How To Submit

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You must submit your proposal using the online submission form. Proposals sent by email will not be considered. Proposals that are incomplete will not be considered.

All ESA Annual Meeting proposal and abstract deadlines are 5:00 PM Eastern so that technical support and ESA staff assistance will be immediately available when submitters need it. If you begin your submission very close to the deadline, you are choosing to take a risk, and we will not make an exception if you are unable to complete your submission in time. The form automatically closes at 5:00 Eastern Time (2:00 Pacific Time) whether you have completed your submission or not.

You will receive an automatic email when you complete your submission. Every speaker listed in the proposal will receive a similar email. You will be able to return to the proposal to edit it until the submission deadline has passed.

To submit a proposal, you will need to log in using an ESA member account. If you have not been an ESA member or registered for an ESA meeting in recent years, you will need to create an ESA member account before you can submit. You do not need to pay membership dues to create an ESA member account or submit for the meeting.

Important Note

ESA meetings, open to ESA members and those interested in ecology, are among the most respected meetings of ecologists in the science community. ESA is committed to providing a safe, productive and welcoming environment. All participants including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ESA staff, service providers and others are expected to abide by the ESA Meetings Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all ESA meeting-related events including those sponsored by organizations other than ESA but held in conjunction with ESA events, in public or private facilities. In addition, ESA members and authors of ESA publications must adhere to the ESA Code of Ethics and the ESA Diversity Statement.

About Career Central Sessions

We invite proposals for Career Central sessions for the 2025 ESA Annual Meeting. All sessions this year will take place in person in Baltimore. We will not offer virtual or hybrid sessions.

In recent years, Career Central sessions were organized by ESA’s Membership Department. We are opening this call to the broader ecological community to meet strong ongoing interest in career-oriented programming. ESA Membership staff will continue to offer resume review, mock interviews, and networking events at Career Central.

Career Central sessions are 60-minute panels that take place in the Career Central area inside the Exhibit Hall. These sessions should help attendees learn how career pathways work in general and at various stages. An ideal session is highly interactive with a majority of the time spent in Q&A. Career Central is structured for smaller audiences (up to 50 attendees) and a small panel (1-5 panelists).

We expect the Career Central area to be of especially strong interest to students and early career ecologists. We welcome proposals for any career stage. Potential topics include advice on navigating a specific career stage or transition, sharing lessons learned from a certain career sector or specialty, and discussing skills that are important for career advancement. Each session will be included in the Career Exploration track. You can browse examples of Career Central sessions from previous meetings here (2024, 2023, 2022).

These sessions are not appropriate for the presentation of formal talks and do not include presentation abstracts. Note that the One Presentation Rule does not apply to workshops, short courses, special sessions, and Career Central sessions. Anyone presenting in one of these sessions may also present in a scientific session (a formal talk or poster).

In addition to these panels at Career Central, we welcome sessions on career topics for other session types as well. We encourage potential submitters to also review the calls for workshops, short courses, and special sessions to consider which session type would be more appropriate for the approach you have in mind.

Logistical Considerations

Accepted sessions will be scheduled in 60-minute slots to minimize topic overlap and as meeting space and logistics allow.  Career Central is set in theater style. The standard A/V setup is a screen, LCD projector, and laptop (with sound). Wireless internet will not be available at Career Central.

Proposal Format

The information listed below must be submitted through the online submission form. It is provided here to assist you in planning your submission. The form may differ slightly from the version listed here. You may begin a submission and then return to edit it up until the deadline.

Components of a Proposal

• Session title (50 words max.) A strong session title is short and descriptive.
• One lead organizer (Required; name, institution, and email).
• Co-organizers (Optional; name, institution, and email for each).
• Panelists (Required; enter 1-5; name, institution, and email). Please note that this session is not a paper session.
• Session description (200 words max., required). Describe the theme and purpose of this session. The session description should avoid overly specialized language. Any ecologist attending the meeting should be able to understand it. It could include background information, goals, objectives, importance, and interest to the membership of ESA.
• Scheduling conflicts (up to 200 words, optional): Is the session intended to be linked to another session or social event? Are there any other sessions proposed for the meeting you are aware of that should not be scheduled at the same time as this one? Are there any other considerations we should know about when scheduling this session? Please note we cannot honor requests to schedule for a specific date or time. These sessions may be scheduled Monday through Wednesday. We will do our best to avoid known scheduling conflicts. This will only be seen by the committee. It will not appear in the meeting program.

