INFORMATION FOR ECAS 2025 PARTICIPANTS

Call for Papers

The panels

ECAS 2025 consists of 253 panels representing all disciplines and methodological approaches of the social sciences and humanities. The panel reference numbers (e.g. Econ01) are derived from disciplinary streams: Anthropology, Arts and Culture, Economy and Development, Environment and Geography, Health, History, Language and Literature, Law, Politics and International Relations, Religion, Sociology, and Urban Studies. Apart from disciplinary streams, panels have also been tagged with transdisciplinary themes: Afropolitan & Afropean, Climate Change, Conservation & Land Governance, Culture & Language, Decoloniality & Knowledge Production, Disaster & Adversity, Gender, Sexuality & Intersectionality, Identity & Cultural Politics, Inequality, Infrastructure, Sustainability, Violence & Conflict Resolution.

When the Programme is announced, you can click on the Streams button to see all the disciplinary and thematic streams and peruse the panels tagged in those.

The Call for Papers will open on 4 November 2024 and end on 15 December 2024.

Over the course of a month and a half, interested parties will be able to submit a paper proposal to the panel of their choice. It is highly advisable for the applicants to submit their paper proposal only to one panel.

Rules for participating in panels:

• Number of paper-presenters in one panel session: max 5
• Paper-presenters may also be students
• Convenors may also present a paper during the conference, either in their own panel or another.
• Due to the ‘competition for time’ within such a conference, each participant may convene one panel, present one paper, chair one panel and be discussant in one panel.
• It is permitted to be a non-presenting co-author on multiple papers, but only in case it is another author presenting. If the presenting author cannot attend the conference, the paper must be withdrawn and cannot be presented by a co-author who already has a paper in another panel that s/he is presenting.
• All convenors, authors, chairs and discussants are expected to register online in advance of the event and pay a registration fee to attend.
• Half of the accepted paper proposals on the panel must be from an institution other than the institution of the panel convenors. This rule does not apply to the CRG panels.
• Please select only one presenting author. The presenting author can present only one paper during the ECAS 2025. However, paper co-authors are welcome to participate in ECAS 2025 and be present during the paper presentation.

Language within panels:

Language policy statement

While the administrative and dominant communication language of AEGIS is English, as an organization at least three core working languages are recognized within AEGIS events, namely English, French and Portuguese.

Regarding panels at ECAS 10, we acknowledge that while the majority of panels will be solely in English, there will be others proposed to be partially either in French or Portuguese, or that will be bilingual or multilingual as required. While multilingual panels have caused some of confusion in previous ECAS conferences, we leave it up to the panel convenors to decide the most appropriate composition of panel participants, and the best language option/s for the panel, including creative modes of translation as needed.

The conference unfortunately cannot offer bilingual translation services during the conference.

Convenors’ responsibilities:

It is the convenors’ responsibility to ensure that all panel participants are well briefed and that the panel continues to meet ECAS 2025 requirements. To that end, convenors should not only communicate their decisions over proposals to paper proposers, but also later in the process, email the panelists to:

1) inform them of the speaking order (albeit this is displayed on the public panel page),

2) inform them as to how much time they had been allocated,

3) remind them to register (registration status can be seen in the login environment),

4) inform them of any late changes or additional chairs/discussants,

5) give any other information related to the panel.

If panelists withdraw, convenors should mark these withdrawals in the login environment to inform the organisers.

Acceptance letters:

Formal acceptance letters of panels or papers (signed pdfs on headed paper) will be available for downloading from the login environment.

Your details in Paper Submission System:

When submitting your paper in the Paper Submission System, make sure your contact details are the way you’d like them to be presented – especially your title, name, institution, as these are visible on panel pages and will appear on your conference badge.

Controlling/editing your panel:

Panel convenors of accepted panels can use the login link to edit their panel. Convenors are requested to administer their panels via this login environment. Convenors should log in to state any specific timing requests for their panel (when directed to so by the conference administrator) and to manage the paper proposals. Co-convenors cannot be added/removed, nor can panels be withdrawn through this environment – please email us to do this: info@guarant.eu

Names of chairs/discussants can be added through the login environment. Names of chairs/discussants cannot be removed – please email us to do this: info@guarant.eu

Length of panels:

Each panel session slot will be 105 minutes long, accommodating a maximum of 5 papers. Panels can have up to 2 sessions (max 10 papers).

ECAS 2025 conference organizers cannot guarantee that panels will have two sessions. This depends on the number of paper-abstracts the panel convenors will eventually accept. In the past, some panels had just one session (up to 5 papers), while others had two sessions (up to 10 papers).

Editing your paper:

Final versions of your papers must be submitted via the Paper Submission System. In case you need to edit some minor details, please email us at: info@guarant.eu

Pre-circulation of papers:

ECAS has no rule about this, but many convenors are keen to pre-circulate completed papers. To facilitate this and save on loads of email traffic, authors can upload a PDF of their paper within the Abstract Submission System, and it will then show as a downloadable file beneath their abstract on the public panel page on this site. It is your choice whether you instruct your presenters to make use of this.

