With generous visa allowances, Bangkok is described as the ‘perfect’ conference location.Credit: Oleh Slobodeniuk/iStock via Getty
International conferences are part of the lifeblood of research, providing opportunities for scientists from around the world to communicate their latest findings, forge collaborations and get to know each other. Tougher rules around visas and border control in the United States have prompted some conferences to move elsewhere. But what are the best places to hold a scientific conference right now? Could a greater variety of host countries be good for science?
Conferences are currently heavily concentrated in the Western world, with the United States being the most common location, says Geert Somsen, a historian of science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
In 2023, he co-authored a paper examining the contribution of international conferences throughout history to the understanding and communication of science1. The location of conferences “reflects a certain idea of what the world order is like”, he says.
President Donald Trump’s latest crackdown has made it more difficult for non-citizens to enter the United States and banned citizens of 12 countries from visiting. But even before then, it was difficult for people from low- and middle-income countries to get visas to attend conferences there, says Hazel Biana, a philosopher at De La Salle University in Manila.
“It’s really been a challenge for us over the years,” she says. The United States ranks 81 — close to the bottom — on global financial-advisory firm Arton Capital’s Welcoming Countries Rank, which classifies countries according to the number of passports they accept visa-free or with relatively simple entry requirements. “I’ve known a lot of people who had encountered problems,” says Biana.
The current climate in the United States is prompting organizers to think deeply about how conference location affects who can attend and presents an opportunity to increase accessibility, which could be good for science, say researchers.
Conferences today tend to be “deeply shaped by Western and European traditions”, says Somsen. If they moved to a more diverse set of locations, a wider range of scientists could go, which would benefit science itself by integrating diverse knowledge and experience.
Location, location, location
So, ideally, where should a conference be held? After the latest crackdown in the United States, several conferences relocated to Canada. The International Conference on Comparative Cognition, for example, will move to Montreal next year. But Canada also has onerous entry restrictions: it is only one place above the United States on the Welcoming Countries Rank.
Researchers’ picks for conference locations include Thailand and Indonesia, which rank 38 and 50, thanks to their generous visa allowances. Both offer ‘visa on arrival’, which eliminates the complicated visa-application process for many people. Biana describes Bangkok as “the perfect place for a conference that’s really quite inclusive”.
She also mentions Budapest as a promising location outside North America and southeast Asia, owing to its affordability. Hungary scores 53 on the Welcoming Countries Rank.
Budapest could be an attractive, affordable European option for a conference.Credit: Alexander Spatari/Getty
Visas are not the only thing to consider: also important is freedom of expression, says Charlotte Bigg, a historian of science at the Alexandre-Koyré Centre in Paris and co-author of the 2023 paper on the history of conferences.
