Dear Colleagues,
As we promised you, time has come to take and announce our final decision as regards the COV11 Conference.
Over the past months the COV11 Local Organizing Committee, along with the IAVCEI Executive committee, the Cities and Volcanoes Commission and CONVIN (the Professional Congress Organizer), have continuously evaluated the evolution of the global Covid-19 situation and all possible options for the conference.
Based on our ultimate evaluation on June 29, we cautiously feel more optimistic and have decided to hold the COV11 conference in Crete on September 25-30, 2020, as an hybrid event combining both virtual and physical attendance.
Within the next few days you will receive a letter from the Professional Conference Organizers with all information concerning the next steps. At this stage, there is no further action required from your side.
Keeping with the tradition of IAVCEI events, we encourage the physical participation of all those of you who will be able to reach Crete in September. In addition to the exceptional framework of Crete island, they could enjoy the warm atmosphere of in-person meeting and physically participate to scientific sessions and parallel activities. The POC will take care of all technical aspects and of safety rules imposed by national regulations. In particular, safe distancing rules and a 50% reduced host capacity of the conference rooms will impose us to limit the number of physical attendance to 300 people. On-site participations will be validated on a first-come first-served basis.
The IAVCEI EC, in agreement with New Zealand LOC, announces that the IAVCEI Scientific Assembly, Rotorua, New Zealand, originally scheduled for 2021, has been postponed to 20-24 January, 2022.
The impact of COVID-19 and the associated uncertainty of international travel restrictions to New Zealand in the near future has made it impractical and unfeasible to plan for and hold the assembly on the original dates. The local organising committee regret having to reschedule
the assembly, but are delighted to welcome the international volcanological community to New Zealand in early 2022. We will build upon the progress we
had already made on the scientific and general programme and anticipate that this assembly may be unique in being the first, hopefully, in a post-COVID world.
Adrian Pittari and Graham Leonard (LOC Coordinators)
Patrick Allard (IAVCEI President)
Roberto Sulpizio (IAVCEI SG)