Gender and ethnicity intersect to reduce participation at a large European hybrid HIV conference

To evaluate how gender and ethnicity of panel members intersect to effect audience participation at a large European hybrid conference.

An observational cross-sectional study design was used to collect data at the conference and descriptive survey was used to collect data retrospectively from the participants.

European AIDS Clinical Society 18th Conference; a 3223-delegate, hybrid conference held online and in London over 4 days in October 2021.

We observed the number and type of questions asked at 12 of 69 sessions and described characteristics of the panel composition by ethnicity, gender and seniority. A postconference survey of conference attendees collated demographic information, number of questions asked during the conference and the reasons for not asking questions.

Men asked the most questions and were more likely to ask multiple questions in the observed sessions (61.5%). People from white ethnic groups asked >95% of the questions in the observed sessions. The fewest questions were asked in the sessions with the least diverse panels in terms of both ethnicity and gender. Barriers to asking questions differed between genders and ethnicities.

Our study aims to provide evidence to help conference organisers improve leadership, equality, diversity and inclusion in the professional medical conference setting. This will support equitable dissemination of knowledge and improve education and engagement of delegates. To our knowledge, this is the first study describing conference participation by both ethnicity and gender in panellists and delegates within a hybrid conference setting.