Call for abstracts

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We are pleased to announce the call for abstracts for TDWG 2020, the virtual conference of Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), which will be held 19–23 October 2020 across multiple time zones. Abstracts will be submitted to and published in Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS). The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 12 August 2020. Abstracts will be peer reviewed and submission implies participation in TDWG 2020 to present the content either live or pre-recorded. Although there is no registration fee to attend the live conference, view recorded content, or read published abstracts from TDWG 2020’s virtual conference, the author submitting an approved abstract will be charged a publication fee of 40€ by the journal as part of the final submission process. If this presents a financial barrier to the author’s participation in TDWG 2020, please apply for a fee waiver here (note that you will need the ARPHA ID of your submitted abstract to fill out this form). We will try to accommodate as many applicants as possible, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.

About the conference

The theme for this year’s meeting is Biodiversity Information Standards: Integrating Data from Local to Global Solutions. In addition to opening plenaries, the conference will feature 9 symposia and 3 panel discussions as well as contributed oral presentations (recorded live or pre-recorded) and posters. Updates to the following documents will be posted as necessary on the website.

Presentations & timing

Although there are no concurrent sessions being planned, time zones will be a major factor in participation. We hope you will join us in this experiment to reimagine our in-person meetings in a virtual environment. We envision a mixture of three to four 90-minute or 2 h sessions each day, separated by at least a 30 minute break. Additional presenter instructions will be posted at a later date.

  • Contributed oral presentations - 10 minutes to present + 5 min. for questions + 5 min. to change presenters (total 20 min/presentation). Each presentation requires a published abstract.
  • Symposia may use the same format as contributed oral presentations or change the length of time that speakers are allowed. Symposia may include an introduction and discussion time. Each presentation requires a published abstract.
  • Panel discussions may have short presentations from the panel members and we encourage at least one abstract submitted to represent each session. Panel discussions will likely have 90 minute time slots.
  • Posters require a published abstract, but the authors are encouraged to reimagine what their virtual posters could be while still keeping with the spirit of an entity that is self-contained and self-explanatory, emphasizing fewer words and more graphical flow of ideas.
  • Plenary speakers will be chosen by the organizing committee and an abstract will be required.

Please send questions to: conf-organizers@tdwg.org