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Seven steps to make travel to scientific conferences more sustainable

Researchers should learn to travel better to mitigate their climate impacts. Institutions can help by facilitating and rewarding sustainable travel behaviour, rather than fuelling the pressure to attend conferences, say Olivier Hamant, Timothy Saunders and Virgile Viasnoff.
  1. Olivier Hamant

    1. Olivier Hamant is a research director at the plant reproduction and development laboratory, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Lyon, France.

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  2. Timothy Saunders

    1. Timothy Saunders is an assistant professor at the Mechanobiology Institute and in the department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore.

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  3. Virgile Viasnoff

    1. Virgile Viasnoff is an associate professor at the Mechanobiology Institute and the CNRS at the National University of Singapore.

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All scientists face pressure to give external seminars and attend conferences. This is especially important for early-career researchers because doing so can help them to find new positions, and adds to their CVs. To do research effectively, scientists need to build networks and collaborations, and learn about cutting-edge developments in their field.

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Nature 573, 451-452 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02747-6

This article is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 media outlets to highlight the issue of climate change.

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. You can get in touch with the editor at naturecareerseditor@nature.com.

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