It is with a heavy heart that the British Sociological Association (BSA) must announce the cancellation of our Annual Conference in Birmingham (21-23 April) and our Postgraduate Conference (20 April).

We have been closely monitoring the coronavirus situation and given the risks posed to travel and large gatherings, and our primary responsibility to the health and welfare of our members, our delegates, our staff and our guests we feel that this is the right and only decision to make.

The BSA fully appreciates what this decision means for delegates hoping to participate in the Annual Conference and present their research. We recognise both the financial implications and lost opportunities to many colleagues as a result of this cancellation.  In light of this, we are offering all delegates a 100% refund of the registration fee. As you can imagine, the office is extremely busy at the moment. We will begin the process of issuing refunds next week but due to the large volume we hope you’ll understand that this will take some time.

The Annual Conference is not a profit-making activity for the Association. The BSA is obliged to honour the contracts for the event venues and other suppliers but without registration money, this will unfortunately lead to a significant financial shortfall in our 2020 budget. Therefore, given the unusual circumstances, if you are able to reclaim the cost of registration with your university insurance or make a donation to the BSA, that would be very welcome and enable us to continue our activities for the coming year.  Make a donation here>

We would like to thank everyone that has been involved in planning this event and we hope all of you and your loved ones stay safe and get through this unscathed.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding at this very challenging time and we hope to see you at our 70^th Anniversary Conference in Manchester (13-15 April) next year.

John Bone, Chair
Judith Mudd, Chief Executive
The BSA Trustees and Staff Team