The Society for Neuroscience will hold Neuroscience 2021 as a fully virtual experience, eliminating all in-person options that had been planned for McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Neuroscience 2021 will take place online November 8-11, 2021, with Preview Days taking place November 3-7, which allows attendees to preview posters as well as full symposia and minisymposia talks prior to the official meeting dates.

The decision to transition to a fully virtual Neuroscience 2021 experience was necessary due to the impact of the continuing spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, causing a significant number of in-person speakers to withdraw and preventing SfN from holding a major portion of its in-person programming. Additionally, pandemic-related travel restrictions imposed on non-U.S. travelers as well as U.S. and international universities and institutions have caused a significant decline in registrations and hotel reservations to attend in-person.

In light of these challenges, the only way for SfN to mount the kind of cutting-edge scientific meeting with representation across disciplines that our membership expects is in a fully virtual format. Fully virtual Neuroscience 2021 will include a full program with all planned scientific and poster presentations. “We are extremely disappointed we could not continue with an in-person component for Neuroscience 2021,” said SfN President Barry Everitt. “The SfN Council considered all options, and this was not an easy decision. We all know the urgent need for scientific exchange in the field, especially in light of the turmoil of the last several months, and we are planning an exciting and scientifically excellent virtual meeting for all attendees. “While this is not the 50th meeting we had planned and hoped for, I’m confident that this virtual meeting will bring great value to the field and allow us to safely conduct the very necessary business of scientific exchange. With nearly half of speakers indicating they could not travel to present in Chicago, the fully virtual meeting was the only choice to ensure scientific coherence.”