Guidelines

A - THEMATIC OF THE SYMPOSIA

The scientific programme of NeuroFrance 2019 will consist of 42 symposia. The symposia will be selected with a preference for proposals dealing with hot topics, of interest to a broad audience, and whose proposed speakers are of 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), an educational programme.
• 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 will not be considered, unless they focus on new scientific aspects (to be justified in the symposium description).

B - SYMPOSIUM FORMAT

The total duration of a symposium is 2 hours.

Each symposium will include:

• A short introduction by the symposium chairperson (5 minutes)
• 4 presentations of 25 minutes each (including questions) given by the proposed speakers. The symposium organizers may decide to replace one of these presentations by a roundtable.
• 15 minutes devoted to 1 young researcher's presentation, selected among abstracts submitted for poster presentation between October and end of December 2018.
  The symposium chairperson will participate in the final selection of this additional talk.

Sponsored symposia and special symposia organized by clubs, GDR(I) or educational programmes have a free format (but still a 2-hour duration). The involvement of young researchers will be part of the selection criteria.

C - CHOICE OF CHAIRPERSONS AND SPEAKERS

Rules

• A symposium chairperson at the 2017 meeting cannot chair a symposium in 2019,
• A speaker at the 2017 meeting cannot be a speaker at the 2019 meeting,
• Members of the Local Organizing Committee can be speakers at NeuroFrance 2019 (unless they were already speakers in 2017) except for the President and Vice-Presidents,
• Members of the Scientific Committee can neither be chair nor speaker in a symposium at NeuroFrance 2019,
• A person can only participate in one session (symposium or plenary lecture) at NeuroFrance 2019,
• A symposium can be chaired by one or two persons. Chairpersons may also be speakers.

To find names of chairpersons or speakers at the previous meeting, check the 2017 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 the concerned 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 proposals will not be considered by the Scientific Committee.

Submit and edit a proposal

Any proposal must be submitted online between 15 January and 12 February 2018 (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, only 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 it. If changes are necessary, the partners are invited to discuss with the corresponding chairperson who will edit it.

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 : April 2018, the Scientific Committee will review and select the symposia.

Step 2: early 2019, the selected symposia will be completed with one young researcher's presentation, selected among abstracts submitted for poster presentation between October and end of December 2018. The symposium chairperson will participate in the final selection of this additional talk.

F - IMPORTANT DATES

• Symposia - 1st step: proposal submission from 15 January to 12 February 2018 (included)
• Decision transmitted to the organizers: end of April 2018
• Online registration: October 2018 till the meeting
• Abstract submission, with the possibility of selection for a symposium presentation: October - end of December 2018
• Abstract submission for poster presentation only: October 2018 – mid-February 2019
• Symposia - 2nd step: decision regarding additional presentations: end of February 2019

G - FUNDING

The French Neuroscience Society does not cover the registration fees or the travel and living expenses of symposium presidents and speakers working in France. In return, the Society has chosen to promote the participation of foreign speakers and young researchers through incentive actions:

• Free registration fees for all speakers working abroad.
• Participation in the reimbursement of travel or hotel expenses for the young researcher speakers, selected on abstract, and working outside France.
• Assignment of a number of travel grants to student members to attend the meeting.
• Reduced registration fees for student and Post-doc members.

Symposium organizers are encouraged to seek additional sources of funding if they wish to support their speakers' expenses.
If you submit a proposal, make sure 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 "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 necessary information 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, a GDR(I) or an educational programme
• other scientific 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 2):

• 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 Local Organizing Committee for NeuroFrance 2019.

Scientific programme of the 2017 meeting.