The Scientific Programme Committee of the IBRO World Congress 2023 (Granada, 9-13 September 2023) opens a call for submission of symposium proposals. A total of 24 symposia will be selected by the SPC among those presented. The allocated presentation time for each symposium will be 1 hour and 45 minutes. Each symposium needs to address a coherent theme of interest to a broad audience, in which novelty and scientific interest are essential. New emerging controversial issues or recent technical advances are also welcomed. Themes should be related to the following topics:

1)  Nervous system development and related disorders
2)  Comparative neuroscience and Evolution
3)  Stem cells, organoids, neural injury neurotoxicity and repair
4)  Neurons and Glia: physiology and inter-cell communication
5)  Neuroimmunology
6)  Neural Excitability, Synapses and Plasticity
7)  Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders
8)  Diseases of the nervous system (including, infective and psychiatric)
9)  Motor and Sensory Systems

10) Sleep, Biological rhythms
11) Neuroendocrine systems
12) Computational Neuroscience
13) Emotion, Memory and Cognition
14) Neuroethology
15) Transcriptomics, genomics, and epigenomics
16) Structural and functional connectomics
17) Robotics and Brain-machine interfaces
18) History, Teaching and Neuro-ethics

A proposal must include four speakers and one or two chairpersons who are responsible to lead the discussion during the session. Chairpersons can be also speakers but it would be preferable to limit this option to just 1 chairperson. Speakers should include both junior and senior scientists with experience in presenting their research to a broad multidisciplinary audience. Diversity and inclusion are priorities, including underrepresented groups, gender, and geographical representation, and will be considered as important criteria in the symposia´s selection. Therefore, the proposed speakers/chairpersons should preferably belong to different institutions, countries, and regions when possible. Convincing arguments should be provided if the composition is otherwise.  The following rules should also be followed:

• no member of the IBRO 2023 Program Committee can be proposed as symposium chairperson or speaker
• no member of the LOC Host Society Committee can be proposed as chairperson or speaker
• no member of the current SENC and IBRO Executive Committees can be proposed as chairperson or speaker
• Plenary, Special lecture speakers cannot be proposed as symposia speakers.
• Individuals can participate only once as a speaker at the IBRO 2023
• Individuals can participate only once as a chair at the IBRO 2023
• Gender, diversity, and inclusion should be respected throughout the program to the extent possible

Each proposal should include the following:

• Title of the proposed symposium: brief, meaningful, and precise.
• Abstract: a brief (500 characters max) summary of the symposium theme and goals that will be used in the Program book, if the symposium is selected
• Objectives: 1500 characters maximum, spaces included. State the scientific purpose and content of the proposal briefly but clearly even for non-experts; explain the choice of speakers/chairpersons; novelty and scientific interest in the context of international research and IBRO mission; explain how the 4 talks together will cover different aspects of the selected theme.
• Choice of speakers/chairpersons: proposed speakers and chairpersons should be included only with their consent. Individuals may participate in several proposals, but if accepted, they need to select only one. Symposia proponents should inform selected speakers about this point and should be informed if the selected speaker is participating in a different proposal. The Program Committee will assume that all partners of a given proposal are fully informed about each other’s projects. Symposia proponents should also inform that each proposed person needs to commit to participating in the Congress in Granada in case of acceptance of the proposal. Information on each proposed participant (chairpersons and speakers) will have to be included in the submission form (see below)
• Additional required information:
  • Chairperson(s)name, affiliation
  • Speakers, name, Title (Dr, Prof), affiliation, and the title of the presentation

Submission will be allowed only during the submission period July 15th,-October 15th, 2022, all proposals must be submitted via the online proposal submission portal on the congress website and there will be only one person responsible for all correspondence. Incomplete proposals (i.e. no chairperson and/or less than 4 speakers, and/or missing communication titles) will NOT be considered by the Program Committee. Once a proposal is submitted, the corresponding proponent will receive a receipt; no modification will be accepted after the deadline.

By submitting a proposal, all proposed participants agree that:

1. The proposal must comply with ethical guidelines for scientific research in general, and in particular for human and animal research
2. The Program Committee will not consider any incomplete proposal
3. Each one of the proposed participants has given his/her consent for the proposal and is committed to participating in the Congress in case of acceptance
4. In case the proposal is accepted, each speaker accepts the conditions of participation in the Congress as defined by the organizers
5. The Program Committee may require changes in speakers or in topics for the proposal before final acceptance
6. Organizers may refuse any change after a proposal has been accepted by the Program Committee, and therefore may cancel a session, which would no longer correspond to the approved proposal. Any change must have the prior approval of the Program Committee.
7. In no event will the organizers be liable for the content of a proposal with respect to its participants or any other person or institution.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION:

The Program Committee will examine all proposals, which are complete. The basic criteria for selection are the scientific interest of the topics, the achievements of the speakers in the field, and their ability to present their work to a broad multidisciplinary audience. Preference will be given to symposia that tackle a topic from various angles and aim to present different views and opinions rather than presenting the work of collaborating groups. The balance of gender, diversity, scientific age, and geographical distribution of the speakers’ affiliation will be considered consideration by the Program Committee when selecting the successful proposals.

Decisions will be sent by email to the participants shortly after the Program Committee meeting. The proposals will be definitely accepted once the organizers have replied, accepted the Congress conditions, and confirmed their participation.

DATES:

The deadline for submission of proposals is 15th October 2022.  Proposals should be submitted using the online submission portal. Please follow the steps indicated in the submission portal to complete the information and submit your proposal. Once the proposal will be submitted you will receive a confirmation letter of the delivery. The proponents will be informed about the acceptance or rejection via email.

FUNDING:

If the proposal is accepted, the Congress Organization will waive the registration fee for each speaker and chairperson and allocate 3.000€ to the chairperson for the entire symposium. Chairperson will be responsible to distribute support among the participants according to their criteria. Support for speakers from less favored countries or less funded researchers is recommended.