Virtual meeting overview

Ethos for EPSC2021

The ethos for EPSC2021 is to create a simple, flexible, inclusive and interactive virtual meeting.

What's different for EPSC2021

EPSC2021 will be organized in a similar way to EPSC2020, with the following changes:

• The live programme will take place over seven working days rather than ten, with the whole meeting (including the asynchronous discussions and splinter meetings) spanning two weeks rather than three weeks.
• The live programme time blocks in the morning (09:30 to 12:15, Central European Time) and afternoon (14:30-16:45) will end earlier than last year to fit in with typical working hours across Europe.
• The live scientific discussion sessions will be longer (45 minutes) and will have more opportunities for interactivity and Q&A.
• The live scientific discussion sessions will be run in parallel (up to two sessions per time slot).
• There will be 10-15 minute breaks between one session finishing and the next one starting, allowing for a more relaxed transition between sessions.
• Several time slots will be allocated for social activities and community events.
• Asynchronous discussions will take place on Slack, rather than on the website commenting platform.
• The participation fees will have to be increased to cover the actual costs of organizing a virtual meeting. EPSC2020 ran at a deficit as the costs associated with the organization of such a meeting were underestimated last year. Europlanet Society Members, students, doctoral candidates, retired/emeritus, outreach providers, educators, and amateur members of the community will be eligible for a discounted rate. Early career professionals, students, outreach providers, educators, amateur astronomers and members of the community from under-represented countries may apply for bursaries to cover their participation and abstract processing fees.

Format for EPSC2021

EPSC2021 will consist of the following elements:

1. Synchronous (real-time) live-streamed sessions split between two ~2.5-hour time-blocks (one morning and one afternoon block), that will include:
• Daily morning briefing (20-minutes informal chat with highlights from previous day, things to look out for in day’s programme, interviews with key members from the planetary community, discussion of services and wider issues in the community)
• Up to two parallel scientific 45-minutes sessions to discuss both oral and poster submissions
• Keynote lectures selected by the scientific Programme Groups
• Prize and diversity lectures
• EPEC early career events
• Short courses
• Community events including the Europlanet General Assembly, dialogue with Space Agencies, industry and policy events
• Social events and other opportunities for informal networking.
2. Asynchronous (i.e. accessible at any time) content:
• Pre-recorded oral presentations: 10 minutes (maximum) videos prepared by the authors to be viewed at any time for the duration of the meeting. 'Private' and 'Public' settings options will enable authors to select whether their videos are available to registered participants only or to a wider audience.
• Virtual posters: following a template designed to be readable on a screen, containing all the information you would traditionally find in a poster.
• Asynchronous discussions on the EPSC2021 Slack channels throughout the meeting.
3. Splinter meetings: virtual meetings or workshops, organised and hosted externally by the proposers (e.g. via Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.) and approved by the EPSC Scientific Organising Committee (SOC).

Timeframe for EPSC2021

The meeting will run over a two-week period from 13-24 September 2021. All content will be available during this period. Video and posters files will need to be submitted two weeks before the start of the meeting (2 September 2021) to give conveners and meeting organizers time to process them.

We expect that live part of the programme will be focused from Thursday 16 - Friday 24 September. Splinter Meetings may also be programmed from Monday 13 - Friday 24 September.