Call for Symposium & Open-format sessions

The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) will be held virtually from 21st–23rd July, 2021. This year’s theme "Lessons, advances, and opportunities in the face of global change" is an opportunity for researchers, decision-makers, practitioners, and community leaders from around the world to exchange knowledge on tropical biodiversity and conservation.

 

The Organizing Committee invites members of the ATBC Community to submit proposals for two types of organized sessions: (i) Symposia: These sessions will feature four speakers presenting their work followed by a live question-and-answer session; and, (ii) Open Format Sessions: These sessions will allow organizers to choose, explore, and create innovative formats by which they communicate advances in tropical biology and conservation with conference participants.

 

The NEW deadline for proposal submissions is April 10th, 2021. Organizers will be notified of the committee's decision by April 15th, 2021. 

 

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GUIDELINES FOR SYMPOSIA

 

• Each symposium will last for 1-hour and should include four pre-recorded presentations of 10 minutes each, followed by a live 20-minute discussion. 

 

• Symposia should address topics of broad interest to the ATBC community. Selected topics should fall within one of the Conference’s sub-themes. Conceptual syntheses and symposia in which participants present contrasting views on scientific and conservation issues are especially encouraged. Proposals that include novel or multidisciplinary research perspectives are also welcome.

 

• Once a symposium session is accepted, speakers will be requested to submit their abstracts and a 10-minute pre-recorded talk. 

 

GUIDELINES FOR OPEN FORMAT SESSIONS

 

• Each session will last for 1-hour. The format should be defined by the session organizers and should be clearly explained in the open format session proposal.

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• Open format sessions should address topics of broad interest to the ATBC community. Selected topics should fall within one of the Conference’s sub-themes. 

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• The open format sessions are dedicated to exploring creative, fresh, and novel models for knowledge exchange, including, but not limited to interactive panel discussions, roundtables, debates, workshops, and performances, among others.

 

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

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All proposals must be submitted here using ATBC’s user profile or by creating a new profile (first-time user).  While submitting a proposal, the following information must be included: 

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• Symposium or Open Format Session Title: 15 words maximum. 

• Conference sub-theme

• Main organizer (name, institutional affiliation, address, and email): This person is the primary contact who will be responsible for communication with the ATBC2021 Organizing Committee and speakers/participants. 

• Co-organizer (name, institutional affiliation, address, and email). Proposals may include up to one co-organizer.

• Participants: Please provide each speaker/ participant name (in the case of symposia, 4 speakers are required), institutional affiliation, department, email, and, in the case of symposia, a tentative talk title. Participants should be listed in the anticipated sequence of the presentations. Please ensure participants have agreed to participate prior to the proposal submission. 

• Description (max. 400 words): The description should clearly summarize the background, scope, goals, and objectives of the session, as well as its importance and potential interest to the ATBC community. The description should avoid overly specialized language; any person attending the meeting should be able to understand it. The symposium description will be available in the online program and will be accessed by attendees seeking additional information about the session. 

• Justification (max. 150 words): The justification should focus on how the review criteria (see below) are met by the proposal. It should not repeat the description. 

• One sentence summary (max. 50 words): A short version of the symposium description.

• Commitment to diversity  (max. 300 words): Please describe efforts to ensure a diverse balance of speakers with regards to gender, career stage, and geography. 

• Proposed format (only for open sessions format):  Please describe in detail the program of the proposed session (indicating time slots). Be sure to indicate what the audience interaction will be like and, if applicable, materials or special requirements.

 

REVIEW CRITERIA

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All proposals will be evaluated and scored by reviewers selected by the ATBC 2020 Scientific Committee. The Scientific Committee may accept, decline, or offer an opportunity for a revised symposium proposal submission. Proposals will be assessed using the following criteria: 

 

• Scientific merit: Likelihood of promoting a significant advancement in our understanding of tropical biology and conservation, innovative or interdisciplinary approaches, or likelihood of novel conceptual synthesis. 

• Broader impacts: Integration of science with conservation issues, impact on policy, and potential utility for conservation, among others. 

• Appeal to participants of ATBC 2021: Sessions should target topics that will be of general interest to the ATBC community. 

• Sessions organization: Sessions must be diverse and should NOT simply include case studies or results from the same group of collaborators. Sessions should also try to cover a broad range of participants and should avoid biased perspectives. For open format sessions, proposals must indicate a well-planned program, participants, and means for interaction with the audience.

• Relevance to the meeting's theme: Sessions should target topics that are relevant to the meeting’s theme "Lessons, advances, and opportunities in the face of global change" and respective sub-themes.

• Participants lineup:  Invited participants should include researchers representing our memberships diversity (career stage, gender, geography, etc.). Sessions whose participants provide novel perspectives are especially encouraged. 

 

Note that the ‘one presentation’ rule will be applied to all speakers at ATBC 2021: meeting participants will only be allowed to present in a single symposium or open format session.  

 

Note that given the limited space available during ATBC 2021, only some sessions will be invited to be held live during the main ATBC 2021 program. Other accepted sessions will be uploaded in a pre-recorded format to the meeting virtual platform and will be available to be consulted by delegates at any time. In this case, an asynchronous discussion with the audience will take place.

 

PROPOSAL ACCEPTANCE

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Notification of proposal acceptance and participant registration

Organizers will be notified of the committee's decision by April 15th, 2021. Once a session is accepted, session organizers should ensure that all speakers/participants have registered by June 25th, 2021. 

 

Abstract submission (for talks in symposia)

Symposium speakers must submit their abstracts by May 10th, 2021. All symposium abstracts will be peer-reviewed, and abstract revisions may be required.

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Submission of pre-recorded talks (for talks in symposia)

Symposium speakers are required to upload a pre-recorded video of their talk in .mp4 format by July 05th, 2021. Talk length must not exceed 10 minutes. This video will be broadcasted during the ATBC 2021 Annual Meeting and will be stored at the website of the conference for future reproductions by delegates. Speakers are free to record their videos with any software they feel comfortable as long as the videos can be saved in mp4 format. We recommend using either Microsoft PowerPoint or Zoom for the video recordings. Additional instructions for the video recordings are provided in Appendix 1.

 

CANCELLATION POLICY AND REFUND

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It is disruptive for the meeting program to have accepted sessions cancelled. Accordingly, please submit a proposal only if you are certain to attend the meeting and are willing to fulfill your responsibility as organizer. 

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If a co-organizer faces any unexpected circumstances and needs to cancel their participation, an additional co-organized can be assigned as a replacement.  If a participant is faced with unforeseen circumstances and needs to cancel their participation, the participant should notify the co-organizers immediately so a replacement can be assigned. The replacement participant name and information must be sent to the Organizing Committee att: info@atbc2021.org

 

All participants and session organizers must register to the ATBC 2021 Virtual Meeting and cover the associated registration fees. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact the Organizing Committee via email (info@atbc2021.org) with any questions or concerns.

 

We look forward to seeing you in the Virtual ATBC 2021 Meeting! 

ATBC 2021 Organizing Committee