Defining a blueprint for sustainable academic conferences: lessons learned from the BILETA annual conference 2024

The use of digital technologies does not represent the panacea to organise sustainable academic conferences. Although the environmental impact of these events could be mitigated through virtual meetings, the latter would not meet the requirements of academic conferences, which are valued for networking and community building. The existing literature does not offer a coherent set of guidelines to organise sustainable academic conferences. Building on the experience of the BILETA Annual Conference 2024, this paper recontextualises the existing literature on sustainable international conferences and presents a blueprint to organise sustainable academic events. The proposed measures are organised into three groups, depending on whether these can be implemented by host institutions, conference organisers or attendees. Using mixed methods, including interviews and carbon emissions calculations, the paper aims to provide practical guidelines for sustainable academic conferences that can be potentially incorporated and generalised at the institutional level.