[Coral-List] ICRS 2021 Hybrid and Abstract Submission Deadline Extension

[Christian Wild]

Dear coral reef community,

As you are all aware, due to the COVID-19 pandemic we were  
unfortunately forced to postpone the 14th ICRS from July 2020 to July  
2021. We now realize that the pandemic may also affect ICRS 2021  
because of the enduring risk of infection, related travel  
restrictions, and implementation limitations.
 
These circumstances represent a clear financial and logistical  
challenge for us organizers of the 14th ICRS. We committed ourselves  
to host an unforgettable ICRS 2021 on-site event in Bremen. We  
strongly believe in the importance of face-to-face networking and the  
development of personal contacts that such a global conference (which  
only takes place every 4 years) provides to all participants. This  
goes far beyond the mere exchange of scientific content. And that is  
why we are trying our best to make this event happening.
 
To accommodate the above considerations, we have now started to  
develop a hybrid strategy that combines the planned ICRS 2021 On-Site  
event from July 18-23 in Bremen with ICRS 2021 Online. This will  
provide not only on-site, but also online participants the opportunity  
to have their work evaluated, seen, and discussed by the coral reef  
community. The detailed implementation of this strategy strongly  
depends on the development of the pandemic, the availability of  
additional funding, and the number of registered on-site & online  
participants. When we have all necessary information, we will announce  
the detailed strategy for /ICRS 2021 Hybrid/.  
 
Due to the outlined strategy, we EXTEND THE DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT  
SUBMISSION UNTIL OCTOBER 15TH (please see here:  
https://www.icrs2021.de/). This provides the opportunity to  
participate on-site, online, or both – and gives the necessary time to  
prepare new abstracts.
 
We now particularly invite abstracts from people that want to join  
/online only/, but of course also abstracts from people that want to  
join on-site can be submitted until the new deadline. During the  
submission process, people are now asked to indicate if their  
submission should be presented /online only/. We have introduced this  
in order to get more quantitative information about the interest for  
the online component of /ICRS 2021 Hybrid/. As with the on-site  
submissions, all new abstracts will be evaluated for quality in a  
double-blind mode, and abstract submitters will be notified of  
acceptance by the end of 2020.
 
Only during registration (opens in early 2021), participants decide  
whether they want to present and register for the on-site event,  
/online only/, or both components of /ICRS 2021 Hybrid/. This means  
that participants who have already submitted their abstracts can  
switch to the online presentation later during registration, if the  
development of the pandemic makes this necessary. Registration fees  
for the /online only/ option will be approximately 50 % of the rate  
for the on-site event.
 
We hope that /ICRS 2021 Hybrid/ is an attractive format that  
accommodates everyone interested in joining ICRS 2021, while allowing  
a high level of flexibility for all in these difficult times.

All the best and kind greetings from Bremen,
Christian Wild on behalf of the organizing committee for ICRS 2021
  Prof. Dr. Christian Wild
Marine Ecology

Faculty of Biology & Chemistry (FB2)
Universität Bremen
UFT, Leobener Str. 6, Room 2160
D-28359 Bremen
Germany

Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-63367
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-62949
Email: christian.wild at uni-bremen.de