Dear colleagues,

All of us face significant challenges in many aspects of our lives as a result of the Covid-19 virus and its implications. BERA is closely monitoring the developments around the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Our position as a charity is to do our best to continue the delivery of our activities in as safe and responsible a manner as possible. To this end, we are following the official advice from Public Health England, which is updated on a daily basis, as well as monitoring the guidance and policies of many HEIs.

Our staff team are now all working remotely for the foreseeable future although still available on their normal emails. They are in regular touch with one another and monitoring business continuity plans.

Clearly our events programme is most immediately suffering. We have cancelled all our events planned until the end of the summer term. We hope to be able to rearrange these later in the year or develop new and innovative ways of supporting them. Staff are beginning to think about ways of enabling our community to keep in touch with one another at this time.

It is intended that the conference will go ahead as planned in September, subject to the advice and restrictions of Public Health England.

In the event that the situation develops further, and we need to cancel the conference, delegates will be refunded the full registration fees paid. Similarly, if your institution or country also enforces any restrictions for you travelling to the event you will receive a full refund of the registration fees paid. As per our terms and conditions delegates are advised to ensure that they are in possession of sufficient insurance cover for travel, accommodation, cancellation and personal effects in the event of the cancellation of the conference.

If the situation changes before the 1st June our early bird deadline, we will send another update.

At the heart of BERA’s mission is to promote collaboration and engagement. Our commitment to these values remains as strong as ever so we will do all that we can to support our members and the wider community in the coming weeks and months. Please do stay in touch with us as we try to navigate our way through a truly unprecedented period and we hope that you all stay safe and healthy in these challenging times.

With best wishes,
Mhairi Beaton
Conference and Events Committee Chair