Dear member of the STAF community,

We hope this message finds you and your families healthy and safe.

STAF 2020 was due to take place in Bergen, Norway, from 22-26 June 2020. Given the current pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to postpone STAF for one year. The next conference will be held in Bergen, in late June, and we expect it to host the same or very similar set of conferences and workshops as was planned for 2020.

Postponing a community-led event like STAF is not easy, and the decision was difficult, but we have to take safety and health seriously, and we do not want to proceed with an event that will be less than fantastic.

There are a number of consequences of this decision, and there will be further communication in days to come, but for now:

  • The review and publication process will continue: papers accepted for the co-located events will be published as promised to authors and to the program committees. There may need to be some slight changes to how the publication process works, but we will keep authors and PC members fully informed.

  • We expect to have some mechanism to recognize some authors of accepted STAF 2020 papers at the 2021 event in Bergen. Details of this are still being worked out, but this may involve some or all authors of accepted papers in 2020 being invited to present in 2021 as well.

  • Workshops for 2020 will be automatically accepted for 2021. Individual workshops for 2020 may decide to run as a virtual event - but this is a decision for their chairs.

  • We do not plan to hold a virtual event in June 2020 — the real value of STAF is in meeting colleagues and friends to network and collaborate, and this can be done without the supporting umbrella of a virtual conference.

STAF has been successful because of its strong, vibrant and diverse community, and despite the challenges we are currently facing, we expect STAF 2021 in Bergen to build on past successes.

We will be in touch soon with further details! Keep healthy!

Adrian Rutle (STAF 2020 General Chair)
Richard Paige (STAF Steering Committee Chair)
on behalf of the Organizing Committee and PC Chairs for co-located events.