Pre proposals why and how

Why is SICB now inviting pre proposals instead of full proposals?

Pre proposals help SICB address two challenges that have become increasingly pressing.

Workload. Full proposals require more time and legwork to complete; symposium organizers needed to confirm 10 to 12 speakers, develop a budget, and provide a detailed rationale.
Equity and diversity. SICB requires symposia to comprise a diverse set of speakers. Recruiting speakers requires time and social capital, and is made harder by the fact that SICB symposium speakers are asked a substantial commitment (talk plus manuscript) with considerable uncertainty of success (symposium proposal might be rejected). To meet this challenge, symposium organizers are often forced to rely on their professional networks to recruit speakers, which may limit speaker diversity.

what goes into a pre proposal?

Instructions to proposal writers

Provide a one-page summary of your symposium idea. Include

background information to support the need for a symposium on this topic,
an explanation of how the topic will advance integrative and comparative biology, and
an overview of how the symposium will benefit the SICB community and the scientific community in general.

Please include four to six names of speakers you plan to invite if the symposium is accepted.

This pre proposal format is still new and many organizers still follow the old template of the full proposal, at least in some parts. Please use the old format only to gain a better understanding of what kind of information the Program Committee values. Do not feel obliged to follow the old template of the full proposal.

How are pre proposals evaluated?

Who evaluates your proposal

The SICB program committee will evaluate your proposal. The committee comprises the SICB Program Officer, the Program Officer-Elect, the divisional Program Officers, and representatives from co-sponsoring organizations.

How is your pre proposal evaluated

Symposia are evaluated on the merit of the symposium idea, which should synthesize or catalyze an area of research or practice, and on the general benefit to the SICB membership. Proposals are evaluated holistically by scoring each proposal on a four-point scale and through written comments. The written comments should contain suggestions for funding opportunities, potential speakers, potential increases in scope and impact. The comments will be shared with the organizers to help them develop a full symposium plan (incl. a complete confirmed-speaker list and a budget).

Scoring scale

Yes, this is a great proposal and I would like to see the symposium at the next SICB meeting
I generally support this symposium because it has potential but it could use some improvement
This is a decent idea but I don't recommend it for the next meeting given the other choices
This is a weak proposal and/or a weak idea for a symposium

What makes a strong pre proposal?

Instructions to symposium organizers

Provide a one-page summary of your symposium idea. Include

background information to support the need for a symposium on this topic,
an explanation of how the topic will advance integrative and comparative biology, and
an overview of how the symposium will benefit the SICB community and the scientific community in general.

Please include four to six names of speakers you plan to invite if the symposium is accepted.

Translating instructions into guidelines

To write an impactful pre proposal, translate those instructions into questions.

Why is this an important and timely topic?
- Is the symposium forward-looking? Does it address current challenges? Will the symposium provide new challenges, syntheses, or ideas?
How will the symposium advance integrative and comparative biology?
- Is the symposium integrating across (sub)disciplines? Does the symposium leverage biological diversity? Will the symposium facilitate cross fertilization across (sub)disciplines?
How will the symposium benefit the SICB community and the scientific community in general?
- Is the symposium relevant to a wide range of SICB divisions and to the integrative-biology community at large? Will the symposium inspire new collaborations and projects?

When listing your speakers, indicate for each speaker how their expertise and their intended presentation are relevant in the context of the three questions above. Sometimes, providing preliminary titles for each talk is already enough. But without a convincing tie-in between speaker topics and symposium idea, the proposal might fall flat.

SICB aims to build a portfolio of symposia that provides an exciting conference experience to our SICB membership. If symposium pre proposals overlap considerably in topic or speaker list, SICB may invite their organizers to collaborate or SICB may defer a strong proposal to the next conference to maintain diversity of topics and speakers.

your pre proposal got invited. What's next?

Congrats! Your pre proposal is invited for a symposium.

In general, use the evaluator feedback and talk with the SICB program officer to develop a full symposium plan. Follow the symposium organizer playbook to develop a timeline and action plan.

