Changing the Chilly Climate: Observations on Gender Diversity and Inclusion at a Geoscience Conference in the Netherlands

Manon Verberne, Jana Cox, Lisanne Braat , Tina Venema

The aim of this study was to observe audience participation in a conference where the planned structures (presenters, keynotes and chairs) had an equal gender balance. The collected data can give an indication of the effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives beyond the planned structures of the conference itself. We observed behaviours of attendees of the annual Dutch Earth and Environmental Science conference (NAC) in 2025.
While there was equal gender distribution amongst attendees, senior female researchers were underrepresented. During the keynote Q&A’s male attendees were 8.5 times more likely to ask a question. Observations of the parallel sessions showed that 60.9% of all the first questions were asked by male audience members. Given the attendance distribution, mid and late male researchers asked significantly more questions and female early-careers asked significantly less questions than expected. A binary logistic regression showed that the odds that a female attendee asked a question was 2.72 times higher when presenter was female. An analysis of the subdisciplines showed a clear gender gap in that Environmental Sciences had relatively more female presenters and Geology more male presenters. Hallmarks indicating chilly climate were not observed during the presentations and Q&A’s.
These findings indicate that gender-balanced conference organization alone does not eliminate participation disparities in geoscience conference discussions. Recommendations are made to improve inclusive diversity and inclusion for geoscience conferences.