Rules

There is a ‘one role just once, up to four roles altogether’ rule at SIEF congresses:

• A delegate may present one paper
• Be a convenor of one panel
• Be a chair in one panel
• Be a discussant in one panel (roundtable participation is considered being a discussant)

We cannot stop you from making several proposals, but would urge you to be prudent, as so much time gets lost in the subsequent processing of withdrawals, to say nothing of the potential upset to panel convenors. (See some advice below.*)

Authors and panel convenors do not have to be members of SIEF by the time they register for the congress, but there is a financial incentive to become a member for all delegates, as non-members pay a higher registration fee.

Formats: panels, roundtables, workshops, combined formats

This congress has panels in various formats:

• Traditional panels: with up to 5 paper presentations per one 105-minute session. Panels can have up to 2 sessions (max 10 papers).
• Roundtables: at a roundtable a group of scholars (usually no more than 5) discuss themes/issues of general scholarly interest in front of (and subsequently with) an audience for the duration of a single 105-minute session. While a roundtable can include short (5-10 min) provocations/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, not to focus on any one presenter.

  Unlike panels and workshops that must be open to all possible proposals, roundtables can be ‘closed’ with pre-agreed participants, with their names listed in the long abstract. However, roundtables can also be open, taking in provocation/presentation proposals during the call for papers from which participants get selected after the Call has ended.

• Workshops: workshops are conceptualised as practical events containing collective research activities, guided interactions and free-format exchanges leading to specific public outputs. A workshop can have up to two 105-minute sessions. They may include elements of performance, various collective activities, exhibitions, or interactive media displays.
• Panel+roundtable: a two- or three-session event that combines paper presentations in the first session(s) with a roundtable in the final one. Rather than concentrating on the content of each paper, the roundtable conversation should be a general discussion on the theme of the P+R.
• Panel+workshop: a two or three session event that combines presentations with collective activities, practical tasks, and/or performances.

Proposing a paper

Paper proposals must consist of:

• a paper title
• the name/s and email address/es of author/s
• a short abstract of fewer than 300 characters
• a long abstract of fewer than 250 words

All proposals must be made via the online form, not by email. There is a 'Propose paper' button in the title section of each open panel. Navigate to the panel you are interested in and click on this button to propose directly to that panel.

On submission of the proposal, the authors will receive an automated email confirming receipt. If you do not receive this email, please first check the login environment (Cocoa) via the link in the toolbar above, to see if your proposal is there. If it is, it simply means your confirmation email got spammed/lost; if it is not, you will need to re-submit, as for some reason the process was not completed. Co-authors cannot be added/removed nor can papers be withdrawn by the proposers themselves; for that, please email congress(at)siefhome.org

Proposals will be marked as pending until the end of the Call for Papers (10 January 2023). Convenors will then be asked to make their decisions over the papers proposed to their panel by 30 January 2023 and to communicate those to the proposers, marking them up within the login environment (Cocoa).

Browse the panels >>

Proposing a poster

The congress theme is ideally suited for the visual aspects of posters, which the organisers plan to promote in the online environment, including organising a 'people's choice' award for the best poster and for the most creative entry.

The posters will be accessible throughout the Congress period, with dedicated time slots when poster presenters will be available to virtually discuss their topic with colleagues.

A poster proposal must consist of:

• poster title
• the name/s and email address/es of author/s
• a short abstract of fewer than 300 characters
• a long abstract of fewer than 250 words

Propose a poster >>

Proposing a Workshop

PLEASE DO NOT SEND PAPER PROPOSALS: In your contribution, please write 3-10 sentences describing your research interests and motivation to participate in the workshop. Please do not send an abstract for a paper, as these are NOT panels!

Contributions may include elements of performance, various collective activities, exhibitions, or interactive media displays.

Possible strategic advice

You may notice that alongside the 'Propose paper' button for each panel there is a statement as to how many papers have been proposed to that panel to-date. If you are proposing early, this statement will not be very instructive. However if you are part of the 80% who propose within the last 48hrs of the call, you might factor these statements into your consideration of where best to target your paper. If weighing up between two panels where one is heavily oversubscribed, you may have a higher chance of acceptance within the panel with fewer proposals. Obviously that's not guaranteed, but it's worth considering these strategies.

Good proposals not accepted in their original destination may be entered into a transfer process (see below) which affords a second and third attempt to accommodate your paper.

Transfer process

Papers which are neither accepted nor rejected, but marked for 'transfer' (by the panel convenors), will be given the opportunity to be re-housed into other panels. The congress organisers will contact authors of such proposals asking them to modify their abstracts to fit another panel of their choosing. We will advise as to panels containing fewer than the allowed maximum (10) which may thus be able to include a few more.

Authors will be asked to suggest two panels they would like to apply to, in order of preference. We then forward the title, short, and long abstracts to the convenors’ consideration. If the first panel rejects the proposal, we contact the second choice. Transfers which get rejected by both panels will then be set to 'rejected'. We aim to resolve all transfers by 21 February 2023.

Useful information for later in this process

Editing your paper

Paper authors can use the login link in the toolbar above to edit their proposals.

Pre-circulation of papers

SIEF has no rule about this, but many convenors are keen to pre-circulate completed papers. To facilitate this and save on email traffic, if requested by convenors, authors can upload PDFs of their papers within the online system, which will then show as downloadable files beneath the abstract on the public panel page on the site. There is currently no option to restrict this to panelists/delegates (although this feature is in the development pipeline).

Timing of presentations

Each panel/workshop session slot will be 105 minutes long, accommodating a maximum of five presenters. Convenors should allot each presenter a maximum of 15+5 mins for panels of five papers and 20+5 mins for panels of four papers.

Communication between authors/convenors

Convenor/author email addresses are not shown on the panel pages for privacy/anti-spam reasons. However there is an in-built secure email messaging system which has been updated to give more reliable delivery. If you cannot work that, please email congress(at)siefhome.org to obtain relevant email addresses.

Any queries with the above please email congress(at)siefhome.org.