Statement of 17 January 2022

Dear Participant of the planned VAAM-Congress 2022,
 
We very much hoped to meet you all in-person in Düsseldorf. But unfortunately, due to the upcoming Omicron wave, we had to decide to move the conference to an online format.

We will keep the whole content, but start the conference probably on Monday (instead of Sunday) until Wednesday (21-23 February 2022). There will be only slight time adjustments, the updated programme can be found within the next days on www.vaam-kongress.de.
 
We hope that all of you are willing to participate in a digital format as well. We will do our very best to make this meeting a success and to provide a platform for vivid discussions and scientific exchange. Those who actively present their research either in a Short Lecture or as a Poster will receive more details soon. All other participants we ask to continue to attend the meeting and to participate in scientific and non-scientific discussion.
 
Please understand that a digital conference of this size is also associated with high costs. There are some but not much savings (e.g. no catering required) by shifting to a digital format. A possible refund to almost 1.000 registered participants would cause huge administrational costs absorbing almost all of the savings. Therefore the board of the VAAM together with the conference organisers have decided the following:

1. part of saved money will be carried over to Göttingen 2023 (e.g. reduced registration fee, higher standard of catering)
2. In the upcoming digital congress, additional prizes will be awarded for posters and (new!) for short talks. Every presenter should make an effort! It will be worth it!
3. Each participant will receive a voucher for this years online event to be used during the poster discussions or during the “Get Together” on the platform "Gathertown". Be surprised!

We hope for your understanding, nevertheless cancellation of the booking is possible until 27January 2022 for a handling fee of 25 EUR (please write an e-mail for this purpose to registrierung@conventus.de), but we are sure that the exciting programme will convince even the digital skeptics to participate.
 
Stay tuned and contribute to an inspiring congress!
 
Julia Frunzke and Michael Feldbrügge
(on behalf of the organising committee)