Call for Symposia
Call for Submission of Symposium Proposals for ESEB 2025
One of the distinctive features of ESEB congresses is the «bottom-up» approach to determining the scientific content of each meeting. Most of the scientific programme is organised into symposia on topics suggested by ESEB members.
Symposium organisers play a key role in selecting oral and poster presentations from the submitted abstracts. Topics can be on any subject related to evolutionary biology, whether specific or broad, emerging, or well-established.
A symposium typically consists of around 5-12 oral presentations, with 1-2 being invited talks, and the remaining abstracts presented during poster sessions. Invited speakers usually have their congress registration fee covered (excluding travel and accommodation) and are allotted extended speaking time.
Deadline for Submission
The deadline for submission is 21 November 2024.
Symposium Proposal Requirements
You will be asked to provide:
- The names and email addresses of the primary organiser (for correspondence) and 1-2 co-organisers, who must commit to attending the entire meeting.
- The proposed symposium title.
- A justification between 100 and 300 words explaining why your proposed topic is important and relevant for a symposium at the congress.
- The names of two potential invited speakers (please confirm their availability in advance). You may also submit titles of potential invited talks (optional).
Balance in terms of gender, nationality, and career stage of invited speakers and symposium organisers will be considered by the scientific committee when selecting symposia. Successful symposium organisers are expected to maintain this balance when selecting oral presentations. ESEB also supports diversity through conference attendance aid grants.
How to Submit a Symposium Proposal
- Submit your symposium proposal exclusively via the online platform accessible at the top of this page
- Proposals sent by email will not be considered.
- The symposium proposal must be submitted by the primary organiser, who will act as the contact person.
- At least one of the organisers must be an ESEB member at the time of the acceptance of symposia, and we encourage all organisers to become members if they are not. The organisers will be required to prove member status at a later time, upon registering for the congress.
Evaluation
Proposals will be double-blind reviewed by the Scientific Committee. The selected list will be announced in January 2025.
Contact
Technical enquiries can be addressed to eseb2025barcelona@aimgroup.eu. In case of any scientific concerns, please turn to ESEB2025_scientific@irbbarcelona.org. We will be happy to assist you.
Encouraging Diversity in Symposium Proposals
As ESEB members are aware, research consistently demonstrates that biases in academia, including gender bias, often arise from implicit, unintentional mechanisms rather than deliberate acts of exclusion. Substantial concerns have been raised about gender and diversity imbalances among invited speakers at previous ESEB and other academic meetings. The ESEB congress organizers acknowledge these concerns and are committed to ensuring that symposia selected for the congress represent the full breadth and diversity of research strengths in the fields represented.
To achieve this, we strongly encourage symposium organizers to consider diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and career stage when proposing speakers. This balance will be a key criterion used by the scientific committee during the symposium selection process.
Tips for Ensuring a Diverse Lineup of Speakers:
- Prioritize Diverse Candidates: Before finalizing your list of invited speakers, create a list of qualified women and minority candidates. Resources like the DiversifyEEB Database can be extremely helpful. Aim to include more women and minority candidates on your list than you need, as research shows that women are twice as likely to decline invitations as men.
- Leverage Support Programs: If an invited speaker declines, remember that ESEB offers Congress Attendance Aid Grants to support increased female participation as speakers and poster presenters.
- Include Early-Career Scientists: If achieving equal gender representation proves challenging due to lower acceptance rates, consider inviting promising early-career scientists, who may bring fresh perspectives and contribute to a more balanced lineup.
- Prioritize Diversity: When choosing between equally qualified candidates, preference should be given to female or minority candidates to enhance diversity.
- Consider Blind Reviewing: Implementing a blind review process for submissions—at least in the initial stages—can help create an unbiased ranking of abstracts. Before final decisions are made, consider the broader context of diversity, including gender, seniority, and nationality.
- Educate Yourself: We recommend reading this article on 10 Simple Rules for Achieving Gender Balance for additional insights.
- Seek Assistance: For further support in achieving gender balance and diversity, please contact the ESEB Equal Opportunities Initiative committee.
Call for submission of symposium proposals for ESEB 2025
A defining feature of ESEB congresses is the «bottom-up»approach to determining the scientific content of each meeting. The vast majority of the scientific program is arranged in symposia topics that are suggested by ESEB members, and the symposium organisers then also play a major role in selecting the oral and poster presentations from the submitted abstracts. Symposia topics can be on any theme related to evolutionary biology: specific or broad, emerging or well established. A symposium normally consists of around 5-12 oral presentations, 1-2 of which are invited, with remaining abstracts in the theme being presented together in the poster sessions. Invited speakers typically have their congress registration covered (but not travel or accommodation), and have extended speaking time.
Deadline
The deadline for submission is November 21, 2024.
Symposium proposal
You will be asked to provide:
- The names and email addresses of the primary organiser (for all communication) and 1-2 co-organiser(s), who must be committed to attend the whole meeting.
- Optional – Links to the professional web pages of organisers and short biographies of organisers (maximum 150 words each biography).
- The proposed symposium title.
- A maximum 200 word explanation justifying why you feel your proposed topic warrants a symposium at the conference.
- The names of two potential invited speakers (please check beforehand whether they are indeed available). You can also submit titles of potential invited talks (optional).
Balance, in terms of gender, nationality and career stage of invited speakers and symposium organisers will be included as one criterion used by the scientific committee when selecting symposia, and successful symposium organisers are expected to do the same when selecting oral presentations. ESEB also supports diversity via conference attendance aid grants.
How to submit a symposium proposal
• Please submit your symposium proposal only via the online form that is accessible in the User zone (not yet available)
• Proposals sent by e-mail cannot be considered.
• Symposium proposal has to be submitted by a primary organiser of the symposium.
• A primary organiser of the symposium is considered to be a contact person.
• At least one of the organisers must be an ESEB member at the time of the «final date for presenters and symposia organisers to register». The organisers will be required to prove member status at a later time, upon registering for the congress.
Evaluation
Proposals will be double-blind evaluated by the Scientific Committee, and the selected list will be communicated in December 2024.
Contact
Enquiries can be directed to eseb2025barcelona@aimgroup.eu. We will be happy to assist you.