After being invited for a full symposium plan:

Recruit symposium speakers. Coordinate with the SICB team to recruit more speakers. To increase inclusion and diversity of the speaker pool, SICB strongly encourages symposium organizers to reach into the community through social media and other communication channels to encourage people to (self)nominate additional symposium speakers. The symposium organizer playbook's planning section provides template emails, meeting agendas, and much more to help you manage organizer team and your speakers.
Seek additional funding. The symposium organizer playbook's funding section explains funding opportunities and provides example proposals and budgets.
Develop complementary events. Collaborate with your speakers, co-organizers, and SICB to develop your symposium plan, including the planning complementary sessions and complementary events, such as a workshop, a round-table, a panel, outreach, an expert booth.
Contribute at the planning meetings for symposium organizers. At the SICB meeting preceding the one hosting your symposium, attend the symposium organizer meeting held at the annual SICB meeting. There are also several virtual meetings to help you plan. The SICB program officer is always just an email or call away and happy to support you and your symposium team (contact details at bottom of home page).

your pre proposal is NOT invited this round. What's next?

SICB wants your symposium idea to succeed.

In general, use the evaluator feedback and talk with the SICB program officer to revise your symposium proposal.

Yes, SICB wants your symposium! The SICB program officer and the ICB editor offer you several options to move forward. The SICB program officer is always just an email or call away and happy to support you and your organizing team (contact details at bottom of home page).

Resubmit in the next symposium round. Use the evaluator feedback to revise your pre proposal. The SICB program officer and ICB editor are always happy to act as sounding boards as well. This option delays your speakers' talks and manuscripts by one year.
Go for a ICB special issue instead of a symposium. Consider converting your symposium proposal into a proposal for an ICB special issue. ICB publishes collections of articles that did not arise from SICB symposia. Reach out to the ICB editor to discuss options. This option allows your invited speakers to publish their work on the original timeline. You can combine option 2 and 3 to allow your speakers to present at the SICB annual meeting.
Turn your symposium into a special session. If your symposium is time-sensitive, consider organizing a special session at SICB. Special sessions have the same format as contributed sessions, that is talks are 15 minutes long. Reach out to the SICB program officer to discuss. This option allows your invited speakers to present their work on the original timeline. You can combine option 2 and 3 to allow your speakers to publish a manuscript related to their presentation in ICB.
Turn your symposium into a workshop or other event format. Some symposium ideas lend themselves to be converted into workshop or other formats. Reach out to the SICB program officer to discuss. This option allows your invited speakers to present their work on the original timeline, but the exact presentation format and publication format will likely change.

Example: Past Call for proposals from 2023

Example of a past email call for symposium proposals (sent in 2023 for the 2025 meeting)

Symposium proposal submission for the 2025 SICB meetings in Atlanta is now open! Symposia are a core part of both the annual meeting and Integrative and Comparative Biology, the society’s journal, and we welcome proposals from all divisions. Proposals are due September 1.

How do I submit?

We have revised the submission and symposium development process to better support organizers. The initial application now only requires contact information for organizers and a one-page summary of your symposium ideas. Fill out this Google form to submit your initial proposal [link].

How are SICB symposia structured?

Symposia consist of two mechanisms for sharing research and generating dialogue; presentations at the annual SICB meeting and a set of papers in the society’s journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology (5-year impact factor is 3.3). Both typically begin with an overview of the topic and an explanation of how the symposium synthesizes information, integrates across fields, or moves a field forward. The following talks and papers present novel research, reviews of a subfield, perspectives, or policy papers. Manuscripts are due January 31 following the meeting.

The symposium talks occur during the SICB annual meeting and consist of 11 30-minute presentations, from 8 AM to 3:30 PM, with a morning break and a lunch break. Organizers may also plan additional workshops, round table discussions, socials, field trips, etc. in association with the symposium. Symposia are expected to reflect the diverse identities and career stages of the scientific community, and authors need not be regular attendees of SICB.

How do you plan a good symposium?

Symposia are often organized by two or three people and supported by one or more SICB divisions. As you are thinking about symposium topics and discussing them with colleagues, consider what new ideas intrigue you, what you think would move your field forward, and what conversations you want to have about the topic. Symposia are intended to catalyze future research in an emerging field, explore new ideas in comparative and integrative biology, bring people together across disciplines, and/or synthesize current knowledge to advance a field. The papers generated by symposia can become highly-cited references that guide future research. In addition, ICB is an important revenue source for the society, and your symposium papers support that income.

What happens after I submit an initial proposal?

If you are interested in beginning the process of organizing a symposium, please submit using the Google form above by September 1. This initial application will be reviewed by the Program Committee in September, and we will select symposia to develop for the SICB 2025 meetings in Atlanta and contact you by mid-October with information on developing a speaker and manuscript list.

If you have any questions or would like additional guidance on generating a symposium topic, please contact the program officer elect, Janet Steven, at janet.steven@cnu.edu or programofficer.elect@sicb.org .

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