Download the guidelines.

Guidelines

A - THEMATIC OF THE SYMPOSIA

The scientific programme of NeuroFrance 2017 will consist of 36 symposia. The symposia will be selected with a preference for proposals related to the most dynamic topics, of interest a broad audience, and whose speakers have internationally recognized quality.

Topics of the symposia can cover:

• A theme of general interest to a discipline group.
• A transversal topic interesting a broader audience and several disciplines.
• An emerging methodology or technique.
• The activity of a club affiliated to the French Neuroscience Society, a GDR(i).
• A specific theme sponsored by, and organized with a partner (other scientific society, private company…).

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

Symposia have a total duration of 2 hours.

Special symposia organized by clubs or GDR(I) have a free format (but also a 2-hour duration). The involvement of young researchers will be part of the selection criteria.

For other symposia instructions are as follows:

Each symposium will include:

• A short introduction by the symposium chairperson (2-5 minutes)
• 1h25 of scientific presentations given by speakers, as described in the submitted symposium proposal. Organizers are free to include (or not) a roundtable or a discussion within this time period.
• 30 minutes devoted to presentations given by two young researchers.

These young researchers’ presentations will be selected by the Scientific Committee among abstracts submitted for poster presentation between October and end of December 2016. The symposium chairperson will participate in the final selection of these short talks.

C - CHOICE OF CHAIRPERSONS AND SPEAKERS

Rules

• A symposium chairperson at the 2015 conference cannot chair a symposium in 2017,
• A speaker at the 2015 conference cannot be a speaker at the 2017 conference,
• Members of the Host Committee can be speakers at NeuroFrance 2017 (if they were not speakers in 2015) except for the President, the two Vice-Presidents and the Executive Secretary of the Host Committee,
• Members of the Scientific Committee can neither be chair nor speaker in a symposium at NeuroFrance 2017,
• A person can only participate in a single session (symposium or conference) at NeuroFrance 2017,
• A symposium can be chaired by one or two people. Chairpersons may also be speakers.

To find names of chairpersons or speakers of the previous meeting, check the 2015 programme using the search option.

Recommendations for speakers

Wherever possible, a gender balance must be respected.

The speakers of a symposium must belong to different laboratories. The geographic diversity of the origin of the participants will be taken into account.

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).
Individuals may be included in several proposals, but if accepted, they can participate in only one symposium.

D - PREPARATION OF A PROPOSAL

Language

Symposium proposals must be submitted in English (except titles which should be in English and in French).
At the meeting, speakers will give their presentations in English.

Proposal writing

A clear and precise description is essential for the Scientific Committee to assess the interest of a proposal.
The basic criteria for selection are the scientific interest of the subject, the quality of the speakers in this field and their ability to present their work to a multidisciplinary audience.

The title should be as brief, as concise and precise as possible.

The description shall:

• Define the objective and the scientific content of the proposed symposium, and the themes (domains) related to it.
• Justify the choice of participants and their scientific quality.
• Present the innovative and scientific interest in an international research context.
• Explain the chosen format (number of speakers, roundtable…)

A form (see appendix 1) is to be completed for each participant (chairpersons and speakers). Incomplete proposal will not be considered by the Scientific Committee.

Submit and edit a proposal

Any proposal must be submitted online from 11 January to 10 February 2016 (included), by loging on the meeting website.

When submitting the proposal, you will be asked to nominate a chairperson who will be in charge of all correspondence with the French Neuroscience Society (in case of co-chairs, one will be appointed as a correspondent).
At the end of the submission, the chairperson will be given a proposal number and access code. These codes enable the chairperson to edit, modify or even withdraw the proposal until the submission deadline (option "View / Edit" on "submit a proposal"). No modifications will be accepted after the deadline.
A receipt without the access codes will be sent to other partners, giving them the possibility to view the proposal without editing. If changes are necessary, the partners are invited to discuss with the chairperson.

Note: the access codes must be used only by the chairperson. The French Neuroscience Society will assume no responsibility whatsoever if these codes are given away or misused.

E - DATES OF SELECTION

The programme will be established in two steps:

1st step : in April 2016, the Scientific Committee will review and select the symposia.

Step 2: early 2017, the selected symposia will be completed with two presentations selected among abstracts submitted between October and December 2016. After a pre-selection, a member of the Scientific Committee will communicate the name(s) of the young researcher(s) preselected to participate in the symposium to the symposium chairperson.
The final choice will be made in agreement with the symposium chairperson.

F - IMPORTANT DATES

• Symposia – 1st step: proposal submission from 11 January to 10 February 2016 (included)
• Decision transmitted to the organizers: end of April 2016
• Online registration: October 2016 till the meeting
• Abstract submission, with the possibility of selection for symposium presentation: October – end of December 2016
• Abstract submission for poster presentation only: October 2016 – mid-February 2017
• Symposia – 2nd step: decision regarding additional presentations: end of February 2017

G - FUNDING

The French Neuroscience Society do not sponsor registration fees nor travel expenses for symposium chairpersons and speakers working in France. In return, the Society has chosen to give priority to students attending the meeting by offering them preferential registration fees and travel grants.
The French Neuroscience Society will exempt registration fees of speakers working abroad. In addition, depending on the financial resources, the Society will try to participate in the coverage of the travel costs of symposium speakers working outside France. The amount of such participation cannot be known for the moment. The symposium organizers are encouraged to seek additional sources of funding if they wish to support the expenses of their speakers.

If you submit a proposal, make sure that all your partners are aware of these conditions.

H - AGREEMENT

By submitting a proposal, the applicant acknowledges having read and accepted the following conditions:

- regarding funding

See above.

- regarding participation

• The proposal must comply with the ethical rules for scientific research in general, and especially for human and animal research.
• The Scientific Committee will not take into account incomplete proposals or proposals involving the participation of non-eligible persons (see section "C - Choice of chairpersons and speakers").
• Each one of the proposed participants has given his/her consent for the proposal and is committed to participate to the meeting in case of acceptance. Therefore, speakers accept the conditions of participation as defined by the French Neuroscience Society.
• The Scientific Committee may require modifications regarding the speakers or subjects before final acceptance of the proposal.
• The Scientific Committee may reject any change to a proposal once it has been accepted, and reserves the right to reject any proposal that would no longer correspond to the approved proposal. Any change must receive the consent of the Scientific Committee.
• In no event will the French Neuroscience Society be liable for the content of a proposal with respect to its participants or any other person or institution.

APPENDIX 1: 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:

• an individual researcher and colleagues
• a club affiliated to the Society for Neuroscience or GDR(I)
• a learned society

Symposium title: <100 characters, including spaces. In French and in English. Do not use abbreviations.

Brief description: < 500 characters, including spaces. In English.

Objectives: interest, timeliness and novelty, choice of participants, of format (justify your choice if you wish to add a roundtable at the end of the session): <1700 characters including spaces. In English.

Themes (domains): Use the drop-down menu to select a theme (maximum of two):

• Development, synaptic plasticity
• Signalisation, cellular communications
• Neurological and psychiatric diseases, experimental therapeutics
• Integrative neuroscience, sensory physiology
• Neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology
• Behaviour, emotions, cognition, neuroethology
• Theoretical and computational neuroscience

Chairpersons and speakers pages

Family (last) name:
First (given) name and initials:
Ms/Mr
Title: Dr, Prof
Status : PhD student - junior scientist (aged <45) - senior scientist
Neuroscience society membership
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 French and in English. Do not use abbreviations.

APPENDIX 2: USEFUL LINKS

Members of the Scientific Committee and Host Committee for NeuroFrance 2017.

Scientific programme of the 2015 meeting.