The WMS Congress is a professional scientific meeting that provides a respectful, harassment-free and inclusive environment for all participants, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, ethnicity, race, national origin, age or religion.
The World Muscle Society is committed to creating an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for researchers and clinicians to learn, share ideas, and promote translational science for the benefit of patients with neuromuscular disorders. As such, the WMS Programme Committee encourages all speakers and attendees, to use respectful language, to consider the diverse backgrounds, culture, and native language of our membership, and reflect on the diversity and inclusion in their presented work and its impact on the generalisability of findings for all patients with neuromuscular disorders.
All delegates, including speakers, exhibitors, media and staff, and other participants are expected to behave with integrity and respect towards other delegates attending or involved with WMS Congress and/or any related event, activity or third-party related platform.
WMS Congress Ltd is committed to informing delegates about the code of conduct for meeting attendees. Likewise, WMS Congress Ltd is committed to installing procedures and guidance for appropriate reporting of unacceptable behaviour of any kind.
WMS Congress Ltd highlights the importance for delegates to express cultural sensitivity and respect with regards to clothing and appearance.
The present Code of Conduct is not a legal document or prescriptive in nature. It supplements, but does not affect, the application of other relevant policies, regulations, rules and laws, including laws regulating the premises or platform in which the WMS Congress takes place, third party related platforms and any applicable host country agreement. The WMS Congress complies with such policies and will report all inappropriate conduct accordingly.
WMS Congress delegates will be provided with personalised credentials allowing them access to the virtual platform. These credentials are personal and non-transferable. Non-registered individuals, patient parents/relatives, other members of the public and minors will not be able to access the Congress or the Pre-Congress Teaching Course, unless upon prior agreement with the Congress organisers.
Throughout the Congress, all meeting delegates are expected to interact with fellow attendees in the same way as at a physical WMS Congress. As such:
Participants are encouraged to report any experienced harassment to the designated WMS Congress organiser at office@worldmusclesociety.org. The Congress organisers reserve the right to take any action deemed appropriate in case of harassment. Host institutions of reported individuals will be notified about filed harassment reports.
Attendees of the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course are required to respect the privacy of other participants and refrain from any unauthorised or unwelcomed recording or photography, including recording of any direct or indirect interactions or electronic messaging with other meeting delegates. Participants are not allowed to take photos or videos of scientific material shown unless express prior consent by the presenter has been ascertained. Moreover, integral recording of complete oral presentations is not allowed unless these are done by a professional entity that has been contracted for this purpose by or on behalf of the organiser.
Taking photos and recordings within the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course environment for professional use is not allowed without obtaining prior permission from the congress organiser.
The WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course adheres to the copyright laws guiding the appropriate sharing of scientific research material, including data. Authors’ consent may be requested by the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course in case sharing of scientific material from abstracts/posters/presentations will be required as part of WMS educational activities.
As detailed under “Online behaviour at the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course”, any recording, filming, photography, screenshots or other capturing of presentations, live sessions or other events, including scientific posters, taking place during, or associated with, the WMS Congress, is prohibited without the expressed consent of the presenter. Expressed consent is a written confirmation by the author in a live chat or email correspondence.
Presenters and exhibitors are strongly encouraged to clearly indicate whether or not photography/recording of the poster, presentation, or exhibit booth and sharing/remixing of the material is permitted. To aid in this process, WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course will provide presenters with a digital graphic image to incorporate into their slides/poster or to print and display.
For the purpose of these guidelines, harassment consists of improper or unwelcome conduct that might reasonably be perceived as causing offence or humiliation to another person. Harassment may involve any conduct of a verbal, non-verbal or physical nature, including written and electronic communication, and may occur between persons of the same or different genders. Harassment in any form is not tolerated at the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course.
Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to:
All data and scientific research that is presented at the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course shall be based on original research findings that have been derived from procedures and experiments that adhere to the accepted guidelines for good ethical and experimental research conduct. Presenters are responsible for the content of their presentations, whether oral or written, and shall secure appropriate consent from collaborators and funders, as relevant, prior to any presentation at the WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course.
WMS Congress Ltd encourages open and respectful discussions on social media and blogging platforms. Nonetheless, participants are requested to not post images or video online without obtaining appropriate permission. Participants are requested to respect any request from an author not to disseminate the contents of their presentation/poster.
The WMS Congress organisers reserve the right to take any action as deemed necessary, as a consequence of any breach of the present Code of Conduct. This includes reporting to host institutions and permanent removal of WMS Congress and Pre-Congress Teaching Course credentials.
In case of a breach of the Code of Conduct, the concerned individuals are requested to contact a member of the WMS Congress staff. WMS Congress staff can be easily reached at registration desk on site or by email to Ms Clare Beach, WMS Congress Manager: office@worldmusclesociety.org or by mobile: +44 (0)7584 176583.
WMS Congress Ltd reserves all rights to take any action to prevent and report violations of the Code of Conduct, including blocking access to the WMS Congress and filing a police report when appropriate. WMS Congress Ltd cannot investigate reports of harassment or other misconduct during the Congress but will inform the appropriate departments of the accused person’s host institution about any such filed report.
