With the COVID19 pandemic still present and the uncertainties it causes largely affecting any kind of activity planning by the end of the year, oikos International has decided to make major changes and adjustments to the event calendar for the rest of 2020.
The changes in place are meant to ensure maximum safety of participants’ health and prevent further spread of the disease, which is also in line with WHO recommendations and measures taken by the respective governments of the countries in which the events were originally meant to take place in.
We highly recommend all oikos chapters to follow rules provided by their home countries and to be in touch with their universities to know what are the event policies to comply with. If you need to shift your local projects into an online format, oikos International team can support you.
The most important change affects the flagship oikos events – FutureLab 2020 and Spring Meeting 2021 along with LEAP kick-off meeting.
FutureLab – the milestone 10th edition of the FutureLab was originally planned to be hosted in November of this year. As the circumstances regarding the pandemic are constantly changing and the inability to predict what the global situation could look like and the potential restrictions which could be in place at the end of the year, the decision was made to move the event to the next semester. The new date for FutureLab is set for March 26 to 27 2021. Moving to an online format was considered, but ultimately, the team decided the best solution would be moving it to a time period when there would possibly be no health concerns which would allow the oikos Community to meet in person. We believe that the onsite character of FutureLab is what makes it the biggest annual event for the oikos Community, which is why the decision to shift to an online format was overruled in favor of setting a new date. More information will be available soon at the event page.
Legislative Assembly Autumn 2020 – The legislative meeting, where the new Board members will be elected, scheduled for November 29 will be organized online, following the Chapter Days Autumn 2020 which are taking place on November 27 and 28. Building up on the success of the Chapter Days and Legislative Assembly in spring this year we are confident in the online format of the two events.
LEAP Kick Off Meeting – following the rescheduling of FutureLab, the LEAP onsite meeting will be taking place in Leysin from March 18 to 25.
Spring Meeting 2021 – with rescheduling of FutureLab to spring 2021, the Spring Meeting for next year will be cancelled as to not overlap with other oikos events scheduled for this time period. As an alternative, an Autumn Meeting organized by an oikos chapter is currently being considered. We will keep you posted for all updates.
Legislative Assembly Spring 2021 – The legislative meeting which previously was a part of the Spring Meeting will be reincorporated into the rescheduled FutureLab and will take place both onsite and online on March 25
NexGenLead – formerly known as the Global Virtual Conference, organized in partnership with swissnex Brazil and supported by Movetia, is a fully online conference with sessions taking place from October 31 to November 21. More information will be available soon at the event page.
oikos Winter School 2020 in summer – Winter School was scheduled for March this year, but due to the outbreak of COVI19, oikos Witten/Herdecke decided to postpone the event. The new date is set for August 21 to 23. More information is available at the event page.
oikos CEE Meeting 2020 – the regional meeting for Central and Eastern Europe region will be organized by oikos Tbilisi from September 25 to 27 both onsite and online. With the pandemic under control in Georgia the Tbilisi team are confident in safety of organizing the event onsite, however, the online option remains in case the situation deteriorates.
St. Gallen Unconference on sustainability 2020 – The oikos Unconference is the participative-driven conference on Sustainability organised by the oikos Alumni, for the international oikos community from August 21 to 22. More information available here.
As always, the oikos Community Hours will be taking part on the first Thursday of every month from 5 to 7pm CEST at the virtual office. All oikees are welcome to join! You can find more information on Podio.
oiConference – the third edition of the oiConference organized by oikees from Boston and New York City is planned for upcoming fall. More information will follow soon.
