Virtual General Conference

24 – 28 August 2020

  #ecprvgc20

This year’s Virtual General Conference was truly a special occasion. In our Golden Year, it brought together over 2,200 scholars from across the globe to showcase the very best new research in our discipline.

The chance to embrace a new reality and transform our flagship event into a fully digital environment made the event even more memorable. And, given the overwhelmingly positive response from our community, we are delighted to see that this exciting yet challenging undertaking has borne fruit. Read our round-up report to discover key highlights and see what our participants have to say about their experience.

Over the course of five days, our Virtual General Conference:

• Connected 2,210 political science colleagues, old and new
• Delivered a full academic programme of 72 Sections, 443 Panels and 1,800 Papers
• Addressed key topics in the discipline at four Roundtables
• Welcomed nine virtual exhibitors, showcasing their products and know-how
• Opened up opportunities to discuss publishing projects with top editors
• Supported participants on their event journey with a tailor-made conference website
• Sparked new connections and conversations through networking events and enhanced MyECPR functionality
• Kept participants informed, motivated and engaged through a series of specialist sessions, webinars and media resources

You spoke, we listened

As part of our commitment to providing a more flexible approach to participation at the Virtual General Conference, we:

• Revised scheduling of Panels and plenary events to accommodate, as far as possible, all time zones
• Extended the timetable over five days to allow for more frequent and longer breaks between participation
• Invited participants to pre-record presentations and make them available for fellow participants in advance
• Made recordings of our headline events available to watch on demand
• Reduced registration fees by 50%
• Offered a range of funding opportunities to our participants, including event grants, access to our 50^th Anniversary Fund and support to those facing hardship

Watch programme highlights, including Roundtables: