Code of Conduct

At VeTSS we are committed to make all of our events a productive and enjoyable time for everyone, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality or religion. Harassment, or behaviour leaving others feeling uncomfortable has no place at our events. We will not tolerate harassment in any form. 

This code of conduct covers all aspects of our events, from keynote speeches, and informal chats, to participation in online discussions. We make all organisers, speakers and registered attendees at our events aware of this policy and we ask everyone to abide by it. 

Code of Conduct 

Be kind to others. Behave professionally. Communicate politely as appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Do not insult or put down other attendees. 

Harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes are not appropriate. 

Harassment includes sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo, deliberate intimidation, stalking, and photography or recording of an individual without consent. It also includes offensive or belittling comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity or religion.  Any behaviour leaving others feeling uncomfortable has no place at our events.  

Encouraging any of this behaviour is also not acceptable. We strive to have everyone leaving having had a good experience. 

Incident reporting and resolution 

We will look in to, and respond appropriately to, every incident reported to, or observed by us, and any behaviour short of this code of conduct will be dealt with effectively and appropriately.  

If you observe someone making you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please tell them so, and remind them of the code of conduct. 

If you are hesitant about addressing the person yourself, please report the behaviour as soon as possible to any of the organisers. We are committed to addressing and resolving any issues as quickly as possible and to the best of our abilities. 

If you prefer not to come to speak to us, please email us explaining what happened and who was involved so that we can investigate. You can find our contact information below. You can also report any concerns anonymously on this survey form. (link to survey form to be sent)

Please note that we reserve the right to remove any person who does not adhere to the code of conduct. 

Even if you do not want to report a specific issue to be taken forward, we still want to hear from you concerning your positive and negative experiences and observations. If you feel you have been falsely or unfairly accused of behaviour violating this code of conduct, you should email us at contact@vetss.org.uk with a concise description of your grievance and we will thoroughly investigate this.  

Acknowledgements: This code of conduct is based on the Imperial Code of conduct, the NCSC code of conduct and has been developed from a range of  sources. These include the Lorne conference statement, which is based on a Code of Conduct written by Andrew Pontzen and Hiranya Peiris at University College London. Elements were also incorporated from the UKSG Code of Conduct, which derives from the FORCE11 Code of Conduct. The NCSC Code of conduct includes material taken from: https://www.google.com/events/policy/anti-harassmentpolicy.html and http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment. (both licensed under the Creative Commons Zero License)