The decision has been made to postpone SCAR Biology 2021 in New Zealand to 2023 in direct consultation with SCAR President (Steven Chown), the Life Sciences Chief Officer (Yan Ropert-Coudert) and the SCAR Biology Conference National Organising Committee (NOC). This was obviously a very difficult decision and was delayed as long as we could, until it was clear that the risks of hosting a conference of this size in these uncertain times are just too great to proceed. The uncertainties produced by the Covid pandemic including selected global border closures, transportation restrictions and costs, and current and pending restrictions to enter NZ for the near future made the decision much easier. The overwhelming support from the SCAR and Life Science Executives to postpone has enabled a very enthusiastic National Organising Committee to make the difficult decision. We have already spent a considerable amount of time and energy organising the event. We had a beautiful new venue in Christchurch booked, dates set, and also engaged a conference organiser to provide the necessary professional management support to the conference. This work will not be wasted as we will endeavour to use what we have learned to begin planning the event for 2023. We apologise to anyone who has already made plans to visit New Zealand, but in these uncertain times we feel that a postponement will provide the certainty to ensure a very successful and productive face-to-face conference in 2023 that is open to all.
– SCAR and the National Organising Committee
The organisers would also like to run a survey following this announcement to help in the organising for 2023 and other conferences in the future. Further information on this will follow shortly.
Please direct any queries to [email protected] and they will be forwarded to the appropriate parties.