Language
The official language of the Symposium is English.
Delegates
ISME Symposia are open to everyone with an interest in Microbial Ecology. The symposia usually attract 1500-2500 delegates, representing over 50 countries.
Registration
All participants must submit a completed registration form (online), which will be open from 14 March 2022 onwards.
Climate
Lausanne is located in the west of Switzerland, in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, at an altitude of about 500 meters (1,650 ft).
In summer, the temperatures are generally agreeable, with an average temperature of 20°C in August. Hot spells are becoming more frequent though, but temperatures rarely exceed 33/34 °C (91/93 °F) Rains and thunderstorms are also not uncommon. The average rainfall in August is about 110 mm.
Clothing
Clothing is informal for all occasions.
Tours
Wednesday is a day off for ISME delegates. On this day, tours will be organized to which delegates can sign up (upon payment).
Time Zone
Lauanne uses CET (Central European Time) which is 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+1).
Convention Center
The symposium will take place in the SwissTech Convention Center - Rue Louis Favre 2, 1024 Ecublens, Switzerland. Map
Lunch
ISME18 registration fee does not include lunch. However, there are more than 30 catering outlets to choose from on EPFL campus and they are all in short-walk distance. We recommend to download the EPFL Campus App that allows you to see what food is offered and which of the numerous catering outlets are open during summer. In addition, there are two supermarkets close to the conference center STCC where you can buy sandwiches, salads, drinks, etc.
You can also view this map, that will show you the possibilities for lunch. On Monday 15 August, the catering managers will guide delegates to the different catering areas.
ISME App
There will be an ISME18 app available for download in iTunes and in Google Play. This app is part of the ISME society app. The ISME18 app will be launched in August 2022. The ISME society app is already available for download.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is free of charge for all participants in the convention center.
Visa
Please check if you are required to obtain a visa to enter Switzerland.
Access
Geneva Airport is the closest airport to Lausanne with over 150 destinations. It takes 40 minutes to get from Geneva Airport to Lausanne by train.
Alternatively, when flying in from Zurich Airport it takes 2h20 by train to reach Lausanne.
Lausanne can be reached by speed train from Paris (3h40) and Milan (3h20). The German speed train requires a transfer in Basel (which is about 2h10 from Lausanne)
More Symposium Information
To learn more about our symposium, please find more detailed information in the ISME17 report.