The key to promoting conversations is to provide a space for interaction and discussion between presenters and session participants. Sessions will start with each presenter speaking for seven minutes, focusing on key messages, ideas, or highlighting the most important findings from their research. This session format allows the allocation of time for in-depth conversations with greater engagement for both speakers and the audience.

We welcome the submission of abstracts for presentations that are aligned with the conference’s overview and themes. The submissions should include an abstract or summary of your proposal of 250 words describing the contents of the presentation and identifying its key contribution to transformation theory and/or practice.

We are open to receiving either the submission of individual abstracts, or a collection of abstracts (a maximum of five) that contribute to a full session.

Key criteria for selection will include the extent to which an abstract:

1. Focuses on at least one of the themes of the conference;
2. Directly relates to transformations and clearly states the transformation approach;
3. Is clearly articulated; and
4. Is original, coherent and well justified.

Poster presentations provide a space for in-depth, one-on-one dialogues, enabling mutual learning between scientists and practitioners.

We welcome the submission of abstracts for poster presentations that are aligned with the conference’s overview and themes. The submissions should include an abstract or summary of your proposal of 250 words describing the contents of the presentation and identifying its key contribution to transformation theory and/or practice.

Key criteria for selection will include the extent to which an abstract:

1. Focuses on at least one of the themes of the conference;
2. Directly relates to transformations and clearly states the transformation approach;
3. Is clearly articulated; and
4. Is original, coherent and well justified.
   

This conference aims to go beyond typical conference layouts to be a creative, inspiring and innovative space. We welcome unconventional and new ways to participate and so, we encourage the submission of abstracts for video presentations that are aligned with the conference’s overview and themes. The submissions should include an abstract or summary of your proposal of 250 words describing the contents of the presentation and identifying its key contribution to transformation theory and/or practice. The following criteria also apply for video submissions in terms of what is expected.

Once your proposal is accepted, you should follow the technical terms and contents of the video described here:

1. The title of the video;
2. The names of video authors;
3. The speakers must clearly identify themselves and their practice, position, or project;
4. The video lasts no more than three minutes; and
5. It should be less than 50 MB.

Key criteria for selection will include the extent to which an abstract:

1. Focuses on at least one of the themes of the conference;
2. Directly relates to transformations and clearly states the transformation approach;
3. Focuses on transformations (e.g. we are looking for something that does not simply repackage existing ideas or concepts);
4. Is clearly articulated; and
5. Is original, coherent and well justified.

The aim of these sessions is to allow participants to present some aspect of a practice, or a wider process that is relevant to encouraging significant change, that is of interest and has the potential to be useful to practitioners, scientists and the community. It is intended that this then stimulates wider discussions on how learning about practices of change and the implementation of these can be facilitated and accelerated. Sessions will be 1.5 hours long and might include demonstrating a tool, a working method, an approach, a practice, a process, a game, or an exercise of some kind.

We welcome the submission of proposals for sessions that are aligned with the conference’s overview and themes. The submission includes a proposal of 800 words.

The structure of the proposals for these sessions includes:

1. An introduction and explanation of the practice;
2. How it directly relates to transformations;
3. The methodology for running the session (including a clear step-by-step guide as to how the session will be run); and
4. A page that summarises who is running the session.

At the end of the session, time will be allocated to reflecting on the relevance of the practice on transformation and to draw out key learning for transformation.

Key criteria for selection will include the extent to which a proposal:

1. Focuses on transformations (e.g. we are looking for something that does not simply repackage existing ideas or concepts);
2. Is directly about some aspect of practice (e.g. this can be a tool, a working method, a game, a practice, a process, an action related to helping facilitate significant change in something rather than an explanation of the results of a research study);
3. Provides participants with some kind of ‘experience’ (e.g. the session should be more experiential and not primarily based on presentations);
4. Includes a ‘practice’ that has a strong rationale or is conceptually well founded;
5. Is feasible (the proposal should have a clear facilitation plan that will work for around 10-40 people within the 1.5-hour timeframe);
6. Is clearly articulated; and
7. Is original, coherent and well justified.

The Transformations 2019 Conference will be preceded by one-day workshops (three to five workshops). The TransAction workshops seek to provide spaces for innovative and focused activity and dialogue that serves as a platform to connect people who do not normally work together and to bridging the gap between scientists, communities and practitioners, including for example social entrepreneurs, design thinkers, policy makers, business representatives, and artists. 

The workshops will focus on a few topics, such as Disaster Risk Reduction; complexity and uncertainty; and navigating from adaptation to transformation, however, proposals for other topics are welcome as long as they are aligned with the conference’s overview.

The workshops will be held the day before the main conference on October 15^th. The insights and experiences from these TransAction workshops will feed back into the conference by presenting the key points that arose from these in the plenary of the first day of the conference and will help set the scene for discussions during the conference.

If you are interested in running a workshop during Transformations 2019 please contact contact@transformations2019.org

TransAction workshops submissions involve a short 200 word abstract and a three-page proposal that should include:

1. Title of the workshop;
2. One image (copyright clear) to inspire and represent the workshop;
3. Introduction of the topic the workshop seeks to address/explore;
4. Description of the activities planned, and methodology used;
5. Intended audience and ideal number of workshop participants (no more than 30 participants);
6. Expected outcomes of the TransAction workshop;
7. A description of the type of space and equipment required; and
8. The names, biographies (maximum 100 words) and contact details of the workshop facilitators.

Key criteria for selection of TransAction workshops are:

1. Relevance to Transformation 2019 overview and themes;
2. Design that promotes innovation and dialogue, networking and collaborative potential;
3. A workshop plan for enabling participation beyond scientists and conference participants, by engaging practitioners, policy makers, communities and others;
4. Likelihood of advancing academic thinking and/or practical or policy related outcomes; and
5. Feasibility for a successful and impactful outcome.