All conference activities – panels, keynotes, lunches and refreshments – take place in the Leeds University Business School. A campus map is available here.

With a population of approximately 800,000, Leeds is one of the UK’s biggest cities. It resides in the county of West Yorkshire and is centrally located in England, at the foot of the world-renowned Yorkshire Dales.

The University of Leeds is part of the UK’s distinguished ‘Russell Group’ and boasts a student population of 40,000. The current UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is an alumnus of the University’s Faculty of Law.

The University is within walking/wheeling distance of nearly all city centre hotels. A list of recommended hotels with discount codes usable by delegates will be emailed to you on receipt of your registration fee.

Air: i) The city is served by Leeds Bradford International Airport [LBA] which is 8 miles from Leeds. If travelling from outside Europe, it’s simplest to connect via Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport [AMS] in the Netherlands: the Dutch airline, KLM flies three times a day to LBA and the flight time is approximately 45 minutes. KLM is part of the SkyTeam Alliance and codeshares with a range of airlines (Delta, Etihad, Korea Air, Westjet, etc.). Alternatively, you can connect to LBA via Dublin Airport [DUB], Ireland, with Aer Lingus (which codeshares with American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair). LBA receives many flights from within Europe via a range of budget airlines (Easyjet, Ryanair, Jet2, WizzAir). ii) Manchester Airport [MAN] is 56 miles from Leeds and a major UK hub of international travel. Regular trains run from MAN to Leeds city centre and take about 90 minutes. iii)  Heathrow Airport, London [LHR], is Europe’s busiest airport and caters for global air travel. On arrival, head to London’s King’s Cross station, direct via London Underground’s Piccadilly Line (approx. 70 mins) or via the fast Heathrow Express to Paddington Station (15 mins) where you will need to transfer onto the Underground network to complete your journey. At King’s Cross, take a LNER train direct to Leeds (2 hours, 20 mins approx., important details below).

Train: Leeds Station is a major travel hub: direct trains from London, the Midlands, Manchester, the North East and Scotland all pass through the station. The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) operates twice-hourly trains from London King’s Cross to Leeds. You are strongly advised to book LNER travel in advance via their website or an equivalent (ie: Trainline) as advance tickets are considerably cheaper than those bought at the station.

Car and coach: Leeds is reached via the M1, A1(M), and M62 motorways. Be aware that traffic on the city’s approach roads is very busy during the working week, while the city centre admits only certain vehicles (taxis, buses, etc.). If arriving by car, check that your hotel has a car park as city-centre parking is both expensive and not always easy to secure. It is not possible to park on campus during the working week, but delegates can use the University’s car park at the weekend for a pay-on-the-day fee.

You can easily check visa entry requirements online by visiting https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa . Many arriving in the UK on academic business usually require an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before travelling, which costs £16 and can be secured here: https://www.gov.uk/eta . Your ETA allows for visits up to six months without a visa. Delegates from Europe, Canada, the US, South Korea, Malaysia, and several other locations usually require only an ETA.

Depending on your country of origin, some delegates will be ineligible for an ETA and must apply for a Standard Visitor Visa. This costs £127; the earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel.

In order to hold costs down for our registrants, we aren’t having a banquet this year.

An arrival breakfast – pastries, coffee, and tea – are provided as part of your registration fee. If you want a time-out during the conference, there are also several cafes on campus you can explore.

Leeds boasts a wealth of restaurants to choose from, from cheap eateries to fine dining. Due to Yorkshire’s long history of South Asian migration, the city centre has several Indian and Pakistani restaurants of particular renown, such as Tharavadu, the Aagrah, Kerala Canteen, and Akbar’s. There are also several excellent Chinese and Thai restaurants: Red Chilli, the Giggling Squid, Blue Pavilion, Tattu, Zap Thai Street Food. The city’s Trinity Centre has an excellent food court which features regular ‘pop up’ restaurants and food outlets. Leeds also has steakhouses (Miller & Carter, Restaurant Bar & Grill), pizzerias (Rudy’s, Pizza Pilgrims), Brazilian rodizio dining (Estabulo), Japanese restaurants (Teppanyaki, Fern Modern Sushi), as well as the usual chain outlets (Wagamama, Pizza Express, etc.).

You can find the Program on the conference website!

Please note that the University of Leeds uses Microsoft Teams for all virtual activities (not Zoom; we do not have a Zoom license). Teams can be accessed either through a web browser on an app. I have confirmed with Rosie and IT colleagues that we will need online streaming and one or two virtual presentations, and have been reassured that these requirements can be delivered. Speakers should be encouraged to bring any PowerPoint slides on a USB stick and/or email them in advance so they can be uploaded to the conference rooms' PCs. It is possible to plug in a laptop via a HDMI cable into the in-room IT systems (although MacBooks will need an adapter to be compatible), but my sense here is to keep it simple as possible. We are paying for a member of the University's IT staff to be on site on each of the three days, so if there are any glitches on the day(s) then we havededicated support available.