Dear WCEH2024 congress delegate,

With just one week left until our World Congress of Environmental History kicks off, this email aims to help you reach the university reception desk, navigate the congress week, and ensure you have a successful conference experience.

Monday morning career session for PhDs and ECRs: ‘Failure’ in Academia

All PhD students and early-career researchers are invited to join us on Monday morning for our engaged NEXTGATe-sponsored session on 'failure' in academia: what 'failure' actually is, how it works, and how we might embrace it as a catalyst for collective learning and compelling change. Featuring panelists and breakout discussions, the session will be held from 10:00–12:00 in Room Lo124. You can catch one of the 9:15am shuttle buses from the downtown hotels to the University. Lunch will be offered to participants after the session. 

Travel

The website's travel page has comprehensive information; it includes tips on how to use the local public transport system and find the venues. If you key ‘University of Oulu’ into Google Maps, it should also give you adequate travel options once you’ve arrived at the train/bus station or airport of Oulu. Please note that the conference is being held at the university’s main Linnanmaa Campus, roughly 5km north of downtown. Do not accidentally go to the Kontinkangas Campus (medical sciences) as you will find no conference there. Remember to definitely buy travel insurance in case of further unexpected Microsoft or pandemic updates.

What to bring (or procure on the spot)

• Weather:. According to the weather forecast the congress should have cloudy days of 18-20°C (about 65-68°F) with occasional light rain and evenings that might drop to around 12°C (54°F). However much may change in the space of a week. So pack for lightly rainy Finnish weather (umbrellas, sensible shoes, waterproofs to counter floods and squalls) with a nod to climate change (sunscreen, crop tops and shorts). The nights can get quite cold so something warm for the evenings is a good idea to have.
• Formal clothing: the final party will be at the beach side Ravintola Nallikari restaurant with a buffet dinner included, so no white tie required - though it is, of course, encouraged, as are all expressions of free spirit, great style and good sense.
• Bring a USB or another portable device to transfer your presentation files on the day. You cannot use your own laptop to present!
• Those not from the EU should bring an adaptor for the EU standard electrical sockets (two-pole, round-pin domestic). Remember to bring chargers for all your various devices (and perhaps a battery bank), as it is optimal to navigate the programme electronically.

Bus to the venue

There will be free buses throughout the conference taking delegates to the venue and back to the city. For bus departure times see the conference programme. 

There are also city buses that can be paid for using contactless payment that stop at Oulu University. Bus routes #1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 52 depart every few minutes from various stops downtown for the University. Note that Bus #8 operates a direct route between the airport and the University, taking just under an hour.

Arrival - where to go and when?

If you arrive on Monday and that’s not your panel day, we recommend going first to your accommodation, leaving your luggage and only then coming to the congress venue to check-in, thus avoiding the stressed crowd wanting to check-in and disappear to their panels before noon. If you have time it might be worth going for a walk on the campus to get your bearings so that you know your way around easily on the following days. The venue map PDF can be downloaded from the congress website and there is also a handy campus navigator app Oulu Campus Navigator (available for both Android and Apple devices). 

If your panel IS on Monday, make sure you come to check in from 10:30 to 12:30 so that you’ll be ‘badged’ by the time you need to start looking for your panel room. If you come after 12:30, you better bring some spare shirts as you will sweat through a couple while you wait for the queue to inch forward at the Reception desk! If you are attending the Monday morning early-career session on ‘failure’ in academia, you can complete your registration after the session ends.

Reception and NomadIT office opening hours

The reception desk (in the Green Coat Rack Area of Linnanmaa campus) will be open from Monday 10:30-18:00, Tuesday 08:00-17:00, Wednesday 13:30-18:00, Thursday 08:00-18:15 and Friday 08:00-13:00. 

Please do not try to check in at the Reception desk before it opens or after it has closed. If you have a one-day registration, please ensure you come in early.  

Once you've reached the Reception desk, the volunteer team will check if you have registered and are paid-up, and if all is in order, check you in and hand you your badge. You can then go on to enjoy the congress. 

Please use the timetable page on the WCEH2024 website. For quick reference as to when, where and how long a particular panel is, check the Panels view in the timetable. 

