Accessibility
We are pleased to announce that this year the RSECon24 committee is working to extensive guidance set out by the society, as well as maintains an EDIA (Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility) Chair and volunteers.
Our goal is to make the conference as accessible as possible for both those who attend in-person and those who attend remotely. We hope that this information provides those participating with adequate information to help them plan their time with us at the conference.
If you have any questions or notice anything missing please contact us at [email protected].
Remote attendance
All talks and workshops will be streamed via our streaming partner (Track A-C) or Zoom (Track D-E) and will include AI subtitling.
Recordings of Track A-C will be available to playback during and after the conference. Recordings of Track D-E will be published after the conference.
Q&A in each session will be facilitated by an online platform and questions will be read out by the session chair.
If you need any additional help during the conference, please do ask one of the conference team via email [email protected] or the slack channel.
Physical accessibility
Main conference venue
The Frederick Douglass Centre (NE4 5TG) is fully accessible for wheelchair users.
Lifts: There are four lifts, two adjacent to the main entrance and an evacuation lift in each stairwell,
Toilets: There are accessible toilet facilities on each floor throughout the building. Gender neutral bathrooms are located on the ground floor.
Quiet / Prayer room: There will be a dedicated space for use by all conference delegates for:
- Anyone who needs a rest or quietness when feeling overwhelmed
- Those needing a prayer room
- Anyone struggling with menstruation or menopause symptoms
Please be respectful and considerate to all users. Please note that this space will not be for taking phone / video calls. We will update this webpage with the location.
Drinking water facilities are located on the ground floor of the venue
Baby changing: Baby changing tables are located in male and female bathrooms on the first and third floors.
Breastfeeding: Hygiene/Rest room (G.51) can be used for breastfeeding. A smart card is required for access, so please message us at [email protected] so that this can be available to you upon your arrival.
Parking: Public car parks, with spaces for disabled badge holders, are available within a short walking distance of the conference building.
Please feel welcome to wear or use any accessibility aids including headphones, tinted glasses, ear plugs or other aids. We hope to help you feel like you can participate at your best throughout the conference.
If you need any additional help during the conference, please do ask one of the conference team (wearing identifiable RSE t-shirts) who will do their best to help you.
Social event venues
HWKRLAND (NE8 2AR)
The full venue is on ground level and fully accessible for wheelchair users.
Toilets: Located behind ByTheRiver and fully accessible.
Baby changing: Available in the toilet block.
Newcastle United Football Club - St James’ Park, Barrack Suite, Level 4 (NE1 4ST)
All participants should enter through the Glass Atrium Reception located on Barrack Road which is fully accessible.
Lifts: Fully accessible lifts are available to all levels of the venue.
Toilets: Accessible toilets are available on level 3.
Baby changing: Available in the Barrack Suite toilets.
Accessibility guidelines for content
Our guiding principle is to make materials related to the conference such as any presentations, documents, posters, code, tools (hereafter simply called conference-related material) accessible to as broad an audience as possible, while respecting the rights to ownership and to privacy. Since, at times, the two requirements can be difficult to reconcile with the limited resources that we have, we expect the stakeholders to strive towards increasing accessibility for all by following the guidelines below while maintaining an optimal level of privacy as covered by our Code of Conduct.
Here are some tips to help those putting together presentations:
- Colour and Font Choices. Using suitably large and legible fonts and checking for colour choices so that the figures are understandable for people who have dyslexia or colour deficient vision is a great way to start your design process. Need a place to start? Try this Microsoft template, and check the British Dyslexia Association style guide.
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Annotation. It would be excellent if all figures in the conference-related material, especially documents and presentations, could be annotated before being publicly released. Most modern office suites and document layout engines can help with that, however, if you need some further guidance these links can help you get started:
- Annotating PowerPoint: http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/members/it/faqs/files/annotating-slides-powerpoint
- Annotating Google Slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Wdme0Ovas
- Writing image descriptions: https://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/how-write-alt-text-and-image-descriptions-visually-impaired
- Documentation. Having a proper layout and structure makes it easier for all to read and understand papers and presentation documentation. This guide from AbilityNet is an excellent place to start: https://abilitynet.org.uk/factsheets/creating-accessible-documents-0
- Creative Commons License. Whenever possible we make our conference-related material publicly available under a CC-BY licence. To learn more about what that means visit here.
- Contact Details. For this event we request the presenter(s) of any conference-related material to leave appropriate contact details within the material so that they may be sent queries by members of the audience.