Budapest, 5 p.m. CET, 3 August 2020.
Dear Participants,
This is an official communication of the Organisers of DDRS 2020 Conference.
The Co-Chairs and the Local Organisers of DDRS 2020 have been continuously monitoring the epidemic situation caused by the corona virus. 2 weeks ago we launched a poll among our participants, speakers and sponsors to learn about the preference of all our stakeholders. In mid July we promised to get back to you with the result of this survey and here stand a few statements and conclusions what the vast majority of our partners think and prefer.
- almost 80% prefer the physical conference (instead of the virtual one) so DDRS will remain a conventionally organised meeting
- less than 15% suggested to keep the October date in 2020, most people agreed that it was impossible to hold it right now on the given circumstances
- a lot of people encounter travel bans in their home country, company and institutions, air traffic is not that frequent, the trust in travel is currently missing
In addition to the above statements, in spite of the fact that Hungary is considered to be one of the safest countries in the world in relation to the pandemic, the aim of the organisers to host nearly 300 experts of the field from 48 countries and 5 continents does not seem to be a realistic goal in 2020. As the organising company has very good relation with the key service providers and the appointed venue hotel we could stipulate the same conditions in case of postponing the conference. This means that all delegates may participate in the conference in November 2021 on the same conditions.
Having taken into consideration all facts, circumstances and eventual consequences the organisers inform you that the DDRS Conference will be postponed to 15-17 November 2021, having the same conference venue, Ensana Thermal Hotel Margitsziget, Budapest, Hungary. Therefore, we kindly ask you to cancel your travel plans for October 2020.
DDRS Conference will certainly remain a part of the Semmelweis University 250-year jubilee event series and the decision was made after consultation with the Rector of the Semmelweis University.
All delegates who have registered and paid the registration fee in the online database till now will have their registration records live, and registrations are automatically valid for the new date. We will save and keep all posters that are listed among the List of Posters on the website, additionally we will accept new posters too, and certainly we are open to receive new registrations!
Our speakers and poster presenters will be contacted regarding their presentations in a separate mail very soon.
In case the new date is not appropriate for a registered participant, the registration fee may be passed to a colleague. We hope, however, that a bit more than one year will be perfectly sufficient for you to reschedule your agenda. The emerged circumstances are beyond our control, but the health and safety of our participants are top priority for us and we think that there is no point to hold a meeting in which only very few attendees would be able to take part. We apologize for any inconveniences occurred to you.
We wish to express our special thanks to our Sponsors and Exhibitors who all ensured us to be present and stand by us in this very difficult situation. Without their help we would not be able to hold a successful DDRS Conference.
Besides, we appreciate the efforts and helping hand of the management of Ensana Thermal Hotel Margitsziget for their co-operation with us and ensuring a smooth arrangement to postpone our meeting.
Though the organising team is in a very difficult situation, being enforced to completely reorganise the conference one more time, we will work heavily in the next 15 months to deliver you a prestigious conference.
Looking forward to welcoming you personally in Budapest next autumn.
Best regards,
Attila Varga
Organiser of DDRS 2020
On behalf of the Co-chairs of DDRS 2021
Prof. Imre Klebovich
Prof. Vinod P. Shah
Prof. Stefan Mühlebach