Engagement Australia invites proposals for the 2013 Next Steps Conference. Potential presenters are asked to clearly indicate their chosen conference theme and presentation format.
Deadline extended
The closing date to submit your proposal for consideration for the 2013 Next Steps: Co-producing knowledge for social impact conference has been extended until Monday 25 February 2013.
All proposals are to be made online via the secured portal by close of business Monday 25 February 2013. This website will allow you to manage your proposal, make changes as required and facilitate your conference registration.
In addition to Scholarly Presentations, the Conference Program Committee has chosen a number of other presentation formats to create opportunities for increased discussion, exploration and the co-production of knowledge. Cross sector and/or co-partner presentations are encouraged.
Presenters are asked to select from the following five formats.
1. Scholarly Presentations
Proposals for a Scholarly Presentation are required to be academic in content, demonstrate theoretical underpinning in relevant literature, include where applicable original empirical research and explicitly relate to the conference themes. Proposals will be judged for their quality and relevance to the conference through double blind peer reviewing, where the identities of the authors are withheld from the reviewers. Proposals may be submitted individually or jointly as a panel session (submitted by the panel lead). To assist new presenters, your proposal (abstract) must include analysis of the current literature, research questions, methods and results and implications of the research.
Individual presentations will be approximately 30 minutes each including Q & A, with a total of 90 minutes (3 presentations) allocated for each session. (Number of Delegates = Open)
Publication Opportunity – Australasian Journal of University Community Engagement
If your Scholarly Proposal is accepted for presentation at the 2013 Engagement Australia conference you will be invited to submit a 5000 word paper for peer-review and possible inclusion in the 2013 Spring Edition of the Australasian Journal of University Community Engagement. However, if your paper is not accepted for publication in the e-journal your Conference Proposal will still be published in the 2013 Conference Proceedings.
2. Roundtables
Roundtables provide an opportunity to participate in dialogue with your peers around important issues relevant to University-Community Engagement. Roundtables are also ideal forums for testing new research ideas, new forms of practice or workshopping challenges in your work. Roundtable Facilitators need to ensure their proposal aligns directly with the conference themes.
A submission to facilitate a Roundtable must include a summary describing the problem or issue, its significance, the questions to be posed, and a plan for actively engaging the participants in a dialogue-based format.
Roundtables will be 90 minutes long. (Number of Delegates = 36 maximum i.e. 6 tables of 6).
3. Open space
The conference Open Space sessions provide delegates with an opportunity to share a Case Study with interested delegates that is relevant to the conference themes. The informal presentation should include the challenges that were faced and overcome – in full or partially – during a University-Community Engagement activity. There will be no use of audiovisual materials.
Individual stories will be 10-15 minutes each. (Number of Delegates = Open).
4. Poster session
Following the success of the 2011 and 2012 ‘Student Showcase’ poster sessions we encourage presentations from students, academics, professionals and community members to submit a poster up to A0 size to be displayed in dedicated venue. Posters should display: research outcomes, describe ongoing projects, and elaborate the experience of University-Community Engagement. Posters may include photographs, statistical tables, figures, charts, or other graphic material relevant to the project.
Presenters must be available at their poster to answer questions or conduct a conversation about their poster during the presentation session. (Number of Participants = Open).
5. Lightning Talks
The Lightning Talks will showcase different ideas, innovations, or theories that are being undertaken by those working in University-Community Engagement. This knowledge sharing activity will challenge presenters to clearly and succinctly expose their idea in lightning speed within five minutes maximum. (Presenters will only be permitted use of one slide).
Individual presentations will be strictly limited to 5-minutes and a time-keeper will monitor the presentations.
Author Guidelines:
Presentation proposals that: do not follow the guidelines, are incomplete, or received after the deadline may not be considered. The Program Committee will try to accommodate all proposals according to the presenters’ stated preferences, but may reassign presentations according to conference program needs.
Proposals
The length of the proposal (i.e. abstract/presentation summary) for the Research Presentations should be limited to up to 1000 words and up to 500 words for all other proposals. Authors are also asked to de-identify their proposal to assist in the double blind peer review process.
In summary:
- Scholarly proposals (up to 1000 words) must be academic in content, have theoretical under-pinning including identifying the current literature, the research questions, methodology and results of the empirical research.
- Roundtables (500 words and may include charts/tables) should include up to three goals and learning outcomes plus describe methods to facilitate interactive discussion along with a brief agenda for the session.
- Open Space (500 words) proposals will feature Case studies and they should align with the conference themes and reflect the genuine and authentic experience of an individual, a team or a community including challenges and solutions undertaken.
- Lightning Talks (500 words) highlight an individual’s perspective. While the Lightening Talks may be challenging and/or controversial in nature it is important that they are clear and succinct and align with the conference themes.
- Posters proposals (500 words) should relate to the conference themes and include enough information to paint a relatively clear picture of what will be included on the poster.
Number of submissions
Each individual may submit a maximum of two proposals as the Primary Presenter. There is no limit on the number of submissions for which a person may be listed as a supplementary presenter.
Co-presentations
Co-presentations by community, business/industry, students and university partners are strongly encouraged.
Peer Review
All proposals (abstract/presentation summaries) will be double blind peer-reviewed to ensure a high standard of scholarship at the conference. Members of the Australasian Journal of University Community Engagement Editorial Panel will participate in the peer review process and all people who submit a proposal may also elect to be part of the process.
Feedback from peer-review process
In order to grow presenter capacity and to support delegate-learning all people who submit a proposal will receive feedback from the reviewers. It is important to remember that conference presentation sessions are limited and this is a competitive process. As a consequence all submissions reviewed may not be accepted and for some, acceptance may be conditional upon making changes suggested by the reviewers.
What happens if your proposal is accepted?
As the time-line below indicates, if your proposal is accepted you will receive notification (via email) by Moday 29 April 2013. However to secure your conference presentation in the program you will need to:
- Submit any amendments as request by the peer-reviewers by 29 April 2013.
- Pay your Conference Registration (at the Early Bird rate) by 6 May 2013.