On 30th April 2022, the IPAC22 organiser published a draft version of their dress code rules for academic participants at this international physics conference. However, some parts of the rules have led to major confusion from participants around the world. For instance, women are not allowed to wear smart casual trousers, and men are not allowed to have tattoos or piercings. This has raised a huge concern to the international participants as well as the Thai scientific community globally. This form of 'Thai-authoritarian requests' from the Thai authority has had a direct impact on Thai academia working internationally as it addresses the lack of understanding and openness to the 21st Century norm of their country. It is very concerning that some Thai authorities still think that they can exert these strict rules that can be seen as violating the most basic human freedom to make decisions and undermining the decision-making skills of high-standard scientists around the world. Finally, this issue does raise the question as to whether the slow progress in scientific development in Thailand could be explained partly, if not fully, by this form of authoritarian thinking.

Please sign this petition to support the idea of using an international standard dress code for any participant at the IPACC22 opening ceremony as well as throughout the events to keep up with the international academic standard and to promote equality in the scientific community.