There have been a number of instances where staff at the University have been approached to attend, at – small or no cost – various conferences and events that are misleading or not as legitimate as they may appear.
Sometimes these look too good to be true – and they frequently are.
Please check and be absolutely certain before you commit to attending anything that may seem suspicious to you. It is a profitable, ruthless and large industry that exploits our sector.
There are a number of characteristics to look out for, including :
- Confusing or similarly named events to well known Industry Leaders
- Free or Low Cost Attendance which you might expect to come at a cost if legitimate
- Confusing Small Print which is difficult to find or non-existent
- Pressurised Sales techniques such as frequent calls, emails, or similar
- Offers to register you on your behalf
- Lack of appropriate Peer review for papers you may submit (I.e. fast tracked review)
- Invitations that appear to have no relevance to your specialism and expertise
Beware also, of instances where you may be unwittingly agreeing to a number of “client meetings.” Your presence is effectively bait being sold as sales opportunities to companies. In one instance, a member of staff at Kent was offered free of charge a 4 day conference on a cruise ship, but could effectively be held hostage to endless (and no doubt boring) sales meetings.
If you sign up for one of these, the companies may seek to charge us enormous cancellation fees of up to several thousand pounds. The several thousand pounds that they may otherwise have received from companies paying for leads.
Kent’s Procurement team maintains a list of suppliers who we should be wary of using. If you are invited to attend any event that you think may seem suspicious or otherwise not quite legitimate please do not make any commitments and contact purchasing@kent.ac.uk if you require any guidance.
Please find below some links to news articles on this persistent problem:
http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/11/dubious-conferences-put-pose-symposium
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-madhukar-pai/predatory-conferences-academia_b_12467834.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/upshot/fake-academe-looking-much-like-the-real-thing.html