{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,24]],"date-time":"2026-03-24T20:14:40Z","timestamp":1774383280820,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738800000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":36,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001711","name":"Swiss National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["51NF40_180575"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51NF40_180575"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001711","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001711","name":"Swiss National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P2EZP3_199916"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P2EZP3_199916"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001711","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001711","name":"Swiss National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P500PB_210941"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P500PB_210941"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001711","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000268","name":"BBSRC","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BB\/V004328\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BB\/V004328\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000268","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000268","name":"BBSRC","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BB\/V011464\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BB\/V011464\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000268","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"NCCR Microbiomes","award":["51NF40_180575"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51NF40_180575"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Scientific conferences are essential to academic exchange. However, related air travel contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, while expensive registration and travel costs limit the participation of early career researchers and those from low-income countries. Virtual conferences offer promising solutions for reducing emissions and enhancing accessibility and inclusivity but often limit networking and personal interaction. Hybrid multi-hub conferences, which combine virtually connected in-person venues with individual virtual participation, combine the benefits of both conference formats. Thus, we present and discuss MEEhubs2024, a multi-hub conference on microbial ecology and evolution held in January 2024. During this 3-day conference, attendees participated virtually or at one of six hubs in Europe and North America. We analyzed the participants\u2019 and organizers\u2019 feedback to create a template and provide insights into the scientific community's adoption of this new conference format, which was positively evaluated by most participants. Because technical, logistical, and structural challenges remain, including limited opportunities to interact and network across hubs and participation modes, we provide recommendations for improvement, such as hiring technical hosts and offering virtual-only social activities. Finally, we used the participants\u2019 feedback to reflect on conference expectations, highlighting research gaps and the need for organizers to define and communicate goals when organizing conferences.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/femsle\/fnaf022","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,5]],"date-time":"2025-02-05T07:30:33Z","timestamp":1738740633000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["MEEhubs2024: A hub-based conference on microbial ecology and evolution fostering sustainability"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"372","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9826-3535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ariane","family":"Wenger","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science TdLab , Zurich 8092 ,","place":["Switzerland"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7970-7890","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Erik","family":"Bakkeren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Oxford, Department of Biology , Oxford OX1 3RB ,","place":["United Kingdom"]},{"name":"University of Oxford, Department of Biochemistry , Oxford OX1 3QU ,","place":["United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1581-2899","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisa","family":"Granato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Oxford, Department of Biology , Oxford OX1 3RB ,","place":["United Kingdom"]},{"name":"University of Oxford, Department of Biochemistry , Oxford OX1 3QU ,","place":["United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5665-3073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robin","family":"Tecon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Lausanne, Department of Fundamental Microbiology , Lausanne 1015 ,","place":["Switzerland"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3930-5357","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sara","family":"Mitri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Lausanne, Department of Fundamental Microbiology , Lausanne 1015 ,","place":["Switzerland"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0926-4590","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wolfram","family":"M\u00f6bius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Exeter, Living Systems Institute, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences , Exeter EX4 4QD ,","place":["United Kingdom"]},{"name":"University of Exeter, Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy , Exeter EX4 4QL ,","place":["United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025091923034471400_bib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1145\/3544912.3544920","article-title":"Recommendations for designing hybrid conferences","volume":"52","author":"Bajpai","year":"2022","journal-title":"ACM SIGCOMM Comput Commun Rev"},{"key":"2025091923034471400_bib2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1177\/0308518X15597124","article-title":"A darker side of hypermobility","volume":"47","author":"Cohen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ Plann A Econ Space"},{"key":"2025091923034471400_bib3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"bio056705","DOI":"10.1242\/bio.056705","article-title":"Shifting away from the business-as-usual approach to research conferences","volume":"9","author":"Counsell","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biol Open"},{"key":"2025091923034471400_bib4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1080\/15313220.2017.1407517","article-title":"What do conferences do? 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