If you are yet to settle the fees: PLEASE, pretty please -  try to do this before Friday 16 August by card or inform us as soon as possible of the special circumstances why you need to pay at the congress. Those needing to settle their congress fees will need to come to the congress organisers' office called Frost (on the ground floor in the Tellus area near reception), only receiving their book and badge from  Reception after the debt is settled at the office. The office is small and filled with busy and stressed-out organisers, so for the sake of public health, safety and hygiene I implore that you all settle the fees before the event…

Catering

Registration includes coffee/tea (every day) and lunch (Tue, Thur, Fri), as well as food & drinks at the social event. To attend Thursday’s final party you need to have purchased a ticket with your registration (this will be indicated on your badge). There will be two lunch points at the University, one at Cafe Hub and the other at Foodoo Garden. Signs will direct you to these spaces.

WiFi

The best way to access the internet at the university is via your own Eduroam credentials. Those without Eduroam can make use of panOULU, the city of Oulu’s free wifi service, which has signal at the university.

Publishers

Please go to buy books and meet the publishers in the Tellus area near reception: White Horse Press, Helsinki University Press and CALAS. In addition there are two launch events happening on Tuesday 16:30 to 18:00 The Routledge Handbook of Environmental History Launch and CALAS Handbooks of the Anthropocene in Latin America.

Printing

If you need to print out your talk or another document, please be sure to do this at your hotel, as the university does not have printing available for non-university employees. If you have an emergency printing need, the NomadIT office can print small documents in a pinch for €0.50 per page (cash). 

Parent and child room, quiet room, working room

For those who need a quiet place to go with their babies, please head to the Aspire room in the central Tellus area (next to registration). The room has six classic Nordic designed rocking chairs, a long table, and a large living plant wall.

For those who need some quiet for calming down, meditation etc, please go to the Horizon room in the central Tellus area (next to registration). 

Please note - you cannot work on your computer in the quiet room, no matter what your keystrokes are like! If you need to work, please head to the Galaxy room in the central Tellus area (next to registration).

Those presenting

Please have any files you wish to present on your portable device (or USB) and bring to your panel room 15 minutes before the session, to upload and check. You cannot present from your own computer as the hybrid equipment is set to work only with the room’s main computer. A Zoom session will be running (for your panel) on the room’s computer, so when you wish to show your files you will need to use the Zoom share-screen function, so that both those in the room and online will be able to see your files and you. Please remember that the audience is both in the room and in Zoom. There will be a student volunteer team member present to assist - all will be well. 

Those convening/chairing

Please arrive 15 mins early for your panel to meet the congress volunteer who will start the panel’s Zoom on the room’s computer and just go over the hybrid aspect. Presenters will arrive early to upload their presentations to the presentation computer, and remote presenters will want to also do a quick tech check. Please ensure you’ve read these guidelines and do your best to treat all participants (online as well as f2f) fairly.

Strict time-keeping is crucial to a good congress and is one of your responsibilities as convenor or chair: please ensure that each presenter gets their fair share of the time and do not run over into the breaks; this will only turn your audience against you. 

Timing of papers/sessions

Sessions are 105 mins long with up to five papers per session, some fewer. It is up to the convenors of each panel to decide how much time they want for discussion, how long papers can be (we recommend 15 mins if there are five papers) and if they want papers or PowerPoints pre-circulated. 

Film

On Tuesday, 18:00 there will be the showing of the Oscar-nominated film All That Breathes in room L3 on campus that is open to all delegates.

Events and meetings

WCEH is host to many different stimulating academic events, meetings and entertainment at the university that can all be seen here. 

For side events that needed to be booked in advance please look at the excursion page. Most of these are now fully booked out but there may still be spots in a few of them in the event that someone cancels last-minute.

Online access to panels

Ensure you are logged in on the congress website as links to virtual rooms will then be visible on the day of the panel/event within timetable items and on panel pages (beneath the abstract). A button will appear saying Enter Session.

Read this email for full instructions.

Emergency contact details

Congress phone number: +372 5595 8560

Congress email: info@wceh2024.com

Congress website: https://wceh2024.com/ 

Emergency Services: 112

Taxi: 060030081 or use apps Bolt, Uber, OTAXI Oulu, or FixuTaxi.

Making use of your portable device

Bookmark and monitor the online timetable for all information! Also follow the congress Twitter and Instagram page. The congress hashtag is #WCEH2024, so please use it with all your social media activities to help get this party started yo.