Code of conduct
The following Code of Conduct applies to every participant - any lecturer, school representative, teacher, coordinator or partner that organises and/or participates in LeWiBo activities - that freely decides to register in our network.
Last updated: 14/02/2023
General provisions
Lecturers Without Borders (LeWiBo) aims to organise both in-person and online lectures - mainly related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects - in schools and other educational institutions around the world. The work of all our lecturers is voluntary and the lectures are free of charge for the hosting institutions. No financial compensation will be given to any lecturer or school. Exceptions can be made for reimbursement of materials and of travel costs in particular cases upon agreement with the Board.
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Registration on our database (both for scientists and for educational institutions) is voluntary, open and free of charge to any person over the age of 18, without limitations related to gender, religion, sexual orientation, cultural or socio-economic background. Each registration is linked to one private person. A moral person (for example, an educational institution) is allowed to register if it has one individual acting on its behalf. No activity will be organised for institutions or individuals that are not registered as participants, with the exception of students and staff of a registered educational institution, who do not need to register individually.
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The following code of conduct applies to every participant (defined here as any lecturer, school representative, teacher, coordinator or partner that organises and/or participates in LeWiBo activities) that freely decides to register in our network. Failure to comply with these rules may cause the exclusion of the offender from all future events organised or co-organised by LeWiBo and, depending on the nature of the offence, may lead to further legal action deemed appropriate.
Professional conduct
LeWiBo is a professional and educational network and all participants should be kind to, and respectful of, all. The aim of LeWiBo activities is to foster a positive and safe environment, with behaviours such as:
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Using welcoming and inclusive language;
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Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences;
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Gracefully accepting constructive criticism;
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Focusing on what is best for the community;
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Showing empathy towards other community members;
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Being mindful of cultural differences that may become evident during interactions between members.
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LeWiBo does not tolerate discrimination related to gender, religion, sexual orientation, cultural or socio-economic background nor on any other basis, towards any of the people involved, at any stage of the organisation of educational activities.
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LeWiBo encourages and welcomes a diversity of views and opinions through open and constructive criticism of ideas, rather than personal attacks on individuals.
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Harassment, bullying, discrimination or intimidation will not be tolerated and anyone asked to stop unacceptable behaviour is expected to comply immediately. Harassment includes but is not limited to:
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Inappropriate or intimidating behaviour and language or threats of violence;
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Unwelcome jokes;
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Unwanted touching or attention;
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Offensive images;
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Photography without permission;
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Stalking;
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Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, ethnicity, national origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker;
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Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices.
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You can read our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement here.
Publicity and dissemination
LeWiBo believes in open access to education, including minorities and groups that are usually excluded from it. We aim to collect scientifically valuable educational resources for our network. By default, we aim to share resources and content under the Creative Commons licence, Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Thus, lecturers are encouraged to share the audiovisual material presented during LeWiBo activities, in order for it to be publicly accessible through our website and other online platforms. In cases in which the scientist chooses to disclose unpublished and/or copyrighted material that is not compatible with our CC0 1.0 licence, they are encouraged to include one of these icons as a watermark in the individual slide/page in which the material is present so that we can exclude the conflicting content from the published material.
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​LeWiBo may request and/or produce recordings by video, photo or other means during the lectures and events organised online and/or in our partner educational institutions, with the aim of publicly advertising the association’s actions. Consent must be requested by all the parties (educational institutions, lecturers, teachers and their classroom, etc.) present in the pictures or videos in order to guarantee the respect of the EU General Data Protection Regulations. Any individual may refuse to appear on video or photographs without the need to justify their choice and without fearing any negative consequences for their refusal.
social media
Participants are encouraged to share their involvement in LeWiBo activities on social media, tagging the NGO* in all posts that may increase its visibility. LeWiBo commits to amplifying the reach of the participant’s posts, whenever possible, as long as they respect the privacy of others and do not violate this Code of Conduct.
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​It is prohibited to retain or share any scientific material if it includes a 'no sharing' icon. It is also requested to avoid sharing pictures in which minors are identifiable, except if they expressed their consent by sharing them themselves first in their own profiles and/or were initially shared by the hosting educational institution, which we assume to have received due consent from the adults responsible for protecting the minors’ privacy.
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Online communication channels: when communicating with other members using our networking platforms, both present and future (e.g. email groups, Slack, website forum, Telegram), any display of poor behaviour (e.g. repeated @mentions, spamming, advertising), any harassment or discrimination of any kind may lead to a permanent ban from our platforms.
reporting procedures
Anyone that observes or is subject to any violations against these rules should notify the LeWiBo team by emailing us at: support@lewibo.org and using the subject line “REPORT ON MISCONDUCT”. We will preserve the anonymity of the complainant (unless specifically stated otherwise) and notify them of the actions taken to respond to the complaint.
*Facebook: Lecturerswithoutborders | Twitter: @lecturerswb | LinkedIn: Lecturers without Borders (LeWiBo) | YouTube: @lecturerswb | Website: https://lewibo.org/