Dear Colleagues,
due to recent events (see below), it is with great regret that we have to postpone to 2026 the 22nd International EISCAT Symposium 2025 and 49th Annual European Meeting on Atmospheric Studies by Optical Methods. We anticipate to host the meeting in conjunction with the 50-year anniversary of EISCAT in August 2026 in Kiruna.
We understand that this is of great inconvenience to you, esp those of you who have already booked flights etc. We sincerely apologise for the situation.
What lead to this?
The old church of Kiruna has to be moved to a new location due to the expansion of the Kiruna mine (LKAB). Mid-April it was announced that this will happen during the Symposium week, which caused all accommodation in Kiruna to be instantly sold out, as well as flights. There’s huge interest by tourist companies as well as global media.
Subsequently, it won’t be possible to have a Symposium with strong on-site participation. We have evaluated the possibility to arrange a hybrid meeting instead. However, now it has become clear that we cannot get catering etc for a much smaller group as originally planned.
Moreover, a 50-year anniversary meeting really calls for in-person participation and a hybrid meeting is not desirable.
After careful consideration, and with great regret, EISCAT has decided to postpone the meeting to 2026: “let’s do it properly or not at all.”
Again, we apologise sincerely for the situation, and we hope to welcome you here next year!
All the best,
Thomas