Demographic Questions about the Session Organizer

The submission form asks a few questions about the session organizer to help ESA improve our services and monitor our efforts towards diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. You will be asked to answer the following questions about the lead session organizer for this proposal.  All information will be shared only in the aggregate to help us assess the diversity of our submissions. Proposal reviewers and the committee will not see this information for individual proposals. It is required that you answer each question, but you can select “Prefer not to answer”.

What best describes your race and/or ethnicity? You can select multiple answers.

• Asian/Asian American
• Black/African American
• Native American / Alaskan Native
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
• Middle Eastern or North African
• Hispanic/Latinx
• White
• Bi/Multiracial
• Other
• Prefer to self describe (free response option)
• Prefer not to answer

Where are you currently in your career? You can only select one.

• Undergraduate Student
• Graduate Student (includes PhD students)
• Post Doc
• Early Career (1-8 years since final degree, excluding post docs)
• Mid-Career (within 25 years since final degree)
• Senior Professional (more than 25 years since final degree)
• Retired
• Other (please describe)
• Prefer not to answer

What best describes your gender? You can only select one.

• Female
• Male
• Non-binary
• Prefer to self describe (free response option)
• Prefer not to answer

Session and Presentation Rules

Sessions are required to have one organizer who will be the point of contact for correspondence with ESA and will be asked to make decisions regarding the session during planning. Co-organizers may also be listed, but the lead organizer is the point of contact.

To promote diversity of sessions and topics, no person will be permitted to serve as the lead organizer for more than two non-paper sessions (workshops, short courses, special sessions, Career Central sessions, field trips) at the 2025 Annual Meeting. A group of organizers may propose multiple linked sessions. Each session should be submitted separately, and it should be made clear which other proposals it is linked to, as well as its intended order in the sequence of the events.

Note that the One Presentation Rule does not apply to non-paper sessions. Anyone presenting in one of these sessions may also present in a scientific session (a formal talk or poster).

Other Important Information to Consider

Acceptance of a proposal does not obligate ESA beyond providing a meeting space and including the session in the program. All session organizers and participants must register for the conference at the applicable one day or full week rate. Organizers are responsible for making this clear to anyone they recruit to help with the session. ESA will not reimburse session organizers for expenses.

Evaluation Process and Criteria

The Program Subcommittee reviews all session proposals and makes acceptance decisions. We require a distinct, fully developed proposal that describes what attendees should expect to learn about careers during the session. Proposals may be from any area of science related to ecology, but those that pertain to the overall theme, “Ecology is Everywhere”, are especially encouraged. We also welcome proposals that explore connections with the social or natural sciences or that are directed to ecological education at any level.

The primary criteria for acceptance include scientific merit, probable interest by meeting attendees, and a clearly written and compelling description. Limits of space and time may make it impossible to accommodate all worthy submissions. The Program Subcommittee has final authority for acceptance and scheduling for any proposed session.

If Your Proposal is Accepted

All submitters will be notified of acceptance decisions in February. At that time, organizers will be provided with instructions to begin preparing the session for the online program in the spring. Finalized information for all accepted non-paper sessions will be available in the online program when registration opens.

Cancellation Policy

Once a session has been accepted and listed online, cancellation imposes a serious burden. Do not submit a proposal if you are uncertain that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organize and conduct the session. Once a session is accepted by the Program Subcommittee, cancellation by the session organizer may preclude the acceptance of any sessions proposed by the organizer for the 2026 ESA Annual Meeting.

Important Dates

January 9, 2025                       Deadline for submitting a proposal to ESA.

February 20, 2025                   Notification of acceptance sent to organizer.

May 2025                                Finalized session information is available in the online program.

Questions?

Contact ESA’s Meetings Team at meetings@esa.org