MT Marathon 2019 Venue
This year MT Marathon comes back to Edinburgh, the place where it was born in 2007!
Venue address
School of Informatics
The University of Edinburgh
10 Crichton St, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Scotland, UK
Informatics Forum
Informatics Forum (above) is located in the Central Campus of the University of Edinburgh in the central area of the city. The building houses researchers from the University's School of Informatics, including the Statistical Machine Translation Group.
Morning lectures and talks take place in room G.07 (ground floor) in Informatics Forum. Mini Forum 1 (MF1, 2nd floor) and the back of room G.07/07A serve as a working space for projects.
Afternoon tutorials are hosted in 50 George Square in Computer Lab 1.02 (1st floor). It is located 1 minute walk from the Informatics Forum.
Useful links:
- Location of Informatics Forum on Google Maps
- Directions to 50 George Square on Google Maps
- School of Informatics
- Floor plans: G.07 (ground floor, lectures/talks), 2.32 (2nd floor, projects)
- Virtual tour at Informatics Forum
- Free drinking water points
Travelling to the venue
By plane
Edinburgh Airport can be easily reached from most of the main European airports. The cheapest way to get from the airport to the conference venue for a single traveller is taking the Airport Bus 100 (£7.5, adult return) to Waverley Bridge, which is 30 minutes, and then 15 minutes walk to the Forum. The taxi is £25-30 and takes 20 minutes.
It is also straightforward to reach Edinburgh from Glasgow Airport since the two cities are linked by a frequent train service, taking about 50 minutes.
By train
Edinburgh is on the East Coast Mainline which provides a fast link (4.5 to 5 hours) with London and points in between. There are also regular trains to Manchester and the west of England, and of course to other Scottish cities.
By car
Edinburgh University is in the city centre, which is not very car-friendly. Edinburgh is about 3-4 hours drive from the north of England (e.g. Manchester) and about 7 hours from London.
By foot
Edinburgh is a very compact city which is best explored on foot. Just remember that the old town was built up in layers, so you need to interpret your map in three dimensions!
Useful links:
Accommodation
Most places in south or central areas of Edinburgh are convenient for the Marathon venue. Edinburgh is also a safe city, so it's fine to walk around the city centre at night, although the Grassmarket/Cowgate and Tollcross areas can be quite busy with pubs and clubs, especially at weekends.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest arts festival hosted yearly in many venues across the entire city. In 2018 it spanned 25 days and featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows.
The MT Marathon starts at the last day of the Fringe Festival, so the city still may be a bit busy.
Other useful links
- Information on UK power plug adapters
- Tap water in the majority of Scotland is drinkable and great-tasting
- Frequently asked questions about Scotland