EGU is today announcing that its General Assembly 2021, traditionally held each spring in Vienna, Austria, will instead take place entirely online due to the continuing risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting restrictions on international travel. In its place, EGU will host vEGU21: Gather Online (#vEGU21), a completely virtual event that will take place from 19–30 April.

“We really wish we didn’t have to make this decision, as we were all looking forward to being able to meet in person in Vienna,” says EGU President Alberto Montanari. “But in order to protect the health and safety of our members, we decided that we needed to move the meeting fully online,” he adds. “We are making this decision now to give everyone as much time as possible to prepare.”

vEGU21: Gather Online, which will be accessible from around the globe, will feature the 2020 and 2021 awards ceremonies and lectures, mentoring, networking events, and many more non-technical activities in addition to nearly 700 scientific sessions. With the return of so many in-person General Assembly traditions, the 2021 meeting will offer members an entirely different experience from last year’s meeting, Sharing Geoscience Online.

“This will not be the same event that our members attended in 2020,” EGU Programme Committee Chair Peter van der Beek affirmed. “Sharing Geoscience Online was a remarkable achievement, especially given that we constructed it in just five weeks,” he says.

“Part of the reasoning behind making this decision now,” adds van der Beek, “was to give us enough time to construct a virtual conference platform that’s able to provide as full a representation of the experience that our members enjoy so much in Vienna as possible.” EGU will extend the length of the meeting to 19–30 April to create a better online experience for #vEGU21 attendees. “We’re trying to balance the intensity of gathering online with participants’ other commitments,” explains van der Beek. “The technical sessions will all take place during the last week of April, but some of the other General Assembly activities will also be scheduled for the week before.” EGU will provide additional details regarding the format and schedule within the next few weeks.

With this announcement, EGU and its conference partner, Copernicus Meetings, are opening the meeting’s call for abstracts. These will be accepted until 13 January 2021 at 13:00 CET. The Abstract Processing Charge (APC) will remain the same as in previous years. Since EGU will be offering a more complete experience in 2021, we will be charging a registration fee, but the cost will be substantially lower than for an in-person annual meeting. The Roland Schlich travel support scheme will be replaced by a registration fee waiver for participants from lower- and lower-middle income countries. The final details regarding the registration fees will be released by 20 November.

If you have questions or concerns regarding vEGU21, please visit www.egu21.eu or email: egu21@copernicus.org.

We look forward to gathering with you in April!

• #vEGU21 website