Symposia Submission

Symposia may be used to present converging empirical evidence from a series of studies, to highlight emerging areas of intersection, or to provoke discussion in areas where further work is needed. Submissions should present high-quality, innovative work that could or has contributed to social and/or affective neuroscience. This includes behavioral, non-traditional, qualitative, or interdisciplinary research, as well as classic neuroimaging, physiology, or otherwise neuroscientific methods emphasizing affect and/or social factors.

Submissions should clearly articulate how their work connects to or enhances social and/or affective neuroscience, and how it will spark discussion and encourage debate, leading to new insights in the field.

We encourage symposium submissions to consider diversity of content and balance in presenters (e.g., career stage, institutional setting, training background, expertise, theoretical stance, etc.). Trainee-led symposia are especially encouraged.

All symposia are selected by the Scientific Program Committee with priority given to symposia that:

• • Include topics that address novel or currently debated issues
  • Bridge between basic and clinical fields and/or between human, animal, postmortem, or computational modeling work.
  • Include a diverse range of speakers that bring unique approaches or perspectives to the topic, with diversity including variation in intellectual perspective or approach, gender, race, ethnicity, stage of career and geographic location
  • Encourage in-depth discussion and debate between presenters and the audience

Symposia Format

Symposia sessions will include presentations by 4 (maximum) individual speakers that offer unique perspectives on a specific central theme, followed by a moderated, interactive scientific exchange involving the audience. The symposium session will not exceed 1 hour and 15 minutes and allow for sufficient time for the moderated Q&A.

Submission Guidelines

To submit a proposal, please follow the guidelines below.  You will be asked to provide:

• • Symposium title (max 225-character limit including spaces – approximately 100 words).
  • Select from provided list 2 – 4 keyword(s) that best represent your symposium submission.
    • Ideally, strive for selecting at least 1 Topic (e.g., Cognition) and 1 Method (e.g., M: Biological Assays).
    • Select keywords carefully as they will be used to match your submission with reviewers from our Abstract Review Board.
  • A brief description of the topic, and justify why the proposed topic is novel, contentious, or highly relevant for discussion.
  • The name, primary affiliation and email address of your symposium Chair.
  • Contact name, primary affiliation/institution name, and email address for each of the symposium presenters.
  • Individual abstracts of each speaker (PDF format)
  • Within the 1 hour and 15 min symposium, you will be required to indicate how much time will be used for the symposium introduction, individual speaker presentations, and moderated, interactive scientific exchange.

General Abstract Summary

• • Prepare a general abstract summary of the proposed symposium (max 3000-character limit including spaces- approximately 500 words). If selected, this summary will be included in the SANS Conference proceedings.
    * Abstracts submitted as part of a symposia will also be considered for a talk or poster presentation should their symposium not be selected.

NOTE: The symposium presenter must be a SANS member in good standing and registered to attend the event.