1. Introduction

The AFN Network+ Co-Principal Investigators (CoPIs) are committed to creating a friendly and respectful place for research, scientific discussion and innovation. All AFN Network+ Community of Practice Members (hereafter Members) are expected to show respect and courtesy to others both inside and outside the AFN Network+.

Members accept to abide by the AFN Network+ Code of Conduct and accept the procedures by which Code of Conduct incidents are resolved. Any form of behaviour to exclude, intimidate, or harass is a violation of the Code of Conduct.

All Members are required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all spaces managed by the AFN Network+ including, but not limited to, workshops, email lists, and online forums such as GitHub, Slack, and Twitter. The CoPIs may also choose to consider cases that occur outside AFN Network+ spaces.

If you believe someone is violating the Code of Conduct, we ask that you report it to the CoPIs who will take the appropriate action to address the situation.

The CoPIs are responsible for enforcing the Code of Conduct.

2. The Code of Conduct

The CoPIs are dedicated to providing a welcoming and supportive environment for all people, regardless of background or identity. As such, we do not tolerate behaviour that is disrespectful or that excludes, intimidates, or harasses others. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on characteristics that include, but are not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body shape, citizenship, nationality, ethnic or social origin, pregnancy, familial status, veteran status, genetic information, religion or belief (or lack thereof), Membership of a national minority, property, age, education, socio-economic status, technical choices, and experience level.

Workshop hosts are expected to assist with the enforcement of the Code of Conduct. Members are required to accept the procedures by which the CoPIs resolve any Code of Conduct incidents, which may include storage and processing of their personal information. The CoPIs reserves the right to also investigate possible cases where the Code of Conduct has been violated by Members outside AFN Network+ spaces. The CoPIs may decide that the case should be treated as having happened inside an AFN Network+ space and to take action against individuals in line with the Code of Conduct.

2.1 Expected behaviour

All Members are expected to show respect and courtesy to others. All interactions should be professional regardless of platform: either online, by telephone or in-person. To foster a positive and professional learning environment, we encourage the following kinds of behaviours in all AFN Network+ spaces and all interactions about AFN Network+:

• Use welcoming and inclusive language
• Be respectful of different viewpoints and experiences
• Gracefully accept constructive criticism
• Focus on what is best for the community
• Show courtesy and respect towards other community Members

Also, please see the Four Social Rules for further recommendations.

2.2 Unacceptable behaviour

Examples of unacceptable behaviour by participants in any AFN Network+ space include:

• Written or verbal comments which have the effect of excluding people on the basis of membership of any specific group
• Causing someone to fear for their safety, such as through stalking, following, or intimidation
• Violent threats or language directed against another person
• The display of sexual or violent images
• Unwelcome sexual attention
• Nonconsensual or unwelcome physical contact
• Sustained disruption of talks, events or communications
• Insults or put-downs
• Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or exclusionary jokes
• Excessive swearing
• Incitement to violence, suicide, or self-harm
• Continuing to initiate interaction (including photography or recording) with someone after being asked to stop
• Publication of private communication without consent

3. Complaints procedures

If you feel uncomfortable, please don’t wait until it gets worse. This guide may help provide ways to broach the issues with the AFN Network+ CoPIs and/or other Members. Please also see articles on Abuse of Power e.g. 48 Ways Managers Abuse Their Power and Destroy Employee Engagement.

There are three mechanisms for dealing with complaints:

1. Seek advice from the Ombudsperson,
2. Seek advice from the relevant lead (eg, a Champion or Disruptive Innovation Board Member),
3. File a complaint directly with all or some of the CoPIs.

If there is any concern about a conflict of interest of any CoPIs with a relevant Member then you may choose which of the CoPIs to contact. By default the whole set of CoPIs will discuss the complaint including writing notes on key points in a private AFN Network+ slack channel visible only to the current CoPIs. Therefore, if you foresee a potential conflict of interest with one (or more) of the CoPIs, or if you would prefer your complaint to remain verbal (not recorded in any way other than in individual current CoPIs’ memories) then please note this when you register your complaint. If the CoPIs change, the discussion of previous complaints will not automatically be shared with new CoPIs, and will only be shared with new CoPIs with the consent of the complainee(s).

It is acceptable to contact a member of the CoPIs to say that you would like to have a phone call without giving the reasons for the call, and to ask for the entire contents of the conversation to remain confidential. The only situation in which the CoPI would violate your wishes to keep the conversation confidential is if they perceive your, or another person’s, safety to be at risk e.g. if you seemed suicidal they would try to contact a local responsible person which may include the emergency services.

Ombudsperson and their contact details:

Sarah Bridle sarah.bridle@york.ac.uk 

CoPIs and their contact details:

Tim Benton tbenton@chathamhouse.org

Neil Ward neil.ward@uea.ac.uk

Sarah Bridle sarah.bridle@york.ac.uk 

Angelina Sanderson Bellamy Angelina.SandersonBellamy@uwe.ac.uk

If you feel uncomfortable, talk to someone you trust. If you feel afraid of telling someone you trust, then this is generally a sign that there is a serious problem and you need to get help. Remember, it isn’t always possible to resolve problems on your own. Unfortunately, the spectrum of human nature includes some extremely difficult people who are capable of making your life a misery. If you find yourself in this situation, you have no reason to feel ashamed, or that you should be able to solve the problem on your own.

The CoPIs are here to help you and will take seriously any violations of the Code of Conduct and take steps to resolve the situation in a timely way.

3.1 Violations of the Code of Conduct

If the CoPIs deem that a Member has violated the Code of Conduct then they will first consider whether the offender should be ejected from the AFN Network+ Members list. If not, a note describing the violation will be added to the offending Member’s profile page – which will be visible inside the AFN Network+. The CoPIs will then review this violation in the context of any previous violations and complaints (including verbal complaints that are not recorded on the offender’s profile page), and may then decide to eject the offender from the AFN Network+ Members list.

3.2 Ejection from AFN Network+

If the CoPIs decide to eject someone from the Members’ list, they will inform the ejected person at the same time as notifying all Members, and remove access to all AFN Network+ resources, including github, slack and google docs.

The CoPIs understand that taking action against an aggressor could itself cause problems for the victim. The CoPIs will consider this when deciding how to act, and will consult with the victim(s) if this is a concern.

4. Process for updating the Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct is a living document, which is the responsibility of the CoPIs. The Code of Conduct lives in the AFN Network+ google drive and we welcome  suggestions on how it might be updated and improved. Proposed revisions will be considered by the CoPIs. Before they are put into practice they will be emailed to the Members with a period of two weeks for feedback. If no objections are raised, the new Code of Conduct will replace the old one. If there are complaints, the CoPIs will review the issues raised and decide whether (i) to continue with the updated version of the Code of Conduct, (ii) keep the old version or (iii) begin the process of drafting a new version.

Credits

This Code of Conduct is based on the SkyPy Code of Conduct, which itself borrows heavily from the Carpentries Code of Conduct.

License

This Code of Conduct is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. We encourage other communities related to ours to use or adapt this code as they see fit. Feedback is welcome.