we are unfortunately still caught in the COVID-19 pandemics and most of us remain involved in extraordinary professional commitments and concerns. We hope that all of you and your dear ones are in good health.
We thank you again for your positive feedback on the COVID-19 statement paper. It is having relevant resonance and is being used by WHO as the basis for official Fact Sheets that will be disseminated soon. We are proud that our Society is involved in this cooperation. COVID-19 could also become a relevant topic of discussion in our Congress in Lyon, which is continuing to progress. We hope it will be possible to hold a live event and continue to work in this direction. However the final decisions on holding a physical congress will not be in our hands, as it will have to take into account regulations on public event in France and possibilities for international travel both within and from outside Europe. We want to assure all of you that we are however committed together with our PCO to prepare a platform of online events that will allow integration (or replacement if needed), and even enhancement of the live event programme. We will aim at providing the possibility for smooth and rewarding virtual participation for any of us that could experience limitations and restrictions.
The next coming deadline for the Congress preparation is online Abstract submission, which has been postponed to May 6th due to the critical time in many Countries in March and April. We thank all of you who already submitted many Abstracts; number of submissions at this time are indeed fully comparable to previous high years. Of course all accepted Abstracts will be published in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. In addition, we will ensure the additional possibility for virtual presentation of accepted Abstracts, that will allow active participation and contributions to ESPEN 2020 even in the presence of any physical travel restrictions.
We therefore warmly invite you to submit your research and also, as Council members, to kindly support the event by disseminating this practical information to your PEN Society members and in your Countries at large. We believe your support and help are very important in this difficult Spring time, as we all trust that we will be able to enjoy another great ESPEN Congress in September.
Please do contact us for any questions and suggestions, and we thank you in advance for your cooperation and support
Kind regards
Rocco Barazzoni Matthias Pirlich Zeljko Krznaric
ESPEN Chairman ESPEN Secretary ESPEN Treasurer
