CANCELLATION UPDATE

Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS)    Thank you to everyone who has shown the Society and Congress such strong support. We truly appreciate your understanding as well as your enthusiasm for SIRS.    As you may know, on the 10 th of March SIRS announced that, in response to the rapidly changing circumstances associated with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the SIRS Officers, Executive Board and 2020 Program Chairs cancelled the 2020 Congress of the Schizophrenia International Meeting scheduled to take place 4-8 April 2020 in Florence, Italy.   Further, SIRS leadership has since made the decision that the 2020 Congress will not be rescheduled . Following increased and overwhelming concerns about COVID-19, SIRS leadership agreed this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. SIRS top priority is the safety and well-being of its attendees and their families, colleagues, and members of the global community.

NEXT STEPS

The SIRS Executive Office continues to work closely with SIRS leadership and our Italian organizers to appropriately respond to questions regarding reimbursements, travel awards, and other administrative aspects that need to be considered. We recognize all the hard work that so many have put into preparing for the 2020 Congress. We thank you in advance for your understanding and patience as we continue to work out the many details.   SIRS 2020 Congress Individual Registration and Housing All individual registration and housing fees will be refunded in full in the following stages,  starting on 6 April 2020 .   Each attendee's refund will be processed as one transaction, to include both registration and housing. Please note that our Italian organizer, AIM Group, has a tremendous amount of work ahead of them to fulfill the various stages of refunds.  SIRS expects the refund process to take approximately 60 days and appreciates your patience during these unusual circumstances. S Stage 1: Individual registrations with no housing reservations where payment was by credit card will be refunded. Stage 2: Individual registrations with housing reservation where payment was made by credit card will be refunded.  Stage 3: All individual registrants who made payment by bank transfer will be contacted directly by AIM to confirm refund instructions prior to processing. If you do not hear from AIM by 20 April 2020, please reach out to them at [email protected] *Individual attendees who cancelled their registration and/or housing prior to 24 February will be refunded their cancellation fees according to the above schedule. SIRS 2020 Congress Group Registration and Housing All group refunds will be processed following individual registrant refunds. All group registrations will be refunded in full.  Group organizers will be contacted directly by AIM regarding their group housing arrangements. SIRS expects the refund process to take approximately 60 days and appreciates your patience during these unusual circumstances.

PROGRAM AND AWARDS

Poster and Oral Presentations Poster and Oral abstracts will be published online in Schizophrenia Bulletin and will be accessible from the SIRS website in April 2020. SIRS is requesting that all poster presenters prepare and upload their posters to our E-Poster site so that their work may be viewed. Oral presenters can also prepare their presentation in poster format and upload to our E-Poster site. These will be available to SIRS members and 2020 registered attendees. All poster and oral presenters will receive an email with instructions early next week. Late-Breaking Poster and Pharmaceutical Pipeline SIRS is requesting that all late-breaking posters and Pharmaceutical Pipeline presenters upload their posters to our E-Poster site so that their work may be viewed. E-Posters will be available to SIRS members and 2020 registered attendees. All poster and oral presenters will receive an email with instructions early next week. Late-Breaking and Pharmaceutical Pipeline abstracts will NOT be published in Schizophrenia Bulletin . Plenary, Symposium, and Workshop Presentations Plenary, Symposium, and Workshop abstracts will NOT be published in Schizophrenia Bulletin . We hope to preserve the content by recording some of the plenary and symposium presentations for SIRS members and registered attendees. An email will be sent with additional information next week to all Plenary, Symposium, and Workshop presenters.   Travel Awardees Please stay tuned as the SIRS Executive Office will provide additional information on these Awards as soon as possible. Honorific Awardees SIRS 2020 honorific awardees will be announced periodically over the next several months. The 2020 honorific awardees will be invited to receive their awards as the 2021 Congress in Toronto, Canada on 17-21 April 2021. Special Interest Groups Special Interest Groups will be listed on the SIRS website by 30 April, including contact information of the organizers so that you may connect. Sponsors Please stay tuned for additional information from the SIRS Executive Office.

SPECIAL THANKS

We want to take a moment to express our  gratitude  and  thanks  to the dedicated SIRS committee volunteers. A scientifically outstanding program was prepared by our hard working and dedicated Program Committee under the direction and leadership of  Deanna Barch and Peter Falkai . Thank you, Dr. Barch and Dr. Falkai, for the tremendous amount of time and effort you spent in developing the program for the SIRS 2020 Congress. We look forward to seeing some of the scientific content throughout the next year in a unique and different format.    We also want to give special thanks to the SIRS Education Committee and Award Committee members. We received a record number of Travel Awardee and Honorific Awardee applications. The activity of SIRS committees helps shape the Society and determines the impact that we have on the schizophrenia field. The work of the Society would not be possible without the help from our dedicated volunteers.  We appreciate your time, efforts and expertise!

Deanna Barch, Ph.D. Peter Falkai, M.D.

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