Call for Proposals: Special Interest GroupsSpecial Interest Groups Chair: Hershel Safer, Rehovot, Israel We invite you to submit a proposal to organize a Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting at the ISMB 2010 conference, which will be held at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, USA, July 9 - 13, 2010.
Special Interest Group Meeting (SIGs) submissions should be submitted via the online submission system here prior to December 1, 2009.
A SIG meeting is a one- or two-day focused workshop. It should provide a broad and/or deep perspective on developments in a field of research, and is intended as a way to address a topic more extensively than can be done in the main conference. Follow these links to see examples of previous SIG meetings: ISMB/ECCB 2009 (Stockholm) ISMB 2008 (Toronto) ISMB/ECCB 2007 (Vienna) A Satellite Meeting is similar to a SIG meeting but has logistical or financial needs that do not fit conveniently into the SIG structure. Satellite Meeting proposals will be considered along with SIG proposals. SIG delegates will not be able to attend Satellite Meeting sessions and vice versa, and handout materials will be separate as well. In order to facilitate conference organization, these deadlines will be adhered to strictly.
topLogistical considerations
SIG meetings will be held during the two days prior to the main conference: Friday and Saturday, July 9 and July 10. On the first day, SIGs will be held in parallel with the Student Symposium; on the second day, with tutorials. Participants will register for a primary SIG but will be free to circulate between parallel sessions only on the day of the meeting(s) they are registered for.
Responsibilities of SIG organizers and ISCB / ISMB
SIG organizers are responsible for the scientific content of the SIG meeting. They may invite speakers, publish a call for submissions, or use a combination. They are expected to operate within the context of ISMB procedures, including finalizing the program and providing materials by the deadlines, working within the budget, etc. topHow to apply
Please include the following sections in your proposal, in the indicated order. The entire proposal should be no more than four pages long.
Proposals should be submitted in Acrobat (.pdf) format. Name the file using the family name of the first organizer (i.e., John Doe's proposal should be in a file named doe.pdf). Submit proposals online by Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Proposal evaluation
Proposals will be evaluated by a committee chaired by Hershel Safer, including Mike Cherry (Stanford), Joaquin Dopazo, (CIPF), Jill Mesirov (MIT/Harvard). The following criteria will be considered:
Well-established SIGs
SIGs that have had a solid record for each of the previous three years may submit a letter of intent instead of a full proposal. The letter is due by the regular SIG proposal-submission deadline. It should indicate that the organizers plan to organize the meeting for the upcoming ISMB and should include the organizers' contact details.
A full proposal should be submitted if the organizers plan substantive changes to the previous year's proposal (e.g., focus, number of days, preference for meeting before or during the conference, special requests) or if the organizing team has changed substantially. Furthermore, a letter of intent may be used in at most two consecutive years; every third year, at least, a full proposal is required.
A solid record means that the SIG has had good, consistent or increasing attendance (taking into account problems that affect overall ISMB attendance) and has at least broken even financially in each year. It also means that the organization was carried out smoothly, including timely submission of materials according to the published schedule.
SIG organizers should contact the proposal-review committee (see contact information below) to verify their SIG's eligibility before submitting a letter of intent instead of a full proposal.
Contact information
Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions. top |