Aarhus-2019 workshop

The organizing committee for the next workshop met last week and we have thought on the following methodology for the registration of participants that takes into consideration the feedback from last Workshop in Zürich (both in the related meet-a-thon and in the feedback session).

We will use the first day (Wednesday, May 22) for activities more focused on beginners. Do-a-thons and tech-a-thons on model descriptions and methodological approaches can be organized here. We are also considering a short excursion on Wednesday evening. We will reserve Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24 for regular do-a-thons, poster session, and lightning talks. With this schedule, we hope the workshop remains interesting for everyone.

We will be able to welcome up to 60 participants. In order to broaden the audience of the workshop, we will reserve 15 seats for first-time participants, that is, people who have never participated in an OpenMod workshop before. They will also be able to request tech-a-thons through the forum. We are currently designing a 1-page leaflet with all the information to attract new people and we will share it soon.

We propose that we start discussing the do-a-thons for the next workshop from now up to March 1st. At that date, the coordinators of the do-a-thons that receive more positive votes in the forum will get a direct access to the participant list (preferential access to OpenMod Workshop).

Next, on March 1st, we will open the registration so that the rest of the people can register to fill the remaining seats up to 45 (standard access). We will kindly ask the participants to avoid registering more than 3 standard-access participants from the same institution in order to promote diversity.

We hope you that like the general idea. Please, comment or make suggestions below. If there is no major disagreement, in a few days, I will open a thread to start discussing do-a-thons.

4 Likes

Dear Marta,
thank you and your team for the workshop preparation.
Your proposed registration process looks well thought through and fair.

One remark/question from my perspective:
Is there a contingent for “preferential access”?

  • 15 × first-time participants
  • 45 × standard access − Y preferential access
    What happens when more than 45−Y people register (standard access), then we have the same situation as before?

Dear Ludwig,

Thanks for your comment; it helps me clarify this point.

Our proposal is that the standard access positions (45 – preferential access) are filled based on first come, first served.

This doesn’t seem to be the preferred option but we hope that, with the proposed methodology, most of the participants get preferential access, implying that more people are contributing to the organization of activities in the workshop.

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I understand the reasons behind the concept you propose, and I would say that in theory I agree with those, but I also have to say that it is really getting harder and harder to ensure a seat to OpenMod workshops.

I think that, considering that the community seems to be constantly growing and enlarging, we should start thinking about a medium- to long-term solution to the issue of limited seats, otherwise we’re gonna have an increasing number of people who are interested but are left outside, which is gonna soon randomly comprise also those who really see the OpenMod as the most interesting/important opportunity throughout the academic year to meet colleagues working in the same field (as I do).

Best,
Francesco

With regards to the medium- to long-term solutions, one of the options that we discussed at the Openmod workshop in Zurich was the application for a COST networking grant which could among others allow us to organize larger conferences, that are currently beyond the budget of individual inviting institutions.

This will not help in the short term, but could at least provide some relief in the medium term, until participant numbers outgrow the increased conference sizes that could be enabled through the grant. Once that happens, we may need to think about parallel / regional / topical sub-events… But I guess that is a bridge we should cross when we get there?

1 Like

Dear Marta,
I found this workshop announcement only by the end of deadline. I came from Kazakhstan to Flensburg (for 1 year), and only this year I have possibility to participate at this workshop. I worked as junior researcher (modeling energy system in GAMS) in my country.
Can you please help me just to visit workshop?

Makpal Assembayeva

Hey Marta, hey all,

is there a central place where all workshop slides are gathered? I would specifically be interested in the slide sets of the both keynote lectures. I uploaded my slides at the do-a-thon post, but it may make sense to upload them on the wiki?

Best
Niklas

Hey Niklas,

I have asked the keynote speakers and the presenter at the Biomass power plant to send me their slides. I will link them from the program at the wiki. For do-a-thons, maybe the best is to include them in the corresponding thread.

Best,

Marta