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Proposals are now invited for symposia, workshops and training courses for the 6th World Conference on Ecological Restoration. The deadline for submitting a proposal is Friday 12th December 2014, however early submissions are encouraged and proposals will be considered in the order they are received. All proposals should be submitted using the online form. Detailed instructions for submitting symposia and workshop proposals are provided below, along with a link to the submission form. If you would like to submit a proposal for a pre-conference training course, please CLICK HERE.
Symposia
Symposia are held concurrently with the regular sessions of the SER 2015 scientific programme and provide a forum for the exploration and discussion of special topics or themes in the field of ecological restoration and related areas of inquiry. Organisers can structure a symposium around a series of formal oral presentations or a moderated panel discussion and are expected to focus on new research results, cutting-edge developments and novel ideas as they relate to the social, economic and ecological aspects of restoration. Symposia should strive for a synthesis of the topic or issue being explored, rather than merely presenting a set of related case studies. Ideally, symposia are intended to expand cooperation, understanding and interdisciplinary camaraderie in the main thematic areas of the conference. SER especially welcomes symposia organised by two or more scientists or practitioners from different countries or regions, as well as those that include presenters representing a diversity of backgrounds and sub-disciplines. All accepted symposia will be allocated one 90 minute time slot during the scientific programme, and in rare cases, may be granted two consecutive slots at the Programme Committee’s discretion. A symposium should have a minimum of 4 speakers and a maximum of 5 speakers.
Organisers are encouraged to consider publishing the outcomes of their symposia and organisers who can demonstrate a published outcome will be viewed favourably by the Scientific Committee. It is the organisers’ responsibility to ensure that they liaise with their appointed publisher.
Workshops
Workshops are also held concurrently with regular sessions and symposia but tend to be more interactive and informal in nature and to emphasise discussion and the exchange of information among all participants. Workshops are most often led by a single organiser/presenter who may simply act as a moderator to guide and facilitate group discussion. Workshops may be intended to generate analysis around a particular topic or to examine specific technical knowledge, skills or methologies, and in some cases they aim to produce a scientific outcome (eg publication, topical working group, new collaboration or initiative). As with symposia, workshops will be allocated a 90 minute time slot during the scientific programme (and in rare cases two consecutive slots), and organisers have considerable flexibility to structure this time as they see most productive given their goals and objectives.
1. Evaluation Process and Criteria
The SER2015 Scientific Committee will make the final decision with regard to the acceptance and scheduling of all symposia and workshops. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis and acceptance notices will be sent as soon as possible in order to allow organisers sufficient time to coordinate with speakers, make travel arrangements, seek institutional support and secure sponsorship as necessary.
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- academic (pure or applied) merit, with emphasis on new research results, cutting-edge developments, novel perspectives and innovative or interdisciplinary approaches
- submissions should be associated to one of the conference themes; urban, rural or wild (please state which)
- clear relevance to the field of ecological restoration indicating whether the proposal covers one or more of the scientific, educational, cultural and/or artistic themes (please state which)
- applicability to ecosystem management practices and/or policy
- availability of funding to support speaker attendance
- submission of a clearly written and compelling proposal that includes a draft programme for the symposium, workshop or training course
Organisers will be notified electronically concerning the receipt, review and acceptance of their proposal via the e-mail address provided no later than 23rd January 2015. If for some reason you do not hear from the secretariat by this date, please contact the secretariat.
2. Organiser Responsibilities
All sessions must have a lead organiser who serves as the primary point of contact. This person should be readily available by email in the months leading up to the conference and is expected to be present at the symposium or workshop.
It is the responsibility of the lead organiser to communicate information to the individuals participating in their session and to ensure that the participants register. The Programme Committee reserves the right to rescind the offer of a session in the programme for workshops, training courses or symposia if the speakers are not registered by a specified deadline.
