Dear EOES Participants, Dear Mentors, Dear Students,

A few years ago when we decided to host this competition we imagined everything differently. Science and experiments, lab work and measurements play a central role in this competition but I was also dreaming about exiting excursions, kayaking and canoeing on the river Tisza, social activities and nice meals together. I have been waiting to welcome my old friends and the best young students from all over the European Union in person.

The world has changed. We have to give up a significant part of our plans. Right now I am sitting at home in Budapest in front of my laptop, and I am searching for old photos I made about Szeged and the river Tisza. We are working on the details of the experiments in different labs, in different towns. We have only zoom meetings with my colleagues in Szeged.

This year is a special year. We try to reorganise almost everything. But I hope we can also find benefits from this 'distributed' way of organisation: we can involve some more complex measurements which would not have been possible in previous years. I hope you will enjoy science this way, too, and that you will find each other at least virtually.

We are looking forward to meeting you.

Péter Vankó

Budapest, 18 March 2021