Jyväskylä is a unique, vibrant and youthful city. The city’s educational institutions have long experience in hosting various congresses and conferences. Our city is characterised by a warm conference culture and hospitality.

The city is surrounded by enchanting nature and lakes. Jyväskylä offers the advantages of a small town without the disadvantages of a big city, such as short distances and a stable and pleasant climate. The main hotels and meeting venues are within walking distance of the city centre – all by the lake.

Presentation
Tero Tuovinen
Senior Researcher, Institute for Renewable Industries
Technology
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences

Why should conferences be included in researchers’ toolbox? How can a researcher benefit from being a conference organiser?

– Networking: Conferences can help you build up a really big network of slightly different researchers
– Permission to read: Organising a conference gives you a kind of official permission to read a lot of research articles on topics that interest you.
– Meet your guru: A conference is a good reason to get in touch with the very gurus whose presentations you’ve always wanted to listen to. An invitation to be a plenary speaker is often interesting enough for them to respond to you. At the dinner, invited speakers sit as guests of the conference organisers and there can be hours of time to discuss really interesting topics, research and otherwise.
– Compilations: The conference is a good opportunity to start putting together a compendium / proceedings based on the conference presentations and their themes. As an editor, you will be able to influence the articles to be published and raise their quality by implementing a high-quality review process. You can also manage your time and by being active, the publication process will progress quickly.
– Volume of publication: Conferences have been successfully used to increase the number of publications and to obtain citations. By being active and gathering the network around you at the event, your research will be more visible to those most likely to refer to your work.
– The latest information: By organising a conference, you can offer your colleagues a great opportunity to access the latest information in the field at a really low cost. Attending a conference in Jyväskylä costs around €400-500 + time spent, in practice €2000 worldwide, depending on the location. While travel has its place, this could be an alternative to that other scientific event of the year. So the idea is that every self-respecting scientist should attend at least a couple of scientific events a year.
– Community service: Organising conferences is part of the community service for researchers. We are part of the research community and it works best when everyone contributes. By organising a forum for scientific debate, you can say you have done your bit.
– An extra line on your CV: Organising a major international conference is usually rewarded with prestige, which is reflected in your CV. Often these are awarded a medal or a certificate of honour, and these merits help the organisers to rise up the hierarchy within the organisation.