Update on 2025 IASA/SEAPAVAA Conference at University of Hawai’i Mānoa

Thank you to everyone who responded to the conference survey recently sent out by the IASA Executive Board. We appreciate the time and honest feedback from the many people who responded, and we share many of the expressed concerns. At a board meeting on 9 May, we discussed the results and reviewed current planning and programming progress. Based on the number of people planning to attend in person, the sizable number of proposals received and the significant work already undertaken by the Local, Planning and Programme Committees, the Board has decided to continue with current plans to hold the conference jointly with SEAPAVAA in Hawaii. We have taken your feedback into consideration and will be making some adjustments to our regular conference procedures. More information will be forthcoming, but we wanted to announce one significant change from standard practice with you now.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a world-class research and academic institution focused on informing solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. The University is a Land, Sea, Space and Sun-Grant institution, one of only six in the United States and is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as R1: Doctoral Universities Very high research activity (RU/VH).¹  

To maintain its eligibility for federal funding and grants, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa must comply with U.S. President Trump’s January executive order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”

Honolulu is a vibrant and culturally diverse city where the Board believes all conference participants will feel welcome and safe. However, due to the Executive Order, IASA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee will be unable to hold its annual business meeting on the University of Hawaiʻi campus. In solidarity—and to ensure that no constitutionally mandated committee is excluded from conference proceedings—the Executive Board has decided that this year’s programme will not include any section or committee meetings. Meeting rooms and online conferencing services will not be provided for these purposes on the program schedule. 

Instead, the Board respectfully requests that each committee or section schedule its open meeting at any time during the month of September and submit a written report to the Executive Board by the end of October. Meetings may be held in person at the University Library or online, but all timing and arrangements must be organized independently by the respective officers and will not be part of the official program.

Chairs who wish to host an in-person meeting at the University Library should contact conferences@iasa-web.org to coordinate.

We recognize that this approach may create additional responsibilities for section and committee officers, and we appreciate your support of this decision.

We will follow up soon with travel recommendations, and for now briefly want to remind all planning to attend, whether you are presenting at the conference or not, that IASA has traditionally provided official invitation letters on request to all conference attendees to facilitate travel and visa arrangements.

¹https://www.himb.hawaii.edu/2024/09/26/accepting-applications-university-of-hawai%CA%BBi-at-manoa-uhm-soest-dean/#:~:text=UH%20Manoa%20is%20a%20world,the%20full%20job%20posting%20here!