ICCB 2025 Language Accessibility Subcommittee
Attending an international conference can be intimidating, especially for those whose first language is not English. Failing to address language barriers is a tremendous loss to the conservation community, as diverse ideas, knowledge, experience, and expertise are essential to tackle the ongoing biodiversity crisis. That is why we decided to provide as many types of support as possible for non-fluent English speakers at the ICCB 2025.
As a group of seven members with diverse linguistic backgrounds, we worked over the past year to (i) provide Writefull AI-based English editing service for all conference participants when submitting their abstracts and preparing their presentations, (ii) implement linguistically-inclusive review guidelines so that no abstract would be rejected for poor language, (iii) establish the mentorship program where 26 mentees received support from mentors to prepare their presentations, (iv) develop and disseminate guidelines on how to give linguistically-friendly presentations in English, (v) ensure that Presenter View is available to all presenters, (vi) organise a series of Instagram posts on tips for attending and presenting at your first international conference, (vii) offer the option to give an oral presentation in a non-English language, and (viii) provide Wordly AI-based real-time English transcriptions and translations in over 60 languages for all plenaries and oral presentations throughout the conference. One of the highlights for us was witnessing the moment when two participants gave their oral presentations in Bahasa Indonesia and Japanese, respectively, while everyone in the room used Wordly’s real-time translation to understand them.
We hope our initiative enhanced the experience of the 1,800 participants from over 90 countries, who collectively speak more than 60 primary languages. Importantly we were able to show that a small group of committed people, with some help from sponsors, can make a real difference in international conferences, and more broadly in academia. We believe that incorporating these and other types of support for underrepresented groups of people into future SCB conferences will be a meaningful step towards a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive conservation community.
Lastly we would like to thank our sponsors (Integrative Conservation, Wiley, Writefull, and PLOS Biology), the steering committee, the SCB Board and staff, staff at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, and all participants who participated in and supported our initiative.