Hi ISTT members! Happy New Year!
It has not happened a lot over the holiday season, but some ideas have come into my head concerning our next conference in Helsinki in October.
I paid a visit to Tallinn just before Christmas to agree a programme for a visit there on Saturday 1 October 2022 as a pre-conference tour. The trip was successful. I agreed with the Tallinn Water Company that they will present an overview of their activities. They sold the company to a British company and now they have bought it back to the city of Tallinn. It is so interesting to hear about their thoughts now. After that we will have a guided walking tour in the heart of Tallinn, which is so beautiful.
We have now agreed with Professor Samuel Ariaratnam the programme of the research colloquium for the show in Helsinki on the 30 September and I have agreed with Professor Riku Vahala that it will take place in the Aalto campus area in Espoo which is within metro distance from the centre of Helsinki. The Tallinn tour is a part of the colloquium programme also. There are 80 places maximum for that tour.
The next international No Dig show will take place, as you already know in Helsinki from the 3 to 5 October 2022. We are well prepared to meet all experts from around the world. I have heard that from the Scandinavian countries we will receive about 100 delegates. So it is no wonder that we should have a conference with 500 delegates!
The call for papers is now open and to keep you updated about the arrangements visit the show website: www. nodighelsinki.com and book the week in your calendar. Send your paper in. On the Thursday we will prepare some post conference tours which delegates can vote for. You will get an election notice from Kyoko, our excellent secretary.
The next Year we have many excellent conferences locally where I will try to pay a visit. I have already got three sessions of vaccination, so I am prepared to travel again. I will also take the antigen test almost every week just to be sure I am not carrying anything nasty!
I hope that you all had a visit from my home country during Christmas; Santa lives here!
With best regards, Jari Kaukonen Chair, ISTT
