Code of Conduct | ROME CONFERENCE

CODE OF CONDUCT AND SCIENTIFIC INDEPENDENCE

1. Purpose

The Rome Conference 2026 is committed to a safe, respectful, professional gathering built on open scientific debate. This Code applies to everyone taking part: speakers, moderators, guests, representatives of food and beverage companies, associations and supporting organizations, sponsors, press, organizing staff, and service providers. Registration and attendance constitute agreement to these terms for the full duration of the event, including in shared spaces at the host hotel.

2. Open Scientific Debate

The Conference exists to support plural, evidence-based scientific exchange, and real disagreement is expected: two experts on this program may look at the same evidence and reach different conclusions, and that is why we bring them into the same room, not a problem to be managed around. What matters is how that disagreement is conducted. Engage with the substance of what is presented, keep any critique aimed at the argument rather than the person making it, and disagree agreeably even where the disagreement runs deep. Personal attacks, intimidation, or attempts to pressure a speaker out of expressing their findings or their views are not welcome.

Discussion in working sessions and informal exchanges runs under the Chatham House Rule: participants are free to use what was said afterward, but may not reveal who said it or which organization they represent, unless that person agrees first. That's what lets people speak candidly, including those who don't normally go on record, and it applies to every exchange at the Conference, not only the formal sessions. Information expressly identified as confidential, off the record, unpublished, or not intended for disclosure may not be reproduced or disclosed.

Many participants will be meeting for the first time, and not everyone will land in the same place on every question on the program. That's worth naming plainly rather than leaving it to chance: hold every exchange, with someone you've known for twenty years or someone you're meeting for the first time, to the same professional standard, regardless of where anyone stands on the underlying science.

3. Scientific Independence from Sponsors and Industry

Every speaker's independence is a condition of participation, and every sponsor and supporting organization agrees to respect it fully. Sponsorship and institutional support fund the Conference; they do not confer any right to shape its scientific content, influence a speaker's conclusions, or determine who says what. In practice, this means:

No sponsor, company representative, or supporting organization will seek to alter a speaker's presentation, findings, or public statements.
Financial, institutional, or professional support is never conditioned on a speaker adopting a particular position.
Questions, answers, and scientific conclusions are not pre-screened or approved by any sponsor or supporting party.
Commercial or institutional interests are not used to pressure, intimidate, or seek favors from speakers or participants.

4. Engaging with Speakers

Speakers are at the Conference to exchange ideas with one another and, within the structure of the program, with participants. Questions during sessions should be objective, respectful, and tied to the material presented. Outside the formal program, speakers may decline interviews, photographs, private meetings, or informal conversation without needing to explain why.

Ask before approaching a speaker for a photograph, and accept a decline without requiring an explanation.
Do not insist on conversation, follow a speaker between rooms, or wait outside private areas to intercept them.
Direct requests for interviews, statements, or media engagement to the organizing team rather than to speakers directly.

Moderators may interrupt inappropriate remarks, ask a participant to rephrase a question, close an exchange, or call on the organizing team or security if needed.

5. Shared Hotel Spaces

Many speakers and participants will be staying at the same hotel. Speakers are entitled to the same privacy in breakfast rooms, restaurants, bars, lobbies, and fitness areas that they would expect at any professional gathering. Treat meals and rest periods as private time, not an extension of the program, unless a speaker chooses otherwise, and avoid positioning yourself near a speaker without being invited to do so.

6. Photography, Recording, and Social Media

Some speakers have no public social media presence and have not consented to public visibility associated with this event; the Conference asks all participants to honor that choice.

Do not photograph or record speakers, sessions, or informal exchanges without prior permission from the organizing team.
Do not post images, video, names, affiliations, or descriptions of speakers or their remarks to any public platform, before, during, or after the event, without the explicit consent of both the speaker and the organizers.
Do not tag, identify, or geolocate speakers in connection with the Conference on any public platform.

The organizing team handles all official photography or recording of sessions and releases it, if at all, only with the consent of the individuals involved.

