Reflections from OHBM 2021

By: Elisa Guma

Edited by: Marianne Chapleau, Elvisha Dhamala, Carolina Makowski, and Anne Billot

Following the annual OHBM conference, a group of the organization’s members and conference attendees came together to discuss the future of OHBM in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental considerations, as well as the exclusivity to annual conference favouring rich, established, Western institutions. Hajer Nakua (Chair  SP-SIG, 2020-2021) and Dr. Elvisha Dhamala (Social Media Coordinator SP-SIG, 2020-2021) participated in the discussion and provided important reflections here, which we summarize below. 

OHBM's 2022 conference is to be held as a hybrid meeting, with all content available online and presented in person, in Glasgow, Scotland. There are intrinsic challenges to organizing an in-person event including the costs of travel, accommodation, and registration, which may be prohibitive for researchers with less funding, or who have farther to travel.This perpetuates the lack of resources provided to these individuals to advance their careers. Additionally, this model is not the most environmentally sustainable given the growing concern for climate change. On the other hand, virtual-only meetings hammer the ability to make spontaneous social connections. Further, they may be harder to engage in, not only due to “zoom-fatigue”, but also due to distractions at home and potential wifi/connectivity issues. 

In hopes of finding a good middle ground, the committee proposed a few models for how to organize the conference in future years, which include (1) alternations between in-person and virtual conferences, (2) in-person conference + regional hubs, (3) simultaneous in-person and virtual conference. For detailed elaboration of all options we invite you to read the document prepared by Dr. Elvisha Dhamala and Hajer Nakua. 

Beyond innovating on the conference model, there may be more ways in which we can promote accessibility moving forward. First, we must ensure that the decisions are made with adequate representation of ideas from early, middle, and senior researchers, allowing for concerns across different career stages to be addressed. Next, we must expand our global reach by increasing the number of OHBM chapters globally, and ensure that the African, Asian, and South American continents can have a greater voice. Current OHBM Chapters include Alpine, Australian, China, Korea, and LABMAN). Of course, these are long-term goals which can be reached by a sustained effort and an accumulation of small changes. Some smaller, short-term changes that the committee proposed include increasing visibility of trainees in oral and symposium sessions, increasing merit awards for researchers from underrepresented countries, and continuing to refine the Sparkle platform for future virtual or hybrid options. 

In sum, the OHBM group has put a lot of effort and thought into making the next conference even better than the previous one, and will continue to do so in the months to come. If you have any ideas on how we could optimize the next conference, feel free to reach out to us. We are looking forward to seeing you, either in-person or virtually, at the 2022 OHBM Conference!