Community Mini-Symposia

NAASC, the ICAR 2024 Organizing Committee, seeks community session proposals to develop an exciting scientific program; we are reserving ~27 mini-symposia (~90% of the program) for community-led mini-symposia. 

Our primary goal for ICAR 2024 is to showcase cutting-edge & exciting plant biology research- with a focus on Arabidopsis- to be achieved through community mini-symposium proposals. 

We seek a variety of session topics with a focus on Arabidopsis research. Also welcome: research involving other plants & topics like DEI in STEM, scientific storytelling, STEM in social media, Arabidopsis for teaching & outreach & more!  

To support our diversity & inclusion objectives- as we did for ICAR 2021- we will reserve 25% of session slots for student & postdoc* organizers. 
​*assuming we receive a sufficient number of excellent applications

Community Organized Mini-Symposia

Application & Selection Timeline
Due Date: 15 October 2023

(1) 15 July-  15 October 2023: Solicit applications from the broad community
Mini-symposium Information Slides

OPTIONAL INFORMATION/ Q&A ZOOM CALLS
Email arabidopsisconference@gmail.com for Zoom link(s)
  1. (past) Wednesday 20 September: 8:30-9:15 am (Pacific Time/USA)/15:30-15:15 (UTC)- prioritizes USA & European time zones
  2. Monday 2 October: 1-1:45 pm (Pacific Time/USA)/20:00-20:45 (UTC)- prioritizes USA time zones
  3. Thursday 5 October: 7:15-8 am (Pacific Time/USA)/14:15-15:00 (UTC)- prioritizes USA & European time zones
  4. Thursday 5 October: 5:30-6:15 pm (Pacific Time/USA)/00:30-01:15 (UTC) - prioritizes Asia, Pacific Rim, Oceania time zones
(2) Monitoring of Diversity in applications (from regions, career stage, institutions, etc.) will be done continuously and we will do extra outreach if needed.

(3) 16 October - 30 November 2023: NAASC, the organizers, will review applications, contact applicants if necessary for clarification, and develop a draft program. 

(4) 1-15 December 2023: NAASC will offer selected mini-symposium applicants a slot in the program & confirm their participation (moving to other applicants as needed). Similar proposals may be recommended to merge, or offered a workshop slot. Accepted/confirmed session abstracts will be posted to the ICAR website by early January. 

(5) January-April 2024: Selected session organizers will fill out their program with remaining invited speakers (deadline tba.)
  • Selected session organizers are required to attend a short (~30 minute) zoom training call by the organizers to go over session organizer roles and expectations.
  • ​ICAR program advertising will occur, including inviting abstract submissions to the mini-symposia.
  • Session chairs will review abstracts, select speakers of interest, and provide a recommended speaker list for NAASC's review and approval. 
  • All session organizers and speakers will be responsible for funding their participation and travel. We hope to offer opportunities for participants to apply for registration waivers based on financial need.
  • While most conference speakers are expected to be onsite/in-person, we are fundraising for a hybrid meeting that will allow some speakers to present virtually (if this better fits their needs.)

    All organizers and speakers must register for ICAR.
Our primary goal for ICAR 2024 is to showcase cutting-edge & exciting plant biology research- with a focus on Arabidopsis- to be achieved through community mini-symposium proposals. 

We seek a variety of session topics with a focus on Arabidopsis research.
Also welcome: research involving other plants & topics like DEI in STEM, scientific storytelling, STEM in social media, Arabidopsis for teaching & outreach & more! 
PREPARE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL- Information Slides HERE
  1. Your contact information as session organizer
  2. (optional: co-organizer name/institution/email/country)
  3. Proposed Session Title
  4. Proposed Session Description (150-300 words)
  5. 3-5 Possible speakers you are considering if your session is selected (you'll be asked for: Name/Institution/Country
RUBRIC FOR SCORING PROPOSALS
  • Primary: Strength of Proposal: description; Relevance, Timeliness & Interest to ICAR
  • Secondary: Diversity in organizer(s) across geography, gender, institution, career stage, etc. Diversity in proposed topics and session speakers. Similar proposals may be recommended to merge and/or offered a workshop slot.
  • Each proposal will be scored independently by at least 2 reviewers using the "Primary" rubric with organizer names & institutions redacted.
  • "Secondary" rubric will then be applied to provide inclusive opportunities.

Optional Zoom call(s) to share your idea and seek collaborators (and for Q&A)

Mini-symposium Information Slides
We highly encourage collaborations across institutions, labs, regions, career-stage, countries, etc.
To facilitate potential collaborations we will hold 1+ Zoom sessions for interested proposers to share their ideas and potentially find collaborators. The sessions are optional. We will have time for Q&A about the proposal process. Our primary goal for ICAR 2024 is to showcase cutting-edge & exciting plant biology research- with a focus on Arabidopsis- to be achieved through community mini-symposium proposals.  We seek a variety of session topics with a focus on Arabidopsis research. Also welcome: research involving other plants & topics like DEI in STEM, scientific storytelling, STEM in social media, Arabidopsis for teaching & outreach & more! 

OPTIONAL INFORMATION/ Q&A ZOOM CALLS
Email arabidopsisconference@gmail.com for Zoom link(s)
​Mini-symposium Information Slides
  1. (past) Wednesday 20 September: 8:30-9:15 am (Pacific Time/USA)/15:30-15:15 (UTC)- prioritizes USA & European time zones
  2. Monday 2 October: 1-1:45 pm (Pacific Time/USA)/20:00-20:45 (UTC)- prioritizes USA time zones
  3. Thursday 5 October: 7:15-8 am (Pacific Time/USA)/14:15-15:00 (UTC)- prioritizes USA & European time zones
  4. Thursday 5 October: 5:30-6:15 pm (Pacific Time/USA)/00:30-01:15 (UTC) - prioritizes Asia, Pacific Rim, Oceania time zones
​
We will advertise via THIS webpage, by Twitter (@NAASC_NA_ICAR) and by email. If you aren't already a member of the Arabidopsis Community group, supported by NAASC and want to receive our newsletter- please join here: https://forms.gle/Ndn4TRJVe7GmrQAN8

Information for Session Proposal Organizers

Selected Mini-Symposia Organizers (and co-organizers, as applicable) are fully responsible for inviting speakers in their sessions, and selecting some talks from abstracts submitted by the community during the meeting registration process.

We will communicate details on the selection process, timeline, and how many to choose from abstracts, to organizers of selected sessions. Organizers will be asked to provide a list of recommended speakers from abstracts to the organizers within the timeline (to be determined, early spring 2024). NAASC will review recommended speaker lists and reserves the right to approve/not approve.

Selected session organizers are required to attend a short (~30 minute) zoom training call by the organizers to go over session organizer roles and expectations.

All session organizers and speakers will be responsible for funding their participation and travel. We hope to offer opportunities for participants to apply for registration waivers based on financial need.

While most conference speakers are expected to be onsite/in-person, we are fundraising for a hybrid meeting that will allow some speakers to present virtually (if this better fits their needs.)

All organizers and speakers must register for ICAR.

In addition to scientific topic diversity, NAASC will monitor diversity across several axes to broaden participation & share opportunities: career stage, gender, geography, racial/ethnic identity, institutions, LGBTQ, etc.

FUNDRAISING!
NAASC is fundraising to support all aspects of the conference. Based on our success, we plan to offer opportunities for participants with financial need to apply for a registration waiver.
It is our goal to enable participation especially by early career participants and members that lack resources.

​We have set a goal to provide 100 registration waivers for meeting participants, which can include speakers and organizers of mini-symposia. We plan to announce how to apply for a waiver in January/February, 2024.