Location

Scientific Venues

IMC9 will be held in the outstanding venues of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and the Usher Hall in the middle of the city. Both have excellent facilities for up to 2,500 delegates and are 5 minutes walk away from each other.

Edinburgh International Conference Centre

Usher Hall

Getting there

Edinburgh is easily accessible with direct flights from many European cities and from the USA and Canada. It is also well serviced by train and bus lines from within the UK.

The following links provide further information for delegates
For directions to the EICC: from the UK click here
From outside of the UK click here
From the airport click here
Download map of City centre here

For directions to Usher Hall
Visit the Usher Hall website
Download map with directions between EICC and Usher Hall

Accommodation

A wide range of accommodation from student halls of residence to all classes of hotels is available to suit every budget. Please visit the accommodation page for details.

Edinburgh as a tourist destination

Edinburgh, a great renaissance centre, is the capital of Scotland and widely regarded as one of the most outstanding tourist meccas in the world. Known as the "modern Athens" of the North, its magnificent architecture shifts from the medieval Old Town, to the grace of the Georgian New Town, to the modern architecture of the new Scottish Parliament buildings. Above it all, in towering splendour, stands the Castle.

The date for the conference is the week before the famous Edinburgh Festival, which is the biggest arts festival on the planet. It will also coincide with the Jazz and Blues Festival.

Click here to find out more about what to see and do while in Edinburgh

Weather

While few visitors expect to have good weather in Scotland, the Edinburgh climate is not normally as bad as people think! However, the weather is likely to be changeable. That means a rainy start may well turn into glorious sunshine or vice versa. There are often long days of sunshine and averages of around 20°C in August.

Travel advice for H1N1 Virus

On 11 June, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alert level for the H1N1 virus (known as 'swine flu') to phase 6. IMC9 is continuing to monitor the situation carefully.

The WHO states that it does not recommend a restriction on travel (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/frequently_asked_questions/travel/en/index.html) and the IMC9 will go ahead as planned in Edinburgh, UK, 1-6 August, 2010.

The WHO gives some advice on recommended guidelines for travellers on their website - http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/guidance/individuals/en/index.html.

We recommend that all participants have appropriate health insurance policies in place when travelling.