Our Values

Maximising participation

How can we better marshal and apply our collective learnings and expertise to meet global challenges? We aim to create a Congress for all people. Our Congress vision maximises equality, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility through its planning and delivery, and welcomes participants from all parts of the world, all backgrounds, and all abilities.

The venue, the Scottish Event Campus, is easily accessible for all participants, being close to hotel accommodation and with easy access for those who may need help with mobility for any reason. It has a gold award from AccessAble, a UK-leading provider of accessibility information. The immediate area includes accessible hotel accommodation within easy walking distance, and the venue has excellent taxi, rail, bus, and cycle access.

To maximise participation, we will:

• Ensure diversity on the key planning and delivery committees for the IGC;
• Publish clear policies for equity, diversity, inclusion, and access;
• Develop an ambitious Geo-Host programme and reduced registration fees directed at delegates from low-income countries and backgrounds;
• Utilise anonymised abstract assessment and acceptance;
• Provide virtual access to all poster sessions (using virtual worlds or similar software);
• Include live streaming of plenary sessions, with varied timing to compensate for time differences;
• Record plenary sessions as part of the Congress legacy;
• Innovate with virtual outcrops (with video guides) for fieldtrip localities;
• Ensure conference rooms have audio-loops;
• Provide a creche to support parents and carers;
• Offer a range of field excursions at a range of price points with accessibility pre-assessed and communicated when advertised;
• Develop a programme of local, regional and international (online) schools engagement, particularly targeted at groups under-represented in geology and from economically-challenging backgrounds.

Environment

We are building on the City of Glasgow’s mission of sustainability and that of the Scottish Event Campus – the host of COP26 in 2021.

As its contribution to achieving environmental best practice in its business operations, the 38^th IGC will aim to minimise the harmful environmental impacts resulting from all its operations including the Congress itself and within reasonable limits, those of our partners and suppliers.

We aspire to reduce our carbon usage wherever possible, although we appreciate that this is a complex issue, with many facets of the Congress delivery (such as delegate travel and carbon costs for virtual attendance) outside our control. As far as practical, we will offset our carbon usage and will encourage attendees to do the same by either donating to a carbon-offsetting organisation or by undertaking geological work in their local communities, to mitigate their own usage.

In 2028, the 38^th IGC will endeavour to do this without compromising our primary goal to share geological science knowledge.

Ethical declaration

2028 IGC commits to:

• Respect the dignity of the individual and support the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other core conventions;
• Conduct our operations on sound business principles with trust, honesty, and integrity at the core of our activities;
• Consider our impact on the environment and work to reduce the impact our operations have;
• Ensure contributors to 2028 IGC feel confident to report any non-compliance to this statement. Information received will remain confidential and the issue will be investigated fully, by the 2028 IGC Trustees in the first instance. Any person expressing in good faith and selflessly their ethical or compliance concerns will not have any measures brought against them for expressing this;
• Tackle bribery and conflicts of interest. No-one to whom this statement relates must accept gifts, rewards or hospitality from any organisation or individual as an inducement either for doing something or not doing something in their capacity of delivering 2028 IGC. Suspected bribery should be reported to 2028 IGC Trustees as soon as possible. In the event of a conflict of interest, which may occur if an employee or volunteer has an interest in an organisation providing goods or services, that interest must be declared in writing at the earliest possible opportunity and maintained in a Register of Interests;
• Prevent modern slavery. 2028 IGC is committed to preventing modern slavery or human trafficking in supply chains or any part of business activities. Suppliers will be required to operate in line with these principles, including responsible sourcing and paying employees at the prevailing minimum wage. If any of our suppliers are engaged in, or support modern slavery, we will immediately cease trading with them and report these activities to the relevant authorities;
• Seek sponsorship and support which reflects our environmental and ethical principles. We will not engage with sponsors or third-parties which do not support our charitable aims and objectives.

Safeguarding Policy

We are planning a comprehensively inclusive programme that will have regard for all participants of the IGC2028, whether in person or virtually, through diverse and accessible activities. We are committed to providing environments that are safe for everyone, with a particular focus on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. We are committed to ensuring that our safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance, and complies with best practice requirements.

The IGC2028 shall appoint a Safeguarding Officer who will have overarching responsibility of implementation of policies and being a known point of contact for participants, staff, organisers and volunteers for reporting and concerns.

All staff and volunteers shall undergo robust training prior to the event and be familiar with our policies and procedures, in order to follow them confidently and competently. Volunteers for children-focused activities shall also be cleared via Disclosure Scotland; for events run by international representatives, a safeguarding volunteer who is cleared via Disclosure Scotland shall be appointed to attend the event.

IGC2028 does not anticipate, nor expect, any individual to be placed in a position such that they are alone with an unaccompanied child or vulnerable adult. Due care and consideration shall be taken to avoid such incidences, with rigorous investigation and reporting to take place should they occur, to prevent reoccurrence.