Victoria on Substack

I dislike conferences, and almost never went to them even before children, and certainly not afterwards. I don't think it damaged my academic career that much though probably a bit. I was lucky in any case to be based always in Oxford, Cambridge or London which makes it much easier to make links even without traveling. But I do think it's obvious that the emphasis upon conferences makes academic life difficult for parents and for anyone with fragile health, as my own has almost always been to a greater or lesser extent. Of course many people with young children have no problem going away, but personally I have never felt comfortable about being a plane journey away from my children. I do agree with you that such profligate travel seems unjustifiable these days, but I have to admit though that I have never attended an online conference that I really thought worked, and they are surely much less useful for younger scholars trying to meet and chat with people informally. So it's a genuine problem I think. In any case, I enjoyed reading your thoughts about it.