Our Code of Conduct

Our code of conduct sets out our expectations for everyone in our community to ensure that Galileo is inclusive to all people, including people from marginalised racial or ethnic groups, women and LGBTQI+ people, voices and perspectives.

Galileo is dedicated to ensuring our events, accelerator program and other activities are inclusive to all, safe and harassment-free, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. 

An inclusive culture supports people to feel respected and valued for who they are as an individual or group. Inclusion in the workplace means a sense of belonging and that it is a collaborative, supportive, and respectful environment that increases participation and contribution. 

We require that all communication and interaction is  appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds.

We do not tolerate harassment of community members in any form.

Who and where does this apply?

We expect everyone associated with Galileo to abide by this code of conduct, including team members, founders, program coaches, investors, mentors, advisors, students, volunteers, speakers, and attendees of our events. 

This code of conduct applies to all of these people in any setting associated with Galileo, including offices, work events, social outings, conferences, homes, lodging, phone calls, video conferences, emails, chat, social media, blogs, or other online communication. 

What are unacceptable behaviours?

Unacceptable behaviour includes (but is not limited to):

Offensive communication or activity related to:

• gender,
• sexual orientation,
• disability,
• physical appearance,
• body size,
• race,
• religion,
• sexual images in public spaces,
• bullying, intimidation, stalking or following,
• harassing photography or recording,
• sustained disruption of talks or other events,
• inappropriate or unwanted physical contact,
• unwelcome sexual attention, and
• advocating for or encouraging any of the above behaviour.

Discrimination:

Comments or behaviour that discriminates against, stereotypes, or harms members of marginalised groups. This includes but is not limited to:

• Disparaging remarks about marginalised racial or ethnic groups
• Racial or ethnic slurs
• Misogynist comments
• Homophobic or transphobic comments or slurs
• Discriminatory comments against members of marginalised religions as a group

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment means any unwanted, unwelcome or uninvited behaviour of a sexual nature which a reasonable person in the circumstances would find humiliating, intimidating or offensive. It’s also against the law. It can be written, verbal or physical, and can happen in person or online. Examples of sexual harassment include but are not limited to:

• Sexual advances when they are clearly unwelcome, or in a context where it is difficult for the recipient to say no to your advances.
• Creating a sexualised environment. Community members should never use sexualised images, activities or other material, or otherwise create a sexualised environemnt.
• Harassment and stalking
• Unwanted physical touch, restraint, assault, or threats

You should always consider the words that you use, and remember that sexist, racist and other exclusionary jokes or comments can be offensive to those around you.

We encourage everyone to always use inclusive language, and avoid language that may be ableist or sexist regardless of intent.

We ask that you do not take any photos (including screenshots) at any of our events or activities without permission from everyone present to do so.

We also ask that all attendees respect confidentiality requests from any speakers or community members.

What actions may be taken?

Everyone has the right to work in an environment that’s free from harassment, bullying, discrimination and violence. If a person asks you to stop any form of behaviour that they find offensive then you must do so immediately. Anyone that we ask to stop any behaviour will be expected to comply immediately.

Galileo may take action against a person based on other information or behaviour outside the community if, in our judgement, there is an unacceptable risk to its membership from that person.

If the behaviour continues or is egregious in nature, we may take any action deemed appropriate including expulsion from our events, program or community.

How do I raise any concerns?

We strongly encourage everyone to report any concerns or violations of this code of conduct in writing to us.

You can contact anyone on our team in person or via any other means.

• Hugh Stephens, hugh@galileo.ventures (Partner, Galileo Ventures)
• James Alexander, james@galileo.ventures (Partner, Galileo Ventures)
• Elyse Daniels, elysejdaniels@gmail.com (Community Mentor)

We treat all reports as confidential. We will ask you for some information about what happened and then take action as appropriate.

Actions we may take in response to a report include:

• Nothing
• Verbal warning
• Temporary ban from certain spaces or forums
• Permanent ban from certain spaces or forums
• Removal of responsibilities (e.g. replacement of the program coach)
• Termination of employment
• Report to legal authorities.
  

 We will follow up with you to let you know the actions that we have taken. If possible and appropriate, we will make a statement about the report and any actions we took available to everyone who is aware of the original incident. We strive to protect reporters or targets from retaliation whenever possible.

Acknowledgement

This Code of Conducted was adopted from other organisations and the Model Code of Conduct for the Australian Startup Community created by Blackbird Ventures, Startmate, Airtree, Squarepeg, Rampersand, Blue Sky Venture Capital and Frame Shift Consulting LLC.