10.12.12

Letter form the President of UIS


Statement by the President of the International Union of Speleology
Reference the 16th International Congress of Speleology 
Brno Czech Republic July 21st to 28th 2013

The next (16th) International Congress of Speleology is now less than a year away. Indeed scientific papers have to be in by the 17th of December (this is a delay from the previous deadline of the 1st November). Please look on the website www.speleo2013.com for further information.

The basic registration for the whole conference if paid before the end of January 2013 is only a little over 140 Euros, very good value for a weeklong conference. In addition pre-booked accommodation starts under 5 Euros per night in a camping, next to the Australian pub!

The wonderful pre and post congress excursions are selling out fast so the sooner they are booked the better. The prices of these starts at 100 Euros for 4 day camp in Budapest. The quality and variety of excursions is wonderful, again look on the website.

Booking cheap flights to Brno needs reviewing, but certainly Ryanair from London Stansted will open their booking for July early in 2013 and will probably cost something in the region of 30 Euros return for the first people to book.

The venue is excellent being an old conference centre built before the second world war and as such makes it very suitable for a Caving Conference, plenty of room and not too many frills.

The Hotels and dormitories around the Conference Centre are of all standards, some being very comfortable indeed. I am sure there will be some magnificent parties, both official and unofficial. During the week long congress there will be a day of excursions, either to some pretty impressive local caves or visits to cultural and natural world sites they all look very enjoyable to me.

Finally, don’t forget the entries for the competitions. Like any caving conference there will be competitions for cartography, caving art, multi-media presentations and during the conference there will be caving Olympics with rope climbing etc. In addition the International Union of Speleology also gives prizes for the best discovery that they consider has been made since the previous conference and there will be mention of the best books published over that period. There will also be a UIS poster prize presented to the best poster in Brno. There are some substantial prizes so please get working on your presentations. There should be in the region of 2,000 likeminded cavers at this conference and I am certain it is going to be extraordinarily interesting and enjoyable.

I look forward to seeing you all there in July 2013.

ANDY EAVIS – PRESIDENT

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SPELEOLOGY

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