Funding: SER will provide meeting space and onsite logistical support for all symposia and workshops but is not able to offer any travel or accommodation assistance, honoraria, complimentary registration or other funding to session organisers or individual speakers/presenters. SER encourages prospective organisers to seek sponsorships and/or institutional support to help offset the costs. Please ensure that information about funding is made clear to all speakers you invite to participate.
If your proposal is accepted: Organisers are responsible for ensuring that all presenters taking part in their symposium or workshop submit an abstract by the deadline (Friday 13th February) via the online form accompanying the Call for Abstracts. Presenters must also register for the conference before the deadline for presenter registration on 1st June 2015. Presenters who fail to meet these deadlines may be excluded from the scientific programme. Symposium and workshop organisers must also submit an abstract as above if they plan to give a presentation during their session and would like their abstract included in the abstract publication.
Symposia organisers are advised that if they are unable to secure enough presenters to fill the symposium or to replace any presenters who cancel, the Scientific Committee may assign an appropriate speaker from the general pool of abstract submissions. The Committee will make every effort to coordinate with you and obtain your approval in the event that this occurs.
3. Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal
All proposals must be submitted no later than Friday 12th December 2014. Proposals must be submitted in English using the online submission form provided below.
Please do not submit a proposal if you are not completely sure that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organise and conduct such an event.
The following information is required; incomplete or inaccurate proposals may not be accepted.
Title: Only capitalize the first word, the word following a colon and all proper nouns and adjectives as shown in the example here. Italicise Latin species names.
Please avoid the temptation to use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!
Session Summary: A brief overview of the objective(s), topics to be covered and relevance of the symposium, workshop or training course to practitioners, scientists and/or decision makers in the field of ecological restoration. The session summary will be reproduced in the conference programme verbatim so please avoid spelling and grammatical errors.
Lead Organiser and Secondary Contact (if applicable)
Note that your name and institutional affiliation will be reproduced in the conference programme as they appear in your proposal. All communications regarding your proposal, including acceptance notices, will be directed to the email address you provide.
Please avoid the tempation to use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!
Draft Programme for your Symposium or Workshop
It is important that you provide a draft programme for your symposium, workshop or training course to aid in the evaluation process (and later the planning process). This programme does not have to be final at the time you submit your proposal and can be modified later.
Symposia: please provide a tentative list of speakers and the titles of their presentations, if available.
Workshops: please provide a brief description of the structure, speakers/presenters and any expected outcomes.
Room set up and equipment requirements
Please let us know if your workshop requires a special room arrangement or equipment other than a dedicated laptop computer, data projector and screen. It may not be possible to accommodate all requests but the secretariat will advise organisers if there are any constraints. Please note that all symposia will have a standard room set up.
Sponsorship
Please indicate the availability of funding or in-kind support to cover the costs of organising your symposium, workshop or training course. As explained above, SER will be unable to provide any financial assistance to help offset the cost of your participation or the participation of any speakers you may invite.
4. Summary of Important Dates and Deadlines
- 12th September 2014: Call for proposals opens
- 31st October 2014: Call for abstracts opens
- 12th December 2014: Call for proposals closes
- 23rd January 2015: Proposal review process complete (acceptance and rejection notices sent)
- 13th February 2015: Call for abstracts closes
- 10th April 2015: Abstract review process complete (acceptance and rejection notices sent)
- 8th May 2015: Schedule-at-a-glance (with date and time of all sessions) is available
- 1st June 2015: Presenter registration deadline
5. Cancellation Policy
Please do not submit a proposal if you are not completely sure that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organise and conduct such an event. Once a symposium, workshop or training course has been accepted and scheduled, it imposes a serious burden to cancel it and prevents other events from being selected.
If extenuating circumstances force you to cancel your session, we ask that you notify us as soon as possible so that we can reorganise the conference schedule and make alternative arrangements.
6. Online Proposal Submission Form
Please ensure you have read all the information detailed above before progressing to the submission form. To make a submission, please click here.
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Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.
The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:
– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
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