Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Conference Cancellation

11th March 2020

Dear delegates,

I am very sorry to announce the cancellation of the 53rd Annual International Meeting of the RSC ESR Group, due to be held here in Manchester from 29th March to 2nd April.

This is, obviously, due to the escalating coronavirus situation. I have left this decision as long as possible whilst seeking advice from the RSC and the University. In fairness to all of you, I cannot leave it any longer. Several of you have already had to cancel because of travel bans imposed by your local organisations, and many more will be in this situation soon.

The coronavirus is expected to peak in the UK in around 2-3 weeks’ time, in other words during the conference. This morning I agreed with the organising committee that it is an unacceptable risk to our delegates and also to their friends, families and colleagues that they would subsequently come in contact with.

I do not yet know the financial consequences of this decision: this is very much secondary in my thoughts to the well-being of the delegates. We will refund as much of your registration fees as possible, but we may have incur cancellation fees first. The committee will be holding an extraordinary meeting in the near future to discuss this, possible postponement, and the situation around the Bruker and JEOL prizes.

Please accept my sincere apologies. I did not make this decision lightly. My thanks to all those who have been involved in the organisation, and also to the committee – and especially to Chris Timmel as Chair – for their support in this.

Regards,
Eric

Prof Eric McInnes FRSC FRSE
Local organiser,
53rd Annual International Meeting of the ESR(EPR) Group of the RSC,
Manchester, 29th March – 2nd April 2020

RSC ESR 2020, Manchester 29th March – 2nd April 2020

Unfortunately the conference is cancelled due to coronavirus COVID-19, but we are delighted that the JEOL student prize talks were able to run on-line. A full statement on the cancellation was released by the local organiser on 11^th March.

Earlier in the year we warned of scam/phishing attempts in relation to conference registration. Unfortunately there are already malicious emails circulating in regard to coronavirus and it is only a matter of time until scams regarding refunds for cancellations emerge - please do not provide any financial details in response to unsolicited phone calls, the conference organisers will not ask you to do this.