We invite symposium proposals for Island Biology’s 3^rd conference to be held from the 8-13^th July, at the University of La Réunion, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, Mascarenes

Symposia are central to the scientific program of the Island Biology conference. Each symposium should address a specific theme, with a goal of providing the research frontier on a topic of interest to many attendants, presenting conceptual syntheses from contrasting views on debated scientific and conservation issues, or introducing novel perspectives and approaches. Symposia will also aim at accommodating specialized discussions in topical areas in island biology. Any timely and coherent topic on island biology both on terrestrial and marine biota will be considered.

This meeting will include up to 20 symposia. Each symposium will receive a 2-hour block. In rare cases, proposals with strong scientific merit or very broad interest may be planned for two 2-hour blocks.

For any symposia related matters, including speaker abstract submission, symposia confirmation or general symposia enquiries, kindly email: ib2019-submission.at.sciencesconf.org

All symposium proposals must adhere to the guidelines as stated above and follow the symposium submission form. Inaccurate and incomplete information on these forms may result in the rejection of your proposal. All proposals must include:

• Title of the symposium
• Principal organizer (name, institutional affiliation, e-mail). This person will be the point of contact.
• Co-organizers (name, institutional affiliations, e-mail). A maximum of 3 co-organizers is allowed.
• Description (< 400 words) and scientific justification (< 250 words) that clearly summarizes the background, scope, goals or objectives of the symposium, and its importance and interests to island biologists.
• List of speakers (names, institutional affiliations, e-mails) and titles, listed in the anticipated sequence of their talks, indicating which speakers are confirmed and which are tentative.

Once you complete the online submission, you should receive a confirmation within two days. If you do not, please contact ib2019-submission.at.sciencesconf.org to confirm that your proposal was received.

All proposals will be peer-reviewed and ranked by reviewers selected by IB2019’s scientific committee. The IB2019 Scientific Committee chairs may accept or decline your proposal, or offer you the opportunity to work with another symposium proposer, or to chair an organized oral session, workshop during the meeting.

Decisions and alternative offers will be made by 30^th November 2018.

Symposium proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Scientific merit: likelihood of promoting significant advance in understanding of island biology, innovative or interdisciplinary approaches, likelihood of novel conceptual synthesis, etc
• Broad impact: novel approaches in island biogeography, integration of science with island conservation issues and/or wide societal issues, positive impacts for policy making / conservation management, utility to human populations living on islands, integrating multiple disciplines, outreach for socio-ecosystems, etc
• Appeal to a broad audience among participants of IB2019.
• Structure and organization that will provide synthesis or perspectives; in other words, symposia should NOT be a set of case studies or series of results from the same group of collaborators, and must avoid biases toward narrow perspectives of the symposium organizers.

All symposium organizers will be required to submit a symposium abstract by the submission deadline (15^th November, 2018). Symposium organizers are responsible that all symposium abstracts are received by this deadline, and will have to reconfirm participation by speakers by 31^st March, 2019. All symposium abstracts will be peer-reviewed, and the IB2019 Scientific Committee may communicate with the symposium organizers and require revisions of individual symposium abstracts if they do not meet the aforementioned criteria for symposium talks. If not revised properly, the speaker may be removed.

A symposium has one to three organizers and will be organized as follows:

• One main presentation at start: 30 minutes (25’ presentation + 5’ discussion)
• Standard oral presentation: 20 minutes (15’ presentation + 5’ discussion)

In total, a two-hours symposium is composed of five presentations, which leaves ten additional minutes to introduce or close the symposium and for transitions between speakers. Symposium organizers can present within their symposium. They are responsible for submitting a list of five speakers and presentations titles. Abstracts for presentations in symposia will follow the general submission process after the call for abstracts has been issued and abstract submission opened.

A person is allowed to organize only one symposium, either as a principal or co-organizer. The ‘one presentation’ rule will be applied to all symposium speakers ; a presenter in one symposium is not allowed to present in another symposium or regular oral session as the lead author. A person will be allowed to present a second talk where they are not the lead author. An attempt to present two symposium abstracts as a lead author will be automatically prevented by the system.

Symposium organizers will receive a warning from the IB2019 Organizing Committee if multiple speakers in their sessions have not registered for the meeting before 1^st April 2019.

If your proposal is accepted, you will be responsible for ensuring that your symposium is organized as proposed, and must be willing to accommodate requests for adjustment from the IB2019 Scientific Committee. Cancellation and schedule changes will be very disruptive for the meeting. The symposium organizers must submit a revised and final summary of the symposium description and a final list of confirmed speakers by 15^th March 2019. This summary should be 250 words or less. The IB2019 Organizing Committee reserves the right to cancel a symposium if less than 50% of the speakers have not registered by 1^st April 2019, and will then reassign speakers to contributed oral sessions or other symposia. Accordingly, symposium organizers must maintain communication to ensure registration and participation of their invited speakers.

Symposium organizers will be informed of the time and date of their symposia by 1^st April 2019, and they are expected to communicate this to individual speakers in their session.

It is disruptive to meeting programs if any accepted symposia or workshops are cancelled. Submit a symposium proposal only if you are sure to attend the meeting and are willing to fulfil your responsibility as a symposia organizer. A principal symposium organizer, in case of unavoidable circumstance, may be replaced by the symposium co-organizer or by another colleague.

IB2019 does not provide financial assistance, stipends or free registrations to individual speakers. Symposia organizers must notify this clearly when they invite speakers. Individual symposium organizers are responsible for identifying funding sources for the speakers in their sessions if necessary.

Under unavoidable circumstances in which a speaker must cancel, the author should immediately notify the symposium session organizer, whose duty is to identify a replacement speaker. The replacement would be ideally someone who is already a co-author, but the symposium session organizer may identify another suitable person. The name of the replacement speaker must be notified to the Program Chair as soon as possible, even if it is the day before the session.