Session Proposal form - MCAA Annual Conference 2025
The form is closed for new submissions.
Dear Member,
Thank you for your interest in hosting a session at the MCAA Annual Conference 2025. We truly appreciate your contribution and know that the quality and success of our events would not be possible without your efforts. Please follow the steps below to submit your proposal. We will start evaluating proposals after the proposal deadline of November 6th, 2024. Please complete the form in detail to ensure a proper evaluation of your application. Should you have any questions about the process, please contact us through the Management WG email.
Best Regards,
Gian Maria Greco
Chair of the MCAA
INSTRUCTIONS
Please carefully note the following indications that are a must for the evaluation of your proposal:
1. The session proposal form can be completed collaboratively using a Word template, which can be downloaded here. The final content can then be copied into the present form.
2. Only MCAA Board members, Working Group Chairs, and MCAA-participated project leaders (OPUS, ECS, SECURE, CoARA-Boost, MEDNIGHT & PAOLA) can access the submission system. However, all MCAA members are welcome to propose a session by contacting a relevant Working Group, the MCAA Board, or an MCAA-participated project (see list of projects above), which will then submit the application on their behalf. The individual member's name must be mentioned as the organiser and/or moderator/speaker, depending on their contribution. If you do not know who to contact, we recommend you browse our Working Groups to find the one best suited to your proposal topic.
3. Although the session durations can change during the finalisation of the conference programme, a session should tentatively last one hour. Thus, a session must not have more than 4 speakers, including the moderator, so all speakers have enough time to present their arguments and debate with the other speakers and the audience.
4. One of the most important factors for a successful session is the quality of speakers. We encourage you to evaluate the proposed speakers' experience and public speaking performance. Please specify the relevance of the speaker in the session by defining what makes them distinctive, for example, leading expertise on the session topic, ability to inspire, and clear public speaking skills and experience.
5. Diversity and inclusion are key values for the quality and success of a session and a session proposal. Please aim to suggest speakers who represent the diversity of social identities (gender, etc.), disciplines (STEM and SSH), and seniority.
6. Session proposals should address the general Annual Conference theme (Research and innovation in a rapidly evolving world) within one of the main conference tracks:
- Bridging Science and Business
- Career Development
- Genders, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Policy
- Research Funding
- Research Management
- Science Communication
- Sustainability
7. In the evaluation phase, the session’s overall expected cost will be considered. Sessions in which all or most speakers, whether MCAA members or not, do not require the MCAA to cover their travel and accommodation costs will be given an advantage. Intercontinental travelling of non-MCAA members should be avoided.
8. Please check the following regarding speaker reimbursement:
- If a speaker is not an MCAA member and needs financial support for travel and accommodation, the reimbursement will be charged to the respective Working Group/Chapter/partner and will follow the Micro General Assembly Travel Grant rules. The application process will be opened after the sessions have been decided (around December/January).
- If a speaker is an MCAA member and needs financial support for travel and accommodation, they must apply for a Micro General Assembly Grant before a given deadline, which will be announced later (the expected time is November).
- Please note that the MCAA cannot reimburse officials of the European Commission or national governments.
- The cost of participation in sessions for the MCAA-participated projects will be charged to the respective project (OPUS, ECS, SECURE, CoARA-Boost, MEDNIGHT, & PAOLA), considering it is part of the Grant Agreement.
9. Please note the following regarding online event participation:
- All sessions will be live-streamed. Attendees will join the sessions either in person in Krakow or online, depending on what they choose during the conference registration.
- There are three types of session modes, so please state your preference in your session proposal:
- Fully online: All speakers will attend the session remotely.
- Hybrid: Some speakers will attend the session in person in Krakow, while others will attend remotely.
- Fully presential: All speakers will attend in person in Krakow.
10. The MCAA Board will evaluate the proposals based on the evaluation criteria listed below.
Evaluation criteria (total score: 30 points):
- Relevance to the conference theme (5 points)
- Benefit to the audience (5 points)
- Speakers + moderators quality (5 points)
- Diversity (different backgrounds and representativeness) (5 points)
- Relevance for the MCAA (5 points)
- Costs (5 points)
11. Please note that if your session proposal is accepted, all the speakers and moderators must submit a separate registration form.
12. If a session proposal is accepted, all speakers must submit their potential presentations to a shared folder to the conference organisers by March 10. All session organisers must send a session flow, including information on its format, engagement of speakers, etc., to the same email by the same date. No documents will be accepted after this.
13. Tentative timeline for the selection of sessions:
- Session proposals:
- Submission deadline: November 6, 2024
- Announcement of the decisions: November 25, 2024
- Speaker grant (MGAG/non-members) submission deadline (if applicable): December 15, 2024
- Speaker registration starts: January 15, 2025
- Speaker registration ends: February 15, 2025
- Presentation submission (if applicable): March 10, 2025
- Session flow submission: March 10, 2025
14. Session organisers must nominate a rapporteur for their session and submit a session report (minimum 500 words) after the conference by March 25, 2025. This is compulsory to receive expense reimbursements for all speakers. The report template will be provided to the session organisers before the conference.
You can access the session proposal form below to see the required information. However, remember that the form can only be submitted by an MCAA Board member, a Working Group Chair or an MCAA-participated project leader.
The form is visible only to the members mentioned in the paragraph above.