GA4GH Participation Guidelines

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) Participation Guidelines outline expectations for individuals participating in GA4GH meetings, workshops, conferences, and events, encompassing both in-person and virtual attendance. They are intended to promote respectful collaboration, transparency, legal compliance, and responsible use of tools and information. These guidelines apply to all participants, including attendees, speakers, organisers, sponsors, and observers. 

Participation in any GA4GH meeting or event constitutes acknowledgement of and agreement to these guidelines and the policies referenced below.

GA4GH proactively supports an engaged, welcoming, and safe community through its Code of Ethics and Community Conduct and Guidelines for respectful community engagement. By attending GA4GH meetings and associated events, whether in person or virtually, you agree to adhere to these standards. If you experience or witness harmful behaviour or a potential violation of the code, please report it. 

Expected and Prohibited Behaviours 

Expectations include that participants will:

• adhere to GA4GH’s mission and policies;
• act to uphold the interests and reputation of GA4GH;
• commit to the highest standards of objectivity and transparency;
• treat all members, participants, attendees, staff, and vendors with respect, empathy, consideration, and professionalism;
• give others fair, inclusive, and equitable consideration;
• communicate openly with respect for others;
• think of others’ needs from their point of view and work to eliminate your own biases;
• acknowledge the contributions of your peers;
• respect the rules and policies of all meeting and event venues.

Prohibited behaviours include:

• harassment in any form;
• physical abuse, intimidation, disregard for another’s safety, as well as intentional, unwelcome physical behaviours;
• verbal or written abuse, intimidation (in-person or remotely), use of coded language, or deliberate outing of an aspect of someone’s identity;
• violating previously communicated (verbally or nonverbally) physical, emotional, and sexual boundaries;
• displaying or distributing of images or recordings involving provocative behaviour;
• threatening (implied or real) physical, emotional, professional, or financial harm;
• photographing, recording, or video-taping of others without their consent;
• engaging in the following prohibited behaviours related to communications:
  • disrespectful communication that does not support the communication and discussion of the topic at hand;
  • directly reproducing visual materials (e.g. no posting of photos of slides or posters) unless permission is obtained from the presenter or if they have already made this information freely available in an open-source forum;
  • copying or taking screenshots of session recordings, Q&A, or session chat activity taking place in the virtual space where the presenter has stated that the information should be kept confidential (otherwise, all materials are considered free to be shared);
  • sharing presentations, postings, and messages which contain promotional materials, special offers, job offers, product announcements, or a solicitation for services that have not been expressly approved through a partnership agreement;
  • sustained disruption of discussion or repeatedly asking disingenuous questions under a guise of sincerity;
• accepting inappropriate favours;
• violating any ethics policy identified in section III as applicable to the GA4GH community;
• retaliating during or after the reporting process;
• inciting, encouraging, or condoning prohibited behaviour;
• any other behaviours that may reasonably be assumed to have the effect of creating, contributing to, or maintaining an environment that is hostile toward or damaging to a person or group.

Reporting a Concern 

Any GA4GH participant, such as a Work Stream or Community member or event attendee, may report a harmful behaviour or potential violation of the code via the reporting form or to the external Safe GA4GH Officer, Stacey Donnelly. The reporting party’s identity will be kept confidential if they so wish. 

Any individual may also contact the Safe GA4GH Committee, a group of staff and contributors who have volunteered to investigate reports following the process outlined in the code. The committee consists of Justina Chung (GA4GH Operations Lead), Karen Cranston (University Health Network; GA4GH Driver Project Champion for the Pan-Canadian Genome Library), Angela Page (GA4GH Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer), Jimmy Payyapilly (GA4GH Technical Lead), Heidi Rehm (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; GA4GH Chair), and Alex Wagner (Nationwide Children’s Hospital Institute for Genomic Medicine; Co-Lead, Genomic Knowledge Standards Work Stream; Driver Project Champion, Variation Interpretation for Cancer Consortium).

Organiser Photography and Recording 

By entering the premises of a GA4GH event or participating in a GA4GH meeting, you acknowledge that photography, video recording, audio recording, and screen capture may occur. By participating, you consent to being photographed, recorded, and/or filmed and authorise GA4GH to use, reproduce, adapt, and distribute such content for print and/or electronic purposes, including documentation, reporting, educational materials, the GA4GH website (ga4gh.org), and GA4GH social media channels, as set out in the Notice of Filming and Photography. 

While GA4GH respects the privacy of our attendees, we cannot guarantee that you will not be captured in incidental background footage or crowd shots. If you wish to minimise the likelihood of being recorded, please position yourself away from active camera angles and refrain from speaking during recorded sessions. 

Presenter Opt-out: The above does not apply to formal presentations. If you are a presenter and do not wish for your specific session or slide deck to be recorded or shared, please contact your session coordinator or email info@ga4gh.org.

Participant Photography and Recording 

Unless a speaker or session chair explicitly requests otherwise at the start of a meeting or event, GA4GH encourages attendees to share their experiences and insights. You are welcome to take photos, short video snippets, or screen captures for personal use and social media sharing. 

We ask that all participants record responsibly by adhering to the Code of Ethics and Community Conduct, respecting presenter opt-outs, and ensuring the shared content accurately reflects the spirit of the discussion and speaker’s comments. Personal recordings may not be used for commercial purposes or sold.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in connection with GA4GH meetings and events must comply with other GA4GH policies and applicable laws. Unless explicitly permitted by the GA4GH Secretariat, AI Services, including automated transcription bots and note-taking assistants, must not be used for meetings involving sensitive, confidential, or personal information, such as private organisational matters, individual health data, or identifiable personal details. 

Always check if AI use is appropriate for the meeting’s topics and content. Maintain transparency by disclosing AI use to all participants at the start of the meeting and identifying any content that has been produced using an AI tool, including meeting transcripts and summary tools.

Remember that you are responsible for the output generated by AI tools. Please review and address any sensitive or inaccurately represented information before sharing with others.

• Code of Ethics and Community Conduct 
• GA4GH Code of Ethics and Community Conduct Reporting Form 
• Guidelines for Respectful Community Engagement
• Notice of Filming and Photography 
• GA4GH Publication Policy 
• GA4GH Website