Session recordings and original slide decks are not published or made publicly available. What the Conference does make available afterward, on the event site, is a curated lay summary of each session, written by the organizing team and approved by the speaker before it goes up, along with a small number of plots or figures the speaker has specifically agreed to include. Whether to allow their talk to be recorded at all, or any part of their presentation to circulate beyond that curated summary, is each speaker's call.

7. Respectful Conduct

All participants are expected to engage with one another with mutual professional respect, regardless of gender, race, nationality, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, appearance, or any other personal characteristic.

Harassment in any form, including unwanted physical contact or proximity, persistent contact after a request to stop, or conduct a reasonable person would find intimidating, is not acceptable.
Unwelcome sexual comments or contact, deliberate disruption of presentations, and disregard for a moderator's or organizer's instructions are likewise out of bounds.
Business solicitation or personal favor-seeking directed at speakers outside the program's designated networking opportunities is not appropriate.
Threats of violence, physical assault, threatening behavior, and possession or introduction of weapons or other dangerous objects are prohibited, except where authorized by law and by venue security.

8. Access Control and Credentials

Event access credentials are personal, non-transferable, and must remain visible at all times. The organizing team reserves the right to verify identity and to deny access to Conference session rooms to any person who is not credentialed. Sharing, lending, or reproducing credentials is expressly prohibited.

9. Visitors, Press, and Non-Registered Third Parties

Press, guests or companions, vendors, and hotel visitors may access Conference spaces only with specific authorization and credentialing. Contact the organizing team in advance to arrange access for anyone who is not a registered participant.

10. Emergency Protocol

All participants must immediately follow instructions from the organizing team, hotel security, and local authorities in the event of an emergency, evacuation, threat, medical incident, or other safety risk. At least one immediate operational channel—a phone number or WhatsApp line for the organizing team or hotel security—will be clearly identified and available throughout the event. For emergencies, contact a designated member of the organizing team: Marina Mantovani / +55 11 99337-3228

11. Data Protection and Participant List

The participant list, contact details, credentials, QR codes, any digital participant list, and any other information obtained at the event may not be used for commercial prospecting, public disclosure, or unsolicited contact.

12. Reporting a Concern

Anyone who experiences or witnesses a violation of this Code should reach an identified member of the organizing team on site, or use the following channels:

Email: [insert email]
Phone or WhatsApp: [insert number]
Confidential channel: [insert link or form]

Information received through the reporting channel will be kept confidential to the extent reasonably possible, and may be shared when necessary for investigation, the protection of individuals, compliance with a legal obligation, or communication to the authorities.

We handle reports with discretion and take them seriously. The organizing team may document and investigate reports, interview the individuals involved, and preserve information necessary for the inquiry, in keeping with confidentiality and applicable law. No one who reports a concern, asks for help, or assists in looking into one will face retaliation of any kind; retaliation is itself treated as a serious violation of this Code.

13. Enforcement

Depending on the severity of the conduct, the organizers may issue a warning, end a participant's involvement in a session, cancel a credential, require someone to leave the Conference premises and, where appropriate, request the host hotel to take measures within its authority, ask a person to leave the venue or host hotel without refund, notify the company or institution a person represents, or involve venue security or local authorities. Where there is any risk to someone's safety or wellbeing, the designated member of the organizing team may act immediately, which may include revoking a credential, removing the person from the event, or notifying the institution they represent, without waiting for the steps above.

The organizing team is expressly authorized to deny entry to, or immediately remove, a specific individual whenever there are reasonable grounds related to the safety of participants or of the event.

14. Internal Incident Protocol (Recommended)

In addition to this Code, the organizing team is encouraged to maintain a separate, internal Incident Response Protocol, not published to participants, covering: emergency contacts; the individuals responsible for decisions; hotel security contacts; the procedure to follow when a speaker feels threatened; entry control; medical assistance; evacuation; press management; response to protests or demonstrations; handling of a social-media incident; preservation of evidence; communication with authorities; and the specific procedure for removing a participant.

15. Acknowledgment

Registration for the Rome Conference 2026 constitutes acceptance of this Code of Conduct. By attending, every participant agrees to uphold the standards described above, helping keep this gathering a setting where speakers feel confident, comfortable, and free to engage openly with one another and with the participants who join them.

Rome Conference 2026 — Organizing Committee