XXVI IUFRO World Congress: REMINDER - CALL FOR SESSION PROPOSALS
Deadline for proposals: 13 October 2022
The Congress Scientific Committee invites submission of session proposals for the 2024 IUFRO World Congress. In line with the spirit of the Congress title – Forest and Society towards 2050 ‐ the Congress Scientific Committee is developing a program that will highlight the forest contributions to the UN 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals and beyond. The Congress program will reflect the forest science community’s diverse contributions across the full range of natural and social science disciplines, with special emphasis on the themes and subthemes available at the Congress website (https://iufro2024.com/).
Who may submit a session proposal?
All who share an interest in the future of forests and forest-related science are invited to submit session proposals. We encourage proposals that involve collaboration between two or more IUFRO Divisions or Task Forces and/or with organizations not formally associated with IUFRO, and from university students at all levels. We strongly recommend IUFRO officeholders and others actively involved in IUFRO Research Groups, Working Parties, and Task Forces communicate with their respective Division representatives on the CSC (or Task Force coordinators) before submitting proposals – this will greatly facilitate broader involvement of IUFRO divisional units and Task Forces in the scientific program and avoid overlaps among sessions.
Session proposals from non‐IUFRO member organizations are encouraged although preference will be given to those that are prepared jointly with IUFRO Divisional Units and Task Forces (see https://www.iufro.org/science/ for more information).
Type of sessions
Two types of sessions may be proposed. Sub-plenary sessions are expected to attract a large audience (from 550 to 2000 people) and to address the major elements of one of the Congress themes (see below). Sub-themes expand the theme descriptions and do not necessarily translate into sub-plenary sessions. Technical sessions should also focus on Congress themes or sub-themes but may be more narrow in their scope and attract from 45 to 700 attendees. Sub-plenary session proposals that are not approved by the CSC will be considered for Technical sessions.
Preparing and submitting a session proposal
Proposals should be submitted in English, online at https://iufro2024.com/session-proposals. For questions and technical support about session submission, please contact abstracts.iufro2024@appinconf.com. Proposals will not be accepted after 13 October 2022.
Session proposals should include session title, moderator(s), description i.e. an abstract with the rationale of the session (400 words), organizers(s)’ details, suggested session time slot, alignment with Congress themes (ab. 100 words), session information with tentative titles and presenters, alignment with selection criteria (ab. 200 words), and relevant IUFRO Unit(s). Proposed sessions should be organized to be nominally 2 hours in length. For sessions involving oral presentations, we recommend that 15 min including discussion be adopted for standard oral presentations, and 30 min for sub-plenary talks. However, we encourage proponents to be innovative, and to consider panel discussions, interactive poster sessions and other session formats to engage Congress participants.
Modification of accepted session proposals
Please note that the abstract submission process will be open to all, so session organizers may need to include papers or posters that were not originally proposed for their sessions. Please be aware of this possibility and the need for flexibility in designing your session. In the event that the number of accepted abstracts for a particular session exceeds the number that can be accommodated in a single session, organizers may be given an additional session slot in the Congress program.
Criteria for selection
Session proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by members of the Congress Scientific Committee with primary consideration given to their scientific quality, relevance to the Congress themes, and geographic and gender diversity of proposed session organizers, moderators and proposed presenters. Other factors that will be considered are: the involvement of two or more IUFRO units (Divisions, Task Forces, Research Groups and Working Parties) and/or IUFRO and non‐IUFRO member organizations; and the involvement of students and early-career scientists and professionals. We strongly encourage submissions well in advance of the 13th October deadline.
Acceptance decisions will be made no later than 17 January 2023. An open Call for Abstracts will be issued on 1 February 2023, with online abstract submission until 2 June 2023, and acceptance decisions provided by 30 October. The Congress timelines are available at the Congress website (https://iufro2024.com/) and below.
Responsibilities of session organizers
Session organizers of accepted proposals are expected to communicate with prospective presenters regarding submission of abstracts (online), will be asked to review abstracts submitted for their sessions during the abstract review period (i.e., from June to October 2023) and are in charge of language editing of the accepted abstracts. They are also responsible for ensuring that session moderators attend the Congress and are encouraged to pursue publication options for papers presented in their sessions. Formal Congress proceedings with full papers will not be published. Session organizers, moderators and speakers will have to pay the Congress fee.
We look forward to hearing from you and for your active participation in the design of an excellent scientific program for the 2024 IUFRO Congress in Stockholm, Sweden.
TIMELINE SUMMARY
15 June 2022 – Call for Session Proposals
13 October 2022 – Deadline for the submission of Session Proposals
17 January 2023 – Decision advised on Session Proposals
1 February 2023 – Call for abstracts
2 June 2023 – Deadline for the submission of abstracts
2 June 2023 – Opening of online registration
30 October 2023 – Authors advised of decisions on their abstracts
15 January 2024 – Registration deadline for early-bird registrations and presenting authors
30 April 2024 - Final program available
23 June 2024 – Congress begin
THE IUFRO 2024 CONGRESS SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Elena Paoletti (Chair: elena.paoletti@iufro2024.com)
Teresa Fonseca (Division 1: tfonseca@utad.pt)
Marjana Westergren (Division 2: marjana.westergren@gozdis.si)
Ola Lindroos (Division 3: ola.lindroos@slu.se)
Donald Hodges (Division 4: dhodges2@utk.edu)
Pekka Saranpää (Division 5: pekka.saranpaa@luke.fi)
Ellyn Damayanti (Division 6: ellynk.damayanti@gmail.com)
Maartje Klapwijk (Division 7: maartje.klapwijk@slu.se)
Alexia Stokes (Division 8: alexia.stokes@cirad.fr)
Monica Gabay (Division 9: monagabay@yahoo.com)
John Kimber (International Forestry Students Association: john.kimber@ifsa.net)
Daniela Kleinschmit (Vice-President, Divisions: daniela.kleinschmit@ifp.uni-freiburg.de)
Shirong Liu (Vice‐President, Task Forces: liusr@caf.ac.cn)
Wubalem Tadesse (President's Nominee for Africa: wubalem16@gmail.com)
Erich Schaitza (President's Nominee for South America: erich.schaitza@embrapa.br)
Björn Hånell (Representative of the Congress Organizing Committee: bjorn.hanell@slu.se)
2024 CONGRESS THEMES
for an extended description see the Congress website https://iufro2024.com/congress-themes
THEME 1: Strengthening forest resilience and adaptation to stress
1.1 Maintaining forest health in the face of global change
1.2 Forests, soil and water
1.3 Forest management for global change adaptation and mitigation
THEME 2: Towards a responsible forest bioeconomy
2.1 Sustainable forest operations
2.2 Innovations, markets, and industrial developments for the forest products
2.3 Planted forests for a resourceful forest bioeconomy
THEME 3: Forest biodiversity and its ecosystem services
3.1 Harnessing underused forest genetic resources
3.2 Biodiversity, deforestation, and restoration
3.3 Emerging issues in forest landscape ecology
THEME 4: Forests for sustainable societies
4.1 Nature-Based Solutions
4.2 Power and equity in the forest sector
4.3 Forests, trees, and human well-being
4.4 The complexity of forest governance
THEME 5: Forests for the future
5.1 Innovation on forest research and emerging methodologies
5.2 Modelling the future of our forests: projections and uncertainties
5.3 Quality forest education
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