“It's a brilliant conference with a unique atmosphere”
The 2024 eceee Summer saw the move to a new venue: Center Parcs Lac d’Ailette about 50 km from Reims. 359 participants attended, 7% down from 2022 but close to the numbers in 2019. The share of academics and researchers has increased to about 60% (including semi-private institutions). 27 countries were represented this year, about the same as in 2022 (26), but down from 2017 and 2019.
The Summer Study keeps getting high scores on virtually every parameter. Reassuringly, eceee manages to maintain the quality over the years, even with the move to a new venue. The part of the Summer Study that involves most participants actively – papers and extended abstracts presented in panel sessions or at the display session, as well as the informal sessions – remain the Summer Study’s most highly appreciated features.
Summary of evaluation results
Below is a summary of the evaluation results for the eceee 2024 Summer Study. Download the full report for more details.
Download full eceee 2024 Summer Study evaluation report
High overall participant ratings
With approximately 60% of all participants responding to the evaluation survey, the conference as a whole received participant ratings of a high 4.4 score. The score has varied between 4.4 and 4.6 since 2015, and it is a good sign that eceee manages to deliver events of consistent great quality.
A table comparing the evaluation scores over the last few Summer Studies can be found below.
The Summer Study is a hotspot for international collaboration
The Summer Study is an excellent event for networking and starting international collaborations. Of the respondents in the participant evaluations:
- 94% said they made new contacts, which will be useful in their professional life.
- 97% said they learned something new, which will be useful in their work.
- 67% said they made new contacts, which they believe will result in new international collaboration.
These numbers have only been varying slightly over the years, and it is encouraging to see they remain high.
Affiliation and first-time participants
The affiliation of participants represents a mix of researchers, practitioners, private sector, energy agencies and NGOs. Researchers/academics have increased to slightly over 60% of all participants. Public sector participants (mainly from agencies and governments) have decreased, and NGO participation has gone up again after a decline in 2021 and 2022.
43% of all participants were here for the first time, and the mix of old timers and newcomers contributes to the dynamics of the event.
Ambitions to make eceee’s event climate neutral
The stable participant numbers and the high ratings are proof that eceee’s “constituency” wants a physical Summer Study. However, eceee needs to continue its work to reduce the direct climate impact of the Summer Study as well as enabling low-carbon travel options, for instance by promoting train travel and arranging shuttles from the stations.
As a positive sign, the share of respondents who state that they travelled by air continue to decrease (26% in 2024, compared to 30% in 2022). The drop from 59% in 2019 is significant.
High ratings for content and organisation
The panels and the panel leaders who run them are at the core of eceee’s goal to provide evidence-based knowledge analysis and information. The quality of peer-reviewed papers was rated 4.3. The papers have had a consistently high rating of 4.1–4.3 since 2015.The parallel panel sessions received an average general rating of 4.5, thus breaking the 4.4 ratings record in 2022.
Participants’ attendance at the display session (where peer-reviewed papers and extended abstracts also are presented) was as usual quite high – almost 80% of the respondents said they attended it. The average rating was high with 4.1, which is the highest rating over the years.
eceee is also pleased to see that the organisational aspects of the conference are well received.
Evaluation results by numbers
The below table summarises a few key areas regarding the content of the conference.