Updated Statement – March 6, 2020
Dear SoLAR members and LAK 2020 attendees,
We have been monitoring closely the developments around the coronavirus spread (COVID-19). The Goethe-University follows the advice of the Robert Koch Institute, the central institution of the German federal government in the field of disease surveillance and prevention. We want to assure everyone that the health, safety and well-being of LAK20 delegates and community is our first priority.
Regarding COVID-19, the University states that there is NO cancellation of events under 1,000 participants. Based on the current assessment (as of 4 March 2020) of the Frankfurt Health Office and the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, at this point in time there are no reasons to cancel LAK20. The event will take place in the premises of the Goethe University buildings, which offer optimal conditions regarding ventilation and sanitary facilities.
We realize these are exceptional circumstances and we are providing three additional options to accommodate those unable to travel to Frankfurt to present or participate in the conference:
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Alternative Presenter. The presentation will take place as normal in the schedule by a designated alternative presenter.
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Pre-recorded presentation. The pre-recording will be available on-demand.
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Live video presentation. We will send detailed instructions to presenters.
In case authors opt for the live video presentation, we would kindly ask you to also provide us with a pre-recording, in case there are technical issues.
In addition, the following adjustments will be made:
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Some workshops may be cancelled depending on the availability of the facilitators. Delegates will be individually informed of any changes to their workshop registrations.
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Panels will be postponed and incorporated into SoLAR’s Spotlight series of webinars and podcasts at a later date.
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Posters will be made available in electronic format.
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SoLAR’s annual general meeting will be rescheduled and run via Webinar at a date and time to be determined
We will continue to monitor the situation, in the event that the physical conference cannot take place in Frankfurt, LAK20 will be organised as a fully online conference with more detailed information to follow. In any case, the publication of LAK conference proceedings will not be affected.
We will be reaching out to authors to provide more details on the format of the pre-recorded and live video presentations.
If you have any questions regarding the LAK20 conference please contact lakconference@gmail.com
We thank all community members for their understanding and helping to ensure LAK20 is a success.
**NOTE**Organizers will be sending out a survey from lakconference@gmail.com via SurveyMonkey. It is CRITICAL that ALL participants respond to allow organizers to best prepare for LAK20. The deadline for completion of survey is Monday, March 9, 2020 at 6pm CET.
Read the previos statement from February 26, 2020 here