@DrudgeJedd I thought this justification from Sally Hines for not cancelling was ... interesting.
The second point about the funding is complicated. This project has been going on for five years. It has met all of its outputs/impact targets – i.e. it does not ‘need’ the conference. Due to events that did not take place due to Covid, there is money remaining that needs to be spent by the end of March or it will be returned to the university/funder. This is why we cannot postpone the event as it would have been the ideal solution. If we don’t hold the event now, we will not hold it. We will not be able to fund it again.