UNPRECEDENTED: the Sigma 5th European conference is going virtual!

SIGMA EUROPEAN CONFERENCE UPDATE (18/03/2020)

In light of the COVID19 pandemic we appreciate that attendees will be unable to attend in person. However, we feel it is really important that the conference goes ahead so that we can all benefit from hearing the work that you and nurses from around the world have been conducting to further nursing practice, policy, management and leadership. While to our knowledge this is the first time that Sigma Europe has attempted to provide a virtual conference. Sigma has a strong tradition of firsts, so we are following in that tradition.
The conference will be delivered virtually via Zoom technology. Together with a conference App which we are using that enables chat rooms and social networking which we appreciate is an important part of conference attendance.
As 2020 is the WHO Year of the Nurse and Midwife let’s make it memorable not for COVID19 but to showcase all the excellent work that nurses are doing around the globe and how as usual nurses find a solution to whatever they have to face. Let us lead by example.  We are Sigma Nurses. 
If you have purchased the conference dinner, we will be refunding that amount. As you will appreciate, we are having to invest in improved IT support and technology to support this virtual conference, but we hope that we may be able to refund the catering cost of your registration. We will inform you at a later date as to the information we will need from you for the refund. At this time, we cannot say exactly how much the refund will be so please bear with us. We will not be offering any full refunds if you choose not to present your work.
The benefits for you of attending are:
• Your abstract will be uploaded to the Sigma repository so that your work is widely available on a global scale
• You will be one of the first presenters to have presented your work at the first Virtual Sigma European conference and may be a trail blazer for future virtual conferences
• You will receive a certificate of participation in the conference as a presenter
• You will have the opportunity to network with colleagues from around the globe in the social networking spaces
• You will be able to listen to nursing pioneers and experts as they deliver their keynote presentations
• You will have no long waits in airports, no jet lag and contribute to improving air pollution and impact positively on climate change

Many thanks

"NURSING´S INNOVATION, INFLUENCE AND IMPACT ON GLOBAL HEALTH: LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD"


On behalf of Sigma’s Phi Xi Chapter, the European Planning Committee, the Scientific Committee, and the Nursing School of Coimbra, it is a pleasure to welcome you to Coimbra and to Sigma Theta Tau International’s 5th Biennial European Conference. Phi Xi Chapter and the Nursing School of Coimbra were handed the baton to host the 2020 European Conference during the 4th Biennial Conference hosted by Phi Mu chapter in Cambridge, UK at Anglia Ruskin University in 2018.

The purpose of the Sigma European Conference is to facilitate the sharing of the latest research knowledge, innovations and current developments within nursing and healthcare from local, national and international perspectives. The conferences have continued to grow and have attracted nurses from across the globe, providing an excellent opportunity for networking and developing international collaborations both in terms of research and education.


The World Health Organisations (WHO) Executive Board have designated the year 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”, in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, who was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing.  In the run up to “2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife”, many nursing institutions including Sigma are aiming to improve the perceptions of nurses, enhance their influence and maximize their contributions to ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to health and healthcare. This is important in bringing nursing to the forefront of thinking on global health and enabling nurses to do even more in improving health globally. We hope this conference will play its role in providing a platform in 2020 to exchange views and ideas on the theme that healthcare should be for all.


If you have not been to Coimbra before we would like to welcome you to the medieval capital of Portugal established in 563 AD, and the site of the country’s greatest university for the past five centuries. Coimbra is probably most famous for its university established in 1290AD, the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world. The Nursing School of Coimbra, heir to the most ancient nurse training in Portugal, is a nationally and internationally recognized public institution. But there is so much more happening in Coimbra so we hope you will be able to find some time to explore the city.


We hope you will enjoy your time in Coimbra and that you will meet new friends who share your aspirations for the future of nursing, wherever you come from. This is a great opportunity to share and learn from nurses from very different backgrounds and with very different experiences.
In planning the Conference, great care has been taken to ensure that there is a good balance between the scientific program and the social program. We hope you will leave Coimbra with new knowledge and new insights but also with the seeds sown for new collaborations in the future.


This Conference follows in the footsteps of the four previous European Conferences in Cardiff (2012), Gothenburg (2014), Utrecht (2016) and Cambridge (2018). Finally, it is important to thank all those who have played even a small part in planning for this conference, many of whom are named in the following pages. Without their contribution, this conference would not have happened.

ORGANIZATION