A – General
The selection of symposia is based on the following criteria: novelty, interest for a wide audience, quality of the speakers. An adequate gender balance among speakers is also required.
Symposia may focus on:
Proposals whose topic has already been presented at the previous meeting of the French Neuroscience Society will not be considered, unless they focus on new scientific aspects (to be justified in the symposium description).
B – SYMPOSIA FORMAT
All symposia have a total duration of 2 hours.
A regular symposium includes:
Special symposia organized by clubs, GDR or other scientific societies may include between 4 and 6 speakers but cannot last more than 2 hours in total.
C – CHOICE OF CHAIRPERSONS AND SPEAKERS
To find names of chairpersons or speakers of the previous meeting, check the 2025 program using the search option.
Recommendations for speakers
Gender balance must be respected.
Geographic (i.e. different laboratories) as well as career stage diversity (not all senior/junior speakers) will be considered.
It may be interesting to involve speakers working abroad. The French Neuroscience Society nevertheless recommends having at least two speakers working in France.
Consent
Proposed symposium speakers must have given their consent for their participation if selected. Their agreement is an engagement to participate if the proposal is selected (see the Agreement section).
The same person can be proposed in several proposals, but if accepted, this person can only take part in one symposium.
D – PREPARATION OF A PROPOSAL
Language
Symposium proposals must be submitted in English and speakers will give their presentations in English at the meeting.
The description shall:
The form to be completed for each participant (chairpersons and speakers) is presented at the end of these guidelines. Incomplete proposals will not be considered by the Scientific Committee.
Submit and edit a proposal
All proposals must be submitted online between 11 March and 1st April 2026 (included).
The corresponding chairperson is in charge of all correspondence with the French Neuroscience Society. There is only one corresponding chairperson even if there are two chairpersons for a symposium.
At the end of the submission, the corresponding chairperson receives a proposal number and access code to edit or modify the proposal until the submission deadline. No modifications will be accepted after the deadline.
A receipt without the access codes is sent to the other participants, giving them the possibility to view the proposal but not to edit it.
Access codes must be used by the corresponding chairperson only.
E – IMPORTANT DATES
Timeline
11 March 2026: Call for symposium proposals opens
1st April 2026: Call for symposium proposals closes
May 2026: Symposia selection
July 2026: Program announcement
January 2027 till the meeting: Registration open
January 2027: Abstract submission with the possibility for young researchers to apply for a short presentation in a symposium (abstracts submitted after January 2027 will be selected for poster presentation).
February 2027: selection of additional short presentations by the Scientific committee, in agreement with the symposia chairpersons.
F – FUNDING
The French Neuroscience Society does NOT cover registration fees nor travel / living expenses of symposium chairpersons and speakers. However, the Society has chosen to promote the participation of foreign speakers and young researchers through incentive actions:
Symposium organizers are encouraged to seek sources of funding if they wish to directly support the expenses of their speakers. If you submit a proposal, make sure all your partners are aware of these conditions.
By submitting a proposal, the applicant acknowledges having read and accepted the following conditions:
Regarding funding
See above.
Regarding participation
APPENDIX: DESCRIPTION OF THE SYMPOSIUM PROPOSAL FORMS
List of information necessary to complete the forms:
Description page
Use the drop-down menu to specify if the symposium is proposed by:
Do not forget to specify the name of club/GDR/scientific society in the brief description.
Symposium title: <100 characters, including spaces. In English. Do not use abbreviations.
Brief description: < 500 characters, including spaces. In English.
Objectives: interest, timeliness and novelty, choice of participants, format (justify your choice if you wish to add a roundtable at the end of the session): < 1700 characters including spaces. In English.
Topics (domains): use the drop-down menu to select the main topic of your symposium proposal:
Chairperson and speaker pages
Title: – / Dr / Prof
Family (last) name:
First (given) name and initials:
Status: PhD student / junior scientist (aged <45) / senior scientist
Gender identity: Agender / Androgynous / Bigender / Genderfluid / Genderqueer / Gender non-conforming / Identity not listed / Man / Non-binary / Pangender / Prefer not to say / Questioning / Two-spirit / Woman /
Neuroscience society membership (select among list)
Institution 1 (university, center, etc.):
Institution 2 (continued):
Institution 3 (continued):
Street:
Postal code (when preceding the city):
City:
Zip / Postal code (when following the city):
Country:
Phone:
Email address (mandatory):
Publications (maximum 3):
For speakers only
Presentation title: < 100 characters. In English. Do not use abbreviations.
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