged to report it in the following ways:
- For immediate action onsite, contact any FRM staff member at the FRM booth.
- If you feel threatened, do not hesitate to approach a security person onsite.
- Also please inform the FRM 2025 administration.
- In addition to reporting to conference organisers, individuals may also report threatening behaviour to the Police. The Norwegian police can be approached by dialling 112 emergency number or European emergency number at 112. The FRM 2025 team as well as the security team at the meeting venue can support in approaching the police.
Once a report has been submitted, FRM will pursue action in a way that maintains the anonymity of the concerned individual. If any enforcement action requires the breach of this anonymity, it will only be applied after informed consent is obtained from the concerned individual.
An online form for reporting will also be available on the FRM website.
Enforcement
The FRM organisers reserve the right to take any action to prevent and report as deemed necessary any violation of the present Code of Conduct. The necessary actions will be decided on a case-by-case basis, and can include the following:
- involving the onsite security and medical team filing
- filing a police report when appropriate
- reporting to host institutions of reported individuals
- permanent removal from the in-person and/or virtual online meetings and any related credentials
FRM cannot investigate reports of harassment or other misconduct onsite but will inform the relevant department(s) of the offender's host institution about any registered reports and refer victims to the appropriate authorities.
Harassment
For the purpose of these guidelines, harassment consists of improper or unwelcome conduct that might reasonably be perceived as causing offence or humiliation to another person. Harassment may involve any conduct of a verbal, non-verbal or physical nature, including written and electronic communication, and may occur between persons of the same or different ages, genders, sexual orientation, religions, appearances and origins. Harassment in any form is not tolerated at the FRM.
Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to:
- Comments – whether verbal or written - that reinforce social structures of domination related to career status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, race, age, religion, political affiliation
- Any form of bullying or abuse of power through coercion, manipulation, etc.
- The production or non-consensual sharing of photography or unwanted recording, including sexual images in public spaces (in any format, electronic or otherwise)
- Deliberate intimidation, humiliation, stalking or following
- Sustained disruption of poster presentations, talks, sessions or other events
- Inappropriate physical contact
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviours.
Required behaviour inside and around the FRM venue
Unless otherwise specified, FRM badges indicating the name of the person in possession of the delegate or exhibitor’s badge, should always be visibly worn inside the restricted areas of the FRM venue.
All events (including educational sessions and exhibit hall activities) are exclusively reserved for registered participants. Infants and small children of registered delegates (or similar) may access the FRM premises under the sole responsibility and constant supervision of a registered parent and/or designated caretaker.
Mobile phones, tablets, computers and other electronic devices must be set to silent mode throughout all scientific sessions of the FRM.
Smoking is prohibited inside the entire venue, except in designated smoking areas where applicable. Smoking outside is permitted according to the specific guidelines of the venue.
Where alcoholic beverages are available in the context of the FRM, participants are expected to drink responsibly. Individuals that are visibly under the influence of alcohol or other legal or illegal substances will be escorted from the FRM venue and will not be allowed re-entry.
Delegates should express cultural sensitivity and respect towards all FRM participants with regards but not limited to clothing and appearance.
Any recording, filming, or other capturing of presentations at the FRM, including of scientific posters is not acceptable without the expressed clear consent of the presenter.
Presentations
All data and scientific research that is presented at the FRM shall be based on original research findings that have been derived from procedures and experiments that adhere to the accepted guidelines for good ethical and experimental research conduct. Presenters are responsible for the content of their presentations, whether oral or written, and shall secure appropriate consent from collaborators and funders, as relevant, prior to any presentation at the FRM.
The presentation of research or data within sessions, posters or in other formal or informal engagements is the sole responsibility of the presenter. FRM is not responsible for the data, its accuracy or the way it was obtained. By submitting abstracts and posters, the authors unanimously give consent to FRM to present their materials onsite (physically) and online (digitally) on the app and any other virtual FRM platform.
As stated in the previous section, any recording, filming, or other capturing of presentations at the FRM, including scientific posters, is not acceptable without the expressed consent of the presenter.
Safety
Bags, containers or suitcases may not be left unattended at any time in or around the venue. FRM furthermore advises delegates to use hotel safety deposit boxes for all valuables. FRM takes no responsibility for lost and stolen items in or around the FRM venue.
The organisers do not accept liability for personal accidents, loss, or damage to private property, which may be incurred as a result of the participation in FRM. Participants are advised to secure appropriate insurance (health, travel, theft, or otherwise) for their stay and travel to and from the FRM.
Admittance for persons aged under 18
As mentioned above under “Required behaviour inside and around the FRM venue,” infants (under 2 years old) of registered delegates (or similar) may access the FRM premises under the sole responsibility and supervision of a registered parent and/or designated caretaker.
Babies can be with their parents and/or designated caretaker anywhere at the congress centre. Parents and/or designated caretakers are asked to respect the learning environment in the session rooms.
Children must be accompanied by a registered parent at all times, and cannot enter the session rooms, poster area, exhibition and other public areas.
Use of camera and video
Attendees of the FRM are required to respect the privacy of other participants and refrain from any unauthorised or unwelcomed recording or photography. Participants are not allowed to take photos or videos of scientific material shown unless express prior consent by the presenter has been ascertained. Moreover, substantial or integral recording of oral presentations is not allowed unless these are done by a professional entity that has been contracted for this purpose by or on behalf of the organiser. The use of flash is not allowed in any session hall or in the exhibition areas unless performed by an authorised professional photographer.
Taking photos and recordings within the FRM environment for professional use is not allowed without obtaining prior permission from the organiser.
FRM follows the guideline for consent related to the use of pictures with identifiable persons in a public space under the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Recordings via video, photography or other means of FRM participants is in general allowed as long as people are not shown in incriminatory or private situations and images are not used in a misleading or derogatory way. Any publication of photos or videos on social media requires the clear consent of all participants. It is highly recommended for anyone to obtain permission before the sharing of such content, including on social media.
FRM adheres to the copyright laws guiding the appropriate sharing of scientific research material, including data. Authors’ consent may be requested by FRM in case sharing of scientific material from abstracts/posters/presentations will be required as part of FRM educational activities.
Presenters and exhibitors are strongly encouraged to clearly indicate whether or not photography/recording of the poster, presentation, or exhibit booth and sharing/remixing of the material is permitted. To aid in this process, the FRM will provide presenters with a digital graphic image to incorporate into their slides/posters or to print and display. The images are available on the FRM2025 website.
By registering to the FRM, participants, presenters and exhibitors agree that FRM shall be entitled to use images of the FRM collected by the FRM photographer(s) for use in future promotional materials. If participants, presenters or exhibitors do not agree to such use, they can object to such use by informing us before the end of the FRM.
Social media
The FRM encourages open and respectful discussions on social media and blogging platforms. Nonetheless, participants are requested to not post images or videos online without obtaining appropriate permission. Participants are requested to respect any request from an author not to disseminate the contents of their presentation/poster.
Secure behaviour
While the FRM is organised in objectively safe cities/areas, FRM delegates are encouraged to observe safe practices while traveling and attending the FENS Regional Meeting.