Scientists want virtual meetings to stay after the COVID pandemic

A Nature poll shows that a year of online research conferences has brought big benefits, but blending them with in-person meetings in future will be a challenge.
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  1. Ariana Remmel
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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.

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Nature 591, 185-186 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00513-1

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 02 March 2021: This story was updated to more accurately reflect Hawley Helmbrecht’s thoughts about virtual meetings. Helmbrecht says that early-career scientists and introverts might find it less intimidating to ask questions during online sessions, not that they definitely do.

Supplementary Information

  1. Methodology for Nature’s 2020 virtual-meeting survey
  2. Cleaned data from virtual-meetings survey

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