Dear Colleagues,
We hope that you and your family are still healthy.
The COVID-19 situation is affecting our professional and personal lives deeply. Last week, we discussed with the organizing committee the implications for our SIG 14 conference in Barcelona.
It is with deep regret, we decided to cancel the SIG meeting without a virtual alternative or postponement.
This was a well-considered and difficult decision taking many factors and potential risks into account. We considered various alternatives for postponement to fall or winter. However, the conference location we committed ourselves to is very popular, we had to decide right now for a spot in fall or winter.
As there is so much uncertainty regarding the COVID situation, we concluded that it would be too risky to set new conference dates at this moment.
We believed that a virtual alternative would not allow us to meet some of the main goals of our SIG 14 meeting, namely in-depth discussions of research in progress and community building.
Moreover, changing at this stage the conference to a virtual conference would need great time and financial investments. This is something we cannot ask for, not from the organizing committee and not from our members as many of us are dealing with great challenges: combining teaching online with supporting family members with positive test results, taking care of children and managing research projects that are affected by this crisis.
It was also an emotional decision, all the hard work, especially by the Barcelona team had already been done. It’s very hard to leave that behind. The SIG coordinators visited Barcelona a month ago and we were so impressed by all the great ideas, the fabulous location and the energy they put into organizing this conference. A very special thanks to the Local Team who put a lot of effort on the conference planning.
And although a regular SIG conference is off the table, we still hope that there might be an opportunity in the next year(s) to come together in this great city in the form of a small group meeting.
All participants that already registered will be informed soon on the reimbursement of the conference fee. We are very happy that EARLI has expressed the intention to help us covering the costs that already were made.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
On behalf of both the Local Organizing and the Scientific Committees of the EARLI SIG14 Conference 2020
