Although researchers are getting ‘Zoom fatigue’ just like everyone else, they’ve learnt to appreciate virtual science conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a poll of more than 900 Nature readers. After navigating a year of online research presentations, the majority of survey respondents — 74% — think that scientific meetings should continue to be virtual, or have a virtual component, after the pandemic ends. Readers cite the ease of attending from anywhere in the world as a major perk, although they admit that virtual events haven’t been able to simulate the networking with colleagues they enjoyed in person.
“I do appreciate the realm of possibilities offered by online conferences,” wrote one respondent. “However, I really miss the opportunity to meet people and to interact with friends and colleagues.”
It’s been a year since the highly publicized first cancellation of a scientific conference as a result of the pandemic. The American Physical Society (APS) called off its March meeting just days before it was set to begin in Denver, Colorado, on 2 March 2020, kicking off a chain of similar cancellations — and ushering in a ‘new normal’ for researchers.
Now, having met the challenge of switching to virtual, conference organizers will have to consider logistically and financially how to blend the best of both worlds by incorporating virtual elements when in-person meetings resume.
A greater reach
Many researchers say that in the past year they have been able to attend more meetings than ever before because of online portals. Of the readers who responded to Nature’s poll, 75% had attended multiple virtual meetings since last March, and another 18% had attended at least one.
Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada, tells Nature that virtual platforms allowed her to attend meetings without compromising her teaching workload or responsibilities as the parent of small children.
And Joan Larrahondo, a civil engineer at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá, has been excited to attend conferences that were previously impossible to join in person because of travel costs and logistics. He has also been invited to present his research at more meetings than before.