Timing of presentations:

How you allocate the time in panel sessions is largely your (panel convenors’) decision and will depend on the session format. In a paper panel, the ECAS2025 norm is to allot each presenter a maximum of 15-20 minutes (for presentation and questions/discussion). The key is to respect the fact that many presenters have travelled a long way to be able to contribute and clearly need time to set out their argument.

The online panel pages indicate the order/distribution of papers across any allocated sessions.

Registration:

All participants – panel convenors, authors, chairs, discussants, organisers, keynotes, plenary speakers, book launch convenors, roundtable convenors/chairs/discussants, guests, volunteers, committee members and those without any specific role – MUST register in advance of the event, in order to participate. Please note that this is a fully face-to-face (only) event – not hybrid – and thus there will be no remote participation.

Registration is by online form only and does not require instant payment but does indicate your commitment to attend the event. On completion of registration, you will be sent an automated notification and an invoice with payment information/link. You then have two weeks to pay. Payment can be taken online by credit card or bank transfer, and invoices should be settled within 15 days. Once you have paid, the payment will be logged, and you will be emailed a receipt.

Please do not put off registering just because you know your funding will arrive at a later date. Register when registration opens so that you can be invoiced with the lower, “early-bird” rates.

How much are conference fees?

Early-bird conference fees:

• Concession (low income*): €260
  *those with a gross annual income of below €20,000
• Full: €370

Late conference fees:

• Concession (low income*): €370
  *those with a gross annual income of below €20,000
• Full: €460

Day registration: for delegates who attend for a single day, choose the date for attending

• Early-bird: €200
• Late: €250

Registration fee includes an opening drinks reception, six tea/coffee breaks, access to all sessions and events, as well as free tickets for public transport in Prague.

Conference Dinner:

The limited number of dinner tickets (at €85) will be available when registration opens in early December 2024.

What are you paying for?

It is important for an ECAS conference to welcome as many young researchers and colleagues from the African continent to Prague as possible. We use the full price fees to subsidise the low-income registration fee, and also through funding travel and accommodation of many of those on low/no income.

Due to the recent rise in most services, space rentals, energy supply and food costs, the conference fees had to be raised. Additionally, finding sponsors for a scientific conference is very difficult. We have tried hard and have at least found some donors willing to provide some funds for delegate assistance. We have done our utmost to reduce costs without making the event less convenient or insightful for you, while sticking to ecological and sustainability standards. Therefore, we will only provide the conference program in a digital format – not as a printed book of abstracts.

Cancellation

Registrations cancelled (notifying us by email) more than three weeks (before 3 June 2025) before the conference will be refunded, less an admin fee to cover administrative and finance costs. Cancellations made within three weeks of the event will be ineligible for such a refund, due to costs already incurred. Refunds at that point will be discretionary.

Funding

ECAS aims to give grants to some precarious African scholars and African students to partially cover registration fees, as well as other costs such as accommodation, travel, and visas for F2F participation. The Call for Funding will open 15 January 2025 and end 15 February 2025. The decisions will be communicated to the applicants in late February 2025.

Communication between authors/convenors:

Convenors/authors will be able to communicate to each other using the secure communication platform.  Convenor/author email addresses are not shown on the panel pages for privacy/anti-spam reasons. However, there is an in-built secure email messaging system to give more reliable delivery. If you cannot work that, please email us to obtain relevant email addresses. The communication platform will be available once the ECAS 2025 programme is available.

Papers Transfer process:

Papers which are neither accepted nor rejected but marked for ‘transfer’ (by the panel convenors), will be given the opportunity to be re-housed into other panels. The conference organisers will contact authors of such proposals asking them to modify their abstracts to fit another panel of their choosing. It is advisable to choose panels containing fewer than the allowed maximum (10) papers which may thus be able to include a few more.

Authors will be asked to suggest two panels they would like to apply to, in order of preference. We then forward the title, short, and long abstracts to the convenors’ consideration. If the first panel rejects the proposal, we contact the second choice. Transfers which get rejected by both panels will then be set to ‘rejected’. We aim to resolve all transfers by the end of February 2025.

Any queries with the above, please email ecas2025@guarant.cz

 IMPORTANT DATES

 

Call for Papers opens	4 November 2024
Online Registration opens	early December 2024
Call for Papers Deadline	15 December 2024
Call for Funding opens	15 January 2025
Deadline for convenors	20 January 2025
Acceptance/Rejection Letters to paper authors	28 January 2025
Call for Funding Deadline	15 February 2025
All paper transfers resolved	28 February 2025
Early-bird registration closes	15 March 2025
Standard registration opens	16 March 2025