Academic Air Travel: Debates, Tensions and the Need for a Sociology of Science Perspective

ABSTRACT Traveling to conferences is a central feature of academic life. Yet recently, academic air travel has been called into question in the context of climate change, and the digital transformation has facilitated the spread of virtual alternatives to face‐to‐face meetings. The near‐total halt in air travel associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic has solidified the use of technologies of virtual meetings. However, the return to in‐person conferences after the pandemic suggests that these are not as easily replaced by virtual alternatives as is sometimes assumed. While this is increasingly coming into focus in the behavioral sciences, the sociology of science is largely absent in this debate. As a first step toward bringing this debate into conversation with the sociology of science, this review article examines the literature on academic air travel for key tensions, current debates and politicizations. It concludes that academic conference travel is an emerging, timely and relevant, yet under‐studied area of interest for sociologists of science, and suggests some avenues for future inquiry.