Due to the virtual nature of the 38th International Symposium on Combustion, the normally scheduled Women in Combustion meeting was converted to an online format. As a result, we created a Discord account titled “Women in Combustion,” with a specific chat, or “text channel” for the 38th ISOC. Members of the Women in Combustion mailing list were invited to join Discord, and thus the first-ever virtual Women in Combustion forum was off!
We posted Elsevier’s 2020 Gender Report and moderated a discussion on the report and other topics concerning women in combustion science. For example, much of the discussion surrounded the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women generally, and specifically within academia and research fields.
After the symposium, we gathered feedback from the members of our Discord chat, and received overwhelming interest in continuing the online forum, even if future symposia and other events occur in person. With this in mind, we are working to expand opportunities and events within Discord for the upcoming regional combustion meetings.