University of York - Beer time on conference agenda

Academics who tell their bosses that they are in the pub instead of attending a conference could probably expect to be hauled over the coals. But that is what a group of University of York staff have done. They sat in a virtual pub in York complete with beer and nibbles while participating in a conference in Sweden using the latest in videoconferencing equipment. The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm set up a "telepresence" booth in York to allow staff from the university's Stockholm Environment Institute York Centre to take part in the Resilience 2008 conference. The university plans to continue to use the equipment after the conference to allow academics from York and Stockholm to meet without having to travel.