The Festival of Learning brings together academic communities in AI, Education, Learning Sciences, and Human-Computer Interaction and is intended to foster collaboration and a broader community amongst participants.
Everyone involved in the conference — from organizers to presenters to attendees to sponsors — is expected to adhere to the code of conduct throughout the conference, both in their formal and informal participation in the conference and in all channels of interaction and communication, including social media. The Festival of Learning 2026 code of conduct described here is inspired by and adapted from similar codes of conduct from recent EDM conferences, in turn adapted from international conferences on machine learning and artificial intelligence (ICLR, ICML).
Everyone has a right to participate in the conference free from harassment and intimidation, and in an environment that recognizes the inherent worth of all people and their potential to contribute valuable ideas to the scientific discussion. Everyone has the right to a safe and discrimination-free conference regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, gender expression, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability status, religion or lack of religion, physical appearance, technology choices, or other identities or beliefs. What may be intended as “joking” can be offensive and demeaning. For example, racist or sexist jokes are a violation of this policy.
Bullying, intimidation, personal attacks, harassment, sustained disruption of talks or other events, and behavior that interferes with another participant’s full participation will not be tolerated. This includes but is not limited to sexual harassment, unwelcome repeated contacts, harassing photography, recording without consent, unwelcome sexual attention, display of belittling or gratuitous images in public spaces, public vulgar exchanges, and diminutive characterizations, which are all unwelcome in this community. Revealing private information in a public setting without permission, such as posting a participant’s personal information, is not permitted.
Harassment is a one-sided approach, degrading, hurtful, not desired by one party, a source of irritation, diminishes self-confidence, and violates personal boundaries. Harassment is based on the way in which the person impacted by the behavior perceives or feels it, not by the intention of the person who acts. Thus, even if a behavior is not intended to harass someone else or violate boundaries, it may still be harassing. If someone tells you your behavior is harassing them, you should stop.
If you see someone engaging in any concerning or harassing behaviors, please ask them to stop. If you experience or observe any behavior you’re concerned about or that you believe may constitute harassment or discrimination, please report it to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Chairs Anna Rafferty (arafferty@carleton.edu) or (Jade) Mai Cock (academia@jadecock.be) via email with subject line “FoL’26 – concerning observation”. During the festival, we will follow up as soon as possible (and no later than 24 hours), and outside the days of the festival, we will respond within two business days. No action will be taken without consulting with the impacted participant(s), and solutions can be discussed collectively. Within the conference organizing committee, strict confidentiality of concerns will be maintained, including only the EDIA chairs, festival general chairs, and general or program chairs from each conference. No participant who makes a good faith report of concern will face retaliation or negative consequences from festival or conference organizers.
Determinations of a violation and consequences for violating this code of conduct will be decided by at least one of the Festival of Learning general chairs and a representative from each conference (a program chair, general chair, or EDIA chair). If an organizer is a subject of concern or has a conflict of interest, they will not participate in this discussion; if the organizer is representing one of the three conferences, a different representative may be selected, while if a festival-wide organizer is the subject of concern, they will not be replaced in the discussion.
Consequences for a violation may include a formal or informal warning, expulsion from the conference without a refund, barring participation in future Festivals of Learning or in future iterations of individual conferences participating in the festival, reporting the incident to the offender’s local institution or funding agencies, or other actions. A response of “just joking” will not be accepted; behavior can be harassing without the intent to offend. If action is taken, an appeals process will be made available.