15 May Neither cancelled nor postponed… It’s time to innovate!
Dear participants,
Given the current global situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Organising Committee of the VII International Symposium on Marine Sciences ISMS 2020, together with the committees of the XX Iberian Seminar on Marine Chemistry SIQUIMAR 2020, the Workshop on Marine Litter BAMAR 2020 and the Workshop on Marine Reserves REMAR 2020, under the guidance of the Assembly of Deans of Marine Sciences of Spain, have decided to reinvent themselves and celebrate on line this year’s edition.
Transforming difficulties into opportunities is something rather usual amongst seafarers and researchers, and we strongly believe that we have in our hands an opportunity to experience a different ISMS, taking advantage of the facilities provided by modern ICTs and the digital world for all of us to enjoy the most important event in the Spanish world in the field of Marine Sciences while staying safe in our homes or offices at our place. In that way we remove all doubts posed by the celebration of mass events in these times, a situation that could persist for some time at least.
We are excited with this new challenge, which grants a safe ISMS 2020 for everyone. The on line mode allows us to banish some risks, not just on the health of all, which is a top priority for the organization, but also about eventual troubles related to flights, quarantines, inability to fly back home on the scheduled dates and other possible difficulties that could arise depending on the evolution of the pandemic and the mitigation measures adopted by each country authorities.
The on line option brings some further advantages to the participants, in terms of travel and stay savings, and also eases labour and family conciliation. Time schedules will be much more flexible than in a regular conference, which will be particularly convenient for overseas participants living in countries with a different time zone than Spain. Each participant will be able to access to the presentations according to their time preference, thus avoiding to everyone missing any communication she or he is interested in because of time overlaps with other interesting talks in parallel sessions, as it happens often in regular conferences. The presenters will have time enough to video record her or his presentation, which prevents last minute anxiety, also avoiding the trouble that arises when the in-person presentation doesn’t work out well enough. Everyone will be able to record her or his presentation as many times as needed, and upload just the best version. This procedure will help enhancing the quality and the impact of the communications of each one, as they will be accessible for consultation by registered participants during some additional time. Access to the platform with username and password and other systems will increase the digital security of the conference. We will also strengthen the certification of attendance and contribution to the ISMS 2020 international conference. For all these reasons, participants will make much more rewarding all the effort made.
We keep the scheduled keynote talks and the special invited talk, which will take place by easy to access, user friendly live streaming for everyone, including the possibility of live questions and discussions with the speakers. Similarly, we keep the student (and of all participants) encounters with keynote speakers right after their keynotes.
ISMS will continue as a meeting place for everyone in the world who is interested by Marine Sciences. We are implementing innovative ways to ease and steer contacts amongst participants, share experiences, carry out ad hoc meetings and strengthening collaborations.
In the next few days the organization will publish all details and participant guidelines to make the ISMS 2020 on line a big success. We are convinced that you will like it and feel excited, as we already are. We invite you to take advantage of this unexpected opportunity.
Stay safe!
The Cordinating Organizing Committee
