CIFU XIII – 4th CIRCULAR

Dear Colleagues,

as you probably know, already for some time we have been discussing the future of our congress plans in face of the CoVID-19 pandemic. Even though in Austria there is now some hope that the restrictions on travelling and public gatherings will gradually be lifted, we still cannot guarantee that the situation will be back to normal by August.

After consulting the international organizing committee, we have decided to follow the example of many other international conferences originally scheduled for the summer of 2020 and postpone the CIFU XIII by a year, until 8–13 August 2021. The new dates were chosen to avoid overlaps with at least two other major international conferences in related areas, but finding new dates which would be OK for all participants may well be impossible. Our apologies for any inconvenience! 

In principle, the complete programme planned so far, with its general sessions, plenary talks, symposia and social events, will simply be transferred to the new dates (except for those presentations and symposia which are moved to the pre-congress, see below). There is no need to resubmit abstracts already accepted. If you want to add corrections or updates to your abstract, it is possible now; please send the updated version (with reference to CIFU XIII) to us: cifu13@univie.ac.at .

The registration fees already paid will be returned. Registration to the postponed congress will be opened again in the beginning of 2021.

However, for those participants who do not want to wait until 2021 to publish their research results, we will organize an Internet-based pre-congress during the week originally planned for our congress (17–21 August 2020). If you are interested in moving your presentation from the programme of the “real” CIFU XIII in 2021 to the virtual pre-congress in 2020, please contact us (cifu13@univie.ac.at). The pre-congress will be open-access and free of charge; presentations will be submitted in an electronic form – as video clips, texts, and/or slide shows – and uploaded to the pre-congress section of our homepage. In addition to asynchronous online presentations (that is: the presentations can be watched or downloaded any time during the congress week), we are also considering real-time lectures or symposia, virtual meetings and/or chats. More information about the pre-congress will appear on our website by the end of June.

We are also planning to announce a second call for papers in September-October 2020, offering a second chance to those whose abstract was rejected, who missed the first call or who gave their presentation at the online pre-congress but would like to submit another paper for the 2021 event. The call will appear on our website in early September at the very latest.

If you have any questions concerning the scientific and social programme of the congress or the pre-congress, feel free to contact the organizing team at the Viennese Finno-Ugric department (cifu13@univie.ac.at). Technical questions about registration, payments and travel arrangements should be sent to the event management office (congress@univie.ac.at).

Take care and stay safe!

Warm regards, on behalf of the Viennese organizing team

Johanna Laakso