And we're live!
Flying less in Academia - Towards a Carbon-Neutral Academic Climate

Follow the webinar here:

For those who can't watch it now: I'll be livetweeting all afternoon. Better yet: the recording will be posted on the website of @DeJongeAkademie

We start off with pitches by members of @DeJongeAkademie who share what they would miss if they wouldn't fly: fieldwork abroad, conversations with colleagues, global rather than regional networks, real-life moments in international collaborations

Responses from the audience on what they would miss if they didn't fly for work:

Next up: Anabella Meijer, author of "Eerste Hulp Bij Klimaatverandering"

Meijer gives us an introduction to climate psychology: "why aren't we acting?"

We only responded to the pandemic when it's threat became directly visible in our direct environment.
Grounds for pessimism when applied to climate change.

Human beings think in stories, so the story that climate change is a progressive / leftwing issue keeps many people from acting.

Judging others is not helpful.

Most people do care, but climate change is terrifying and intimidating.

We don't need a to-do list, we need a new mindset and new cultural values. We get to the hopeful bit of Meijer's talk now.

Connection works better than judgement. Emphasise the positive aspects of sustainable life. Present an image of the future that people can get excited about.

Also make space to mourn the losses.

Meijer encourages us to find playful and fun ways to work towards reducing our air travel.

Next up: @jasperckars and Elissa Cardoso will present the DJA report on Dutch universities' policies to reduce carbon emissions from academic air travel.

Academic air travel is an important source of universities' carbon emissions: between 12 and 27 percent.

Most common measures taken so far by universities are first, compensating carbon emissions from flights, and second, discouraging air travel on short distances.

Possible future masures that are being developed or discussed include a CO2 budget for researchers or research groups, facilitating video conferencing, and finding better locations for physical conferences.

@helmers_h takes over to talk about what @DeJongeAkademie thinks that university boards and research funding agencies can do to reduce air travel.

@helmers_h emphasises that individual academics cannot be made responsible for reducing academic air travel, because there are too many incentives for them to fly.

Sustainability officers should be given appropriate resources; leadership at the level of faculties and institutes should be given specific responsibilities. Facilities for carbon-neutral conferencing should be made available.

Reduce the incentives for academics to fly. Internationalisation of science is a valuable good: but we need to find a better balance. In job applications, in granting awards: reward scholars who make climate-friendly choices.

Universities can gain a lot by collaborating and share knowledge and best practices. Universities should equip themselves to measure carbon emissions of air travel - preferably in ways that allow for comparing between universities.

Binding measures are necessary to counter the incentives for researchers to travel. Compensating for carbon emissions is not enough. We warmly support the introduction of carbon emission budgets for research groups or research projects.

@helmers_h suggests that universities could think about how to compensate researchers for the extra time it takes to travel over land rather than by air.

Question from the audience: why take measures when the part of academic air travel in total human carbon emissions is so small? @helmers_h : everyone looking at someone else to act will not bring us further. Also, air travel is expected to be 22% of total carbon emissions in 2050

Pilar Pazos (Old Dominion University) will now talk about how to work together virtually and effectively

Pazos studies virtual teams. Even before the covid pandemic, virtual team work was increasing, as it allows for flexible schedules and reduces costs.

Challenges of virtual team work include the need to learn to communicate in different ways and to handle diverse technologies.

Formalizing work processes and strategies is critical for performance of virtual teams

Effective virtual teams have high trust among team members and communicate more often in informal, social ways.

Tips to improve virtual teams:
Have a face-to-face meeting at first, to build trust. Develop a shared vision. Have a good database for communication and information. Set a communication strategy. Provide training for technology and virtual communication.

Now up: a panel discussion with @EACrone, @TeunBousema and @JeroenJGGeurts

Moderator @renske_keizer asks about the panel's pre-covid travel habits. @EACrone, ERC president would be flying two or three times a year. @JeroenJGGeurts and @TeunBousema have travelled by air a great deal in the past ("gold card member") but have started reducing air travel.

Whose responsibility is it to reduce academic air travel? @JeroenJGGeurts thinks the responsibility lies with research funders, as well as employers and individual researchers.

What could @NWONieuws do? @JeroenJGGeurts thinks committee meetings could be virtual or hybrid. NWO employees could be discouraged from travelling by plane.

@NWONieuws is working on a sustainability plan, but it's not there yet.

@JeroenJGGeurts also argues that international mobility should not be a requirement for applying for an NWO grant successfully

Applicants should not be rewarded by funding agencies for piling up invited lectures abroad, according to @JeroenJGGeurts

@EACrone argues that the participation of researchers from across the world is crucial to stimulate excellent research through ERC

Experience in the pandemic showed that full week virtual meetings are extremely tiring for ERC panel meetings, so @EACrone tells us. Time differences were challenging. The quality of the exchange was not what it would have been in an onsite meeting.

@TeunBousema responds that some of the meetings (eg assessing pre-proposals) can very easily be done virtually. Participation for some colleagues, eg from African continent, is much easier when the meeting is virtual.

@TeunBousema also suggests that funding agencies could stimulate research groups to meet live once, for a kickoff meeting, but to have subsequent annual meetings virtually.

NWO is opening up the definition of what a good scholar is, and what role international stature should play in that assessment, so @JeroenJGGeurts says.

How about ERC and NWO asking applicants to explain how they will travel, and to justify air travel in particular? @JeroenJGGeurts is generally reluctant to introduce new hoops for applicants to jump to, but believes that this is important, and should therefore be done.

@JeroenJGGeurts also favours the suggestion to set carbon emission budgets for research groups.
Both @JeroenJGGeurts and @TeunBousema plead for reporting back to your team about what you learned at a conference, rather than flying out as a team every year.

@EACrone does not think that the ERC will assess travel practices. The focus is only on the excellence of the research project.

@EACrone is not in favour of binding constraints. Instead, individual researchers could think more carefully about when to fly and how to organise conferences.

@TeunBousema emphasises that we need to think about the QUALITY of international contacts. What is high quality interaction? Only travel when we need it - not because we enjoy travel.

The panel agrees on that conclusion: travel by air only when it has real added value for your research.

And now we are off for virtual drinks in GatherTown.