Call for Proposal Submissions is now closed!
Call for Proposals
Call for Proposals to Workshop/ShortCourses/Symposia/Focus Groups opens on January 22nd, 2024! Submit your proposals!
The 7th International Marine Conservation Congress, with the theme Making Marine Science Matter, will be held from 15 -18 October 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa, with associated pre-conference short courses, workshops, and events occurring on 13 -15 October. Some short courses may be accommodated during the main conference schedule.
The Call for Proposals will open January 22nd, 2024 and close February 22nd 2024. Decision emails will be sent by March 2024. For more information on the call, please see below.
All proposals have to be submitted via the online submission form for each category of proposals. Please visit the ‘IMCC for All’ page if you need the submission form made available in a different format or language. The information below includes guidelines for submitting proposals for workshops, symposia, focus groups and OceansOnline sessions.
For more details on Congress Themes and Criteria for Selection of proposals visit the page here.
If you have questions, comments, or need assistance, please email the IMCC7 Organizing Committee at imcc@conbio.org
Choosing a Category for your Proposal
Please think carefully about the category that best meets your goals. Your proposal will only be considered for the category you choose. When you have chosen a category, click on the corresponding linked description below to learn more about the submission process. We appreciate your flexibility in some cases as we may need to reduce the allocated time of a proposed session for scheduling purposes. We will communicate any anticipated changes as soon as possible to session organizers.
Categories
SYMPOSIA (Closed and Open, 1.5 hours)
Symposia, thematically focused groups of talks all about the same general topic, address conservation topics proposed by a facilitator. These feature multiple speakers who present their insights, perspectives and research on a focused conservation theme, topic, or issue through scientific talks and audience interaction. For “Closed” symposia, the facilitators organize both the overall session and all speakers. For “Open” symposia, the facilitators organize the topic and provide some speakers, but anyone with relevant work to share can choose to submit an abstract to participate in this session. All symposia talks will be allowed 15 minutes total, with upto 12 minutes of presentation and upto 3 minutes of bref Q&A following each talk, with time reserved at the end of a symposium for discussion featuring all speakers in the session.
Symposia are included in the three primary days of the meeting (main scientific program, October 15-18, 2024).
Symposium organizers have the option to begin their symposium with a longer talk(s). Symposia are 90 minutes and usually feature five talks, and include a 15-minute general discussion period. It is potentially possible to have multiple 90 minute symposia on the same topic if there are many speakers available.
During the abstract review process, if an abstract submitted to join an open symposium is determined not to be a good fit for that symposium, the speaker may be offered the chance to give their talk as a regular contributed talk.
We are passionate about encouraging diversity at IMCC7. We believe having everyone in the room leads to the greatest knowledge sharing, fostering informed discussion and heightened networking. Unfortunately, certain demographics, particularly women and people who identify as female, from developing nations have been historically underrepresented at scientific conferences. Recent research demonstrated that a conference has more women speakers across the board when more women lead symposia.
We are, therefore, offering a 20% discount on registration fees to lead organizers who are from developing nations and who have had successful symposium submission.
WORKSHOPS / SHORT COURSES (2 – 16 hours)
These events are meant to teach participants a professional development skill Workshops/Short Course. Workshops provide opportunities for registered delegates to receive expert-led education and training on topics relevant for biodiversity conservation, including strategy and project management. They can be 2 hours, half day, full day, or 2 full days in length. Workshops will usually be scheduled for the days before the main scientific program (13-14 October,, 2024), but there is some limited availability for short workshops/courses during lunch breaks of the main program days (15-18 October, 2024).
When proposing a workshop, please clearly indicate how many participants you expect (this is vital so we can give you enough space,) and whether or not you need WiFi. Pre-meeting workshops will require a separate fee for participants in addition to the congress registration fee to offset the additional costs of running the workshop. An additional fee may be charged for workshop participants, especially if food and/or coffee is requested. We are unable to offer compensation to workshop leaders but may be able to offer reduced IMCC7 registration costs.
FOCUS GROUPS (2 – 16 hours)
Focus Groups bring together people with diverse expertise for a focused discussion to develop tangible and actionable outputs—such as a list of recommendations, publication, policy briefing or white paper—on a specific marine conservation issue. They can be 2 hours, half day, full day, or 2 full days in length. Workshops will usually be scheduled for the days before the main scientific program (13-14 October, 2024), but there is some limited availability for short workshops/courses during lunch breaks of the main program days (15-18 October, 2024). Focus groups are open to all delegates, unless designated “by invitation only.” Focus groups that require pre-registration are marked “pre-registration is required.” Focus groups are free to attend, but there is a limited capacity. Focus groups typically have a smaller number of participants (10-30 maximum).
Pre-meeting focus groups may require a separate fee for participants in addition to the congress registration fee to offset the additional costs of running the focus group. When proposing a focus group, please clearly indicate how many participants you expect (this is vital so we can give you enough space,) and whether or not you need WiFi. An additional fee may be charged for focus group participants, especially if food and/or coffee is requested.
SYMPOSIA + FOCUS GROUPS (1-2 hours)
To increase the opportunity for continued discussion, a Focus Group may be combined with a Symposium. If accepted, the Focus Group will be scheduled to follow the Symposium and we will do our best to schedule it for the same or next day. Combined Symposium+Focus Groups will run during the main congress. Please note that proposers are required to submit separate proposals for the Symposium and Focus Group, but must indicate that the proposals are linked. Proposers must justify the joint session and can add this request in the “Additional Comments” section of the application. Also note that it is possible that the Symposium can be accepted without the Focus Group (or the Focus Group without the Symposium) depending on the strength of the proposal, number of proposals received and available times in the schedule.
The 7th International Marine Conservation Congress
OCTOBER 13-18, 2024
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
