ISHPSSB PORTO MEETING, 20–25 JULY 2025 | CALL FOR ABSTRACTS/PAPERS/PROPOSALS

The International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB) brings together scholars from diverse disciplines, including the life sciences as well as history, philosophy, and social studies of science. The biennial ISHPSSB summer meetings are known for innovative, transdisciplinary sessions, and for fostering informal, cooperative exchanges and ongoing collaborations.

The submission deadline is 1 November, 2024.

Organized Sessions

We encourage participants to submit organized sessions. They are submitted by one organizer, who must also participate in the session (e.g., chair, presenter, or commenter). All organized sessions will have exactly 90 minutes. There are two different types of Organized Sessions:

1. Traditional Session
2. Diverse Format Session

To organize a session, you can invite participants directly to form a “closed” session proposal. Or, you can solicit participants by posting on the Open Session Board on the ISHPSSB website. (To use this option, you must be a current ISHPSSB member and login using your ISHPSSB member credential or create an account by signing up for ISHPSSB membership).

A completed proposal for an organized session must include a session title, abstract (up to 300 words), and the contact details for the chair and all participants (first and last name, email, institution, and country). Once the organizer enters the organized session information into the proposal system, speakers included in the session will receive an email inviting them to submit their individual submissions for the session in the system. See further instructions and links under the “Submission” heading below.

a) Traditional Session (3 speakers, 90 minutes)

Each Traditional Session proposal should include three speakers and a chair; the chair may, but need not be one of the speakers. Each speaker will have 30 minutes total, including a discussion. This submission format requires a session title and an up to 300-word session abstract; titles and up to 300-word abstracts for each talk; and the names, affiliations, and email address for all participants. It is possible to submit a double Organized Session, with the same title, six speakers, with two 90 minutes slots.

b) Diverse Format Session (2+ participants, 90 minutes)

Each Diverse Format Session should have at least two participants, including a chair who may be one of the participants. These sessions may be organized as roundtables, panels, dialogues, theater games, performance lectures, longer talks, lightning talks, commentaries, films, artistic performance-based formats, etc. This submission format requires a session title and an up to 300-word abstract, as well as the names, affiliations, and email address for all participants. Additional information relevant to the particular format (for example, short bios in the case of panels) can also be included in the information submitted by the session organizer.

Individual Papers (oral presentations)

Individuals may also submit a paper proposal, which requires a paper title, an up to 300-word abstract, and the full names, affiliations, and email addresses of the presenter and all co-authors. The submission should be made by the person who will present the paper at the meeting. The paper presentation must be no more than 20 minutes in length, with an additional 10 minutes for discussion. Individual Paper submissions will be grouped and scheduled into 90-minute sessions by the Program Committee. Individuals may submit only one individual paper or present as part of one organized session, but may also chair a session and/submit a poster. Before submitting your individual paper, please check the Open Session Board to see if there might be a proposal for an Organized Session that your contribution fits with.

Poster Presentations and Poster Flash Talks

The submission for the Poster Session requires a title and up to 300-word abstract, and the full names, affiliations, and email addresses of the presenter and all co-authors. If your poster presentation has particular technical and/or space requirements (over and above a board to hang a standard academic poster), please contact program@ishpssb.org after you submit your abstract. The Poster Session will be held in person.

Poster presenters may additionally submit a video for a flash talk (1 min) that introduces your poster in a brief, accessible and, if possible, entertaining way. At the start of the poster session, we will have a poster slam in which the submitted flash talk videos are screened. All accepted flash talks will be automatically considered for the new prize for the best (and most entertaining) poster flash video (see below).

Participants who propose a poster are also allowed to submit an individual paper or to participate in an organized session.

Participation in multiple sessions

You may give one oral presentation (in an organized or diverse format session, or as an individual paper), as well as chair one session and/or give a poster (including a flash talk).

Prizes

To encourage interdisciplinary exchange, participants can apply for an Interdisciplinary Organized Session Prize (US $500). The session organizer should select this option when creating an organized session. Candidate sessions are expected to stand out as a fruitful combination of approaches or methodologies from several of the ISHPSSB disciplines, and especially through contributions from the social studies and history of the life sciences. Besides this, the meeting will also give a prize for the best (and most entertaining) submitted poster flash talk (US $300).

In-person or hybrid presentation

Sessions may be in person or hybrid. While we understand that attending in person will not be possible for all participants, we may not be able to accommodate all requests for hybrid sessions due to the technical and personnel requirements of good hybrid meetings. In hybrid sessions, to enable fruitful discussions, at least 2 (out of 3) speakers need to present their papers in-person. All chairs should be present in Porto. The schedule of all sessions, including hybrid ones, will be adapted to the meeting location in Porto. Posters will be presented in person in Porto.

NOTE: If, due to visa application requirements, you need to know the outcome of the abstract proposal assessment early, please get in touch with the program committee at program@ishpssb.org. Please make sure your proposal is submitted at the time of inquiry.

Submissions

To submit your organized session, individual paper, or poster, follow the instructions below (which will require you to create an account with Oxford Abstracts):

• If you are the organizer of an organized session, please fill out this form with your details, then enter the e-mail addresses of all participants in the session to invite them to submit their contributions.
• If you are submitting an individual paper or poster, please fill out this form with your details.
• If you are a participant in an organized session, please wait to receive an e-mail inviting you to submit your submission after the organizer of your session creates the session in the system.