Call for Symposia for the 2025 Evolution Meeting

ABOUT

The 2025 Evolution meeting, the joint meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the American Society of Naturalists, and the Society of Systematic Biologists, will be held in two parts: a virtual portion on May 29-30, and an in-person portion on June 20-24 in Athens, GA, USA. 

SSE Council invites proposals for two sponsored symposia at the in-person meeting, and one at the virtual meeting. Symposia should highlight new topics, provide new perspectives, and/or generate new syntheses. Each in-person symposium will consist of two 75 minute sessions separated by a coffee break; the virtual symposium schedule will likely be the same or very similar. Applicants have the option to indicate whether they are willing to host their symposium in-person only, virtual only, or either.

SSE Council seriously considers the diversity of participants as a criterion for symposium funding. Symposium organizers are expected to take into account gender, seniority, nationality, and other axes of diversity traditionally underrepresented in Society symposia, and to describe their efforts to do so in the proposal. 

The Society provides travel support for organizers and participants in sponsored in-person symposia, up to $7000 USD per symposium. SSE will accept requests for additional funds for dependent care costs if this would allow a speaker to accept an invitation to speak in a sponsored symposium. For the virtual symposium, costs of speaker and organizer virtual-only registration will be covered, if necessary (those attending the in-person meeting get virtual registration included so do not need an extra virtual-only registration).

The deadline to submit a symposium proposal is January 6, 2025. Applicants will be notified by the end of January.
 
ELIGIBILITY

At least one of the symposium organizers submitting the proposal must be an SSE member. Invited speakers are not required to be SSE members.
 

HOW TO APPLY

Symposium proposals must include:

• A symposium title and list of organizers, with affiliations.
• An indication of whether the proposed symposium is to be considered for in-person only, virtual only, or both.
• A synopsis of the symposium theme (one page). This synopsis should clarify what is novel or synthetic about the symposium and why it would be of interest to the membership of the society.
• A statement that the symposium and its participants are unique among recent SSE sponsored symposia (one paragraph). Symposia from the past several SSE meetings should be consulted to ensure that there have not been recent related symposia (see below). In case of overlap, the proposal must differentiate itself clearly from recent symposia. If the proposed topic helps fill a gap in the areas covered by past SSE symposia (e.g., in terms of sub-field or taxonomic focus), this should be highlighted.
• A list of invited speakers, including institutional affiliations, career stage (i.e., student, postdoc, junior scientist <10 years post-PhD, senior scientist), and tentative talk titles. Organizers may or may not be speakers.
• A description of how the topic of each speaker’s proposed talk fits together with the theme of the proposal (one page). This is particularly important in cases where the connection of a title to the topic and/or to the field of evolution is less clear. This section should provide a rationale for how the talks will fit together to support the theme of the symposium.
• A statement that all potential speakers have been contacted and agree to participate in the symposium.
• A diversity statement detailing the ways in which the organizers have ensured that the speakers reflect an array of perspectives (one paragraph). Symposium organizers are expected to take into account gender, seniority, nationality, and other aspects historically excluded in Society symposia when preparing proposals.
• A reference section.

Proposals must be sent as a single PDF to Howard Rundle (execvp@evolutionsociety.org) with the subject “SSE Symposium Proposal.” Please expect and request confirmation of receipt of the proposal.

 
DEADLINE

To be assured of full consideration, proposals must be received by January 6, 2025. Decisions will be sent to applicants by the end of January.

Past Sponsored Symposia

2023: Evolution 2023, Albuquerque, New Mexico

• "The Rebirth of Comparative Phylogeography" [Organizers: Isaac Overcast, Megan Smith, and Scott Edwards] - Watch on YouTube
• "Developing culturally relevant and respectful science education, research, and mentorship for Diné (Navajo) Students" [Organizers: Sterling Martin, Susana Wadgymar, and Joanna Bundus]

2022: Evolution 2022, Cleveland, Ohio

• Evolution in the tropics: 70 years since Dobzhansky [Organizers: Oscar Vargas, Kathleen Kay]

2019: Evolution 2019, Providence, Rhode Island

• Integrating ecological interactions into macroevolution [Organizers: David Hembry, Marjorie Weber]
• Outside the models for understanding the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex determination: insights from fishes, amphibians, and reptiles [Organizers: Max Lambert, Rob Denton, John Malone]

2018: [Not applicable. Joint meeting with ESEB.]

2017: Evolution 2017, Portland, Oregon

• Evolution in Urban Ecosystems [Organizers: Emily Puckett and Jason Munshi-South]
• The Impact of Stress on Genetic Variation [Organizer: Laurie Stevison]

2016: Evolution 2016, Austin, Texas

• How and why? Towards an evolutionary physiological synthesis [Organizer: Chris Muir]
• Co-evolving genomes: Cooperation and conflict in cytonuclear interactions [Organizers: Justin Havird, Geoffrey Hill, and Daniel Sloan]

2015: Evolution 2025, Guarujá, Brazil 

• Epigenetics and Evolutionary Processes [Organizers: Joshua Banta and Christina Richards]
• The multiple dimensions of biodiversity science [Organizers: Ana Carnaval and Christopher Dick]
• When Gene Flow Really Matters: Gene Flow and Applied Plant Evolutionary Biology [Organizer: Norman C. Ellstrand]