ConferenceLeeds has revealed how the city’s digital advancements have helped three events successfully host its virtual conferences.
The Leeds Digital Festival took place virtually in the form of 134 online events. The festival welcomed 15,000 attendees from over 50 countries to discuss and celebrate digital culture and innovations that are happening in Leeds. The festival provided virtual sessions and round tables covering topics such as robotics and AI, cyber security and digital health.
The International Medieval Congress also moved its conference online through the new University of Leeds app. The app enabled delegates to virtually attend keynote speeches from over 500 speakers, including Rowena McCallum from the school of history, anthropology, philosophy & politics at Queen’s University Belfast, Keagan Brewer from the medieval & early modern centre at University of Sydney and Michael Carter from the curatorial department at English Heritage. Moreover, the event offered sessions and other activities across the five day conference.
The University of Leeds app enabled the fourth Arabic Linguistics Forum to go digital after its physical event was cancelled in the summer. Delegates and researchers from Europe and the Middle East gathered virtually to discuss all areas of Arabic linguistics including dialectology, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and psycholinguistics.
They were also able to discuss research from keynote speakers including Barry Heselwood from the University of Leeds, Marijn Van Putten from Leiden University in the Netherlands and Ahmad al-Jallad from Ohio State University in the United States of America.
Claire Heap, head of ConferenceLeeds, commented: “Though we have really missed welcoming national and international delegates to Leeds to attend these insightful and educational events, we are thrilled that the technological capabilities of the city have allowed these events to embrace a new online platform and give delegates the opportunity to develop and network with others in their field, from across the globe.
“We are incredibly proud of the technologies being developed within the city of Leeds and we are excited to see what further advances can be made in the future.”