The Candela Foundation (Candela) is committed to creating a space at its events that is open, inclusive and conducive to a free exchange of scientific ideas. Candela’s events aim to inspire, educate and foster collaboration among participants, regardless of their experience, background, identity or views.
In order to ensure everyone’s comfort and safety at its events, the Candela Foundation has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of hate speech, bullying, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Any behavior that violates the principles of respect and equal treatment will be vigorously punished and subject to immediate response from the event organizers.
Together, as an environment, Candela is building a space based on openness, mutual respect and cooperation. Every participant in events organized by the Candela Foundation commits to upholding these values, thereby contributing to creating an environment where learning and dialogue can flourish without barriers. As a prerequisite for participation in any event organized (or co-organized) by the Candela Foundation, participants must be familiar with and abide by the principles described in this Code of Conduct. This rule applies to all persons participating in the event, including organizers, participants, speakers, exhibitors, award winners, staff and subcontractors.
Matters not covered by this Code shall be governed by generally applicable provisions of the Polish law.
If you wish to report an incident of hate speech, bullying, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation you have witnessed or experienced, you may do so through the following methods:
We encourage you to write down as many relevant details as you can recall (e.g., names, dates, times, locations, behavior or statements made, etc.) that can be helpful in assisting any future investigation of the incident. To ensure a fair and complete investigation, Candela cannot accept anonymous reports of hate speech, bullying, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. However, Candela is very sensitive to the potential ramifications of making a report and will maintain your confidentiality except where doing so would compromise another person’s rights or Candela’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation. In such cases, Candela will limit disclosure only to that information necessary to ensure proper investigation and compliance with procedures. No retaliation will be taken or tolerated against anyone who makes a good faith report of hate speech, bullying, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation to Candela.
For purposes of this policy, “hate Speech”, “bullying”, “discrimination”, “harassment” (including “sexual harassment”) and “retaliation” are defined as follows:
Hate speech shall be understood as covering all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin. Hate speech is characterized by a lack of tolerance for difference, the promotion of stereotypes, or degrading treatment of others that often has a discriminatory basis.
Bullying is the ongoing abuse and intentional mistreatment of one or more vulnerable persons or groups by a more powerful individual or group. Bullying consists of repeated verbal (name-calling, verbal attacks), physical (use of physical force or aggression) and/or social behavior (ostracism, exclusion, spreading rumors) that causes physical or psychological harm. Being “more powerful” may include being physically bigger or stronger, having more social status or having influence over someone’s employment or professional advancement.
Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of categories of people based on personal attributes such as race, sex, age, color, sexual orientation, body size, ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, marital status, political affiliation, or other attributes not related to the merit of one’s work or scientific research or ideas.
Harassment consists of unwanted, unwelcomed and uninvited behavior that demeans, threatens or offends another and results in a hostile environment. Harassing behavior includes, but is not limited to, the use of negative epithets, derogatory comments or slurs, assault, stalking, impeding or blocking movement, threats of violence, offensive touching, any physical interference with normal work or movement and visual insults, such as derogatory images, posters or cartoons. Harassment is often (but not always) based upon personal attributes such as race, sex, age, gender, color, sexual orientation, body size, ethnic or national origin, or disability.
Sexual harassment consists of harassing behavior based upon sex, gender or sexual orientation. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors (often accompanied by overt or implied promises or threats relating to employment, professional advancement or recognition), lewd comments or images or other verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature where such conduct creates an unreasonable, intimidating, hostile or sexually offensive environment and may interfere with the target’s professional performance.
Retaliation consists of one or more negative actions or treatments toward someone who has reported bullying, discrimination or harassment based upon such a report. Retaliation may include terminating or demoting a reporting individual, excluding a reporting individual from work or professional activities, injuring a reporting individual’s professional or personal reputation or unjustly demeaning reporting individual’s work. Retaliation can be used as a method of bullying or harassment, but more importantly retaliation creates an environment that discourages victims and bystanders from reporting offensive behavior.
Upon receiving a report of misconduct, the Candela Foundation will conduct a prompt and thorough investigation that will include speaking with all parties with relevant knowledge of the incident, including the reporting individual, the alleged victim (if different from the reporting individual), any known witnesses, and the alleged offender. Candela may seek other legal or professional counsel as needed prior to recommending a decision and any follow-up actions to the event Coordinator. Candela may consult with the alleged victim and/or the reporting individual prior to taking any action. If Candela finds that a violation of this policy has occurred, Candela may take any disciplinary action it deems appropriate which may include suspension or removal from the event or activity ran by Candela without a refund or any other compensation. Serious or repeated offenses may result in more significant consequences such as being banned from participation in future Candela events or activities, contacting the violator’s employer, filing a report with law enforcement, etc.
This Code of Conduct is based on the Optica’s (formerly The Optical Society of America) Anti-Harassment Policy and Code of Conduct and Recommendation no. R (97) 20 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States.