Practical information

The last year and a half made us aware that every plan is always subject to last-minute modifications. Nevertheless, the situation in Vienna has been improving in the past months, and we are optimist that most participants will be able to enjoy the workshop physically.

Before booking your travel, please read carefully www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-information and https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/corona-information, as well as the travel regulations of your country of residence. In particular, note that:

• If you have been (partially) vaccinated, you can freely enter Austria starting from the 22nd day after your first dose. Carry your vaccination certificate with you at all time: it will be needed to enter restaurants, hotels, etc. If it is not written in English or German, you will need a doctor to sign this certificate.

• If you have not been vaccinated yet, you can still travel to Austria, but you will need at least a negative Covid test no older than 72 hours (for PCR tests) or 48 hours (for antigen tests). Additional requirements (e.g. proof that yours is a business travel and/or a short quarantine) depend on the country you come from; for most European countries, a negative test is sufficient. There is also currently a landing ban for flights from a few countries (see https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-information/entry-regulations).

Please note also that Austrian policies require everybody (including those who have been already vaccinated) to wear nose-mouth face masks in public transports, shops, museums, etc. (FFP2-masks are allowed but no longer mandatory). See https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/corona-information/your-safe-stay-in-vienna-388282 and https://coronavirus.wien.gv.at/faq-english/#everydaylife for up-to-date regulations.

For non-covid related required documents to enter Austria, e.g. visa, see for instance https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/getting-there-around/visa. Feel free to contact the organisers in case of any doubts.

Moreover, at the moment any event in Austria (including those organised at the university) requires that all participants will adhere to the GGG rules, i.e. you must be either Geimpft (vaccinated), Genesen (recovered from Covid in the last 6 months) or Getestet (tested negative). These are actually the same necessary conditions you must satisfy in order to be able to enter Austria from abroad (see the links above for more details).

If you will not be (partially) vaccinated yet by the time you will be in Vienna (and you didn't suffer from Covid in the past months), please let us know as soon as possible. You will need indeed to repeat a negative test a couple of times during the week (both to be able to participate to the workshop and to be granted access to restaurants, etc.). There are several opportunities for free testing in Vienna (https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/corona-information/testing-options-vienna-guests-388220), so we are going to help you select the most convenient ones, but we need to know how many people will need this service.

The easiest ways to reach Vienna are

• by plane, via Vienna International Airport. From there you can reach the central station by taking either the CAT train to "Wien Mitte, Landstraße" (note: it is at the moment suspended due to low use during pandemic period) or the regular train S7 in the direction "Floridsdorf" to "Wien Mitte, Landstraße" (or another station closer to your accommodation).

• by train, via the central station "Wien Mitte". From the undeground station you can easily reach all places in the city, including the Institute and your hotel.

For more information on the local transport systems, please see https://www.wien.gv.at/english/transportation-urbanplanning/public-transport/. For general information about Vienna, see https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/tourist-info.

All participants (including the speakers) should book accommodation on their own; speakers and those who obtained financial support will be given a form to fill and will be refunded of the costs. Please see https://www.wpi.ac.at/address.php for a list of possible accommodations at walking distance to the venue.

We are aware that in these uncertain times there might be some unexpected troubles which might result in a last-minute cancellation of your flight and/or hotel reservation. However, unfortunately our institute cannot refund these cost in such cases: in other words, if you will not be able to come to Vienna, the cancelled accommodation/travel will be at your own expenses. We therefore strongly recommend you to check if you are covered by an insurance by your own university and/or obtain a private travel insurance.