Guidance for presenters

The call for sessions, papers and posters is now open. We welcome sessions and papers focusing on all areas of geography. The theme for the Chair's plenaries is Borders, bordering and borderlands.

We encourage all those who submitted proposals for the postponed 2020 conference to rework and resubmit these for 2021, bearing in mind our new guidance for participation (see below). We also welcome new submissions for the programme. The online portal for submissions is now open. 

The deadline for all submissions will be Friday 12 March 2021 at 23.59 GMT. Guidance for prospective session organisers is available here.

If you have any questions, please contact ac2021@rgs.org. Please also see our Frequently Asked Questions guide. 

There is more information below for prospective presenters at the conference:

• our code of conduct at the conference;

• ways to participate;

• guidance on contribution limits;

• registration requirements;

• eligibility to contribute to the programme;

• other information.

Conduct at the conference

Please see our updated code of conduct policy for more information.

Ways to participate

Sessions convened by Research Groups and independent organisers

Sessions are proposed for the conference by Research Groups and other independent organisers. All prospective delegates are welcome to submit a paper proposal to any of the sessions advertised.

Please note that each call for contributions has its own deadline (generally much earlier than the main deadline of Friday 12 March 2021), and own process for submitting a paper proposal. Please read the call carefully and direct any questions to the session organisers. Please also note that many sessions are being rolled over from the postponed 2020 conference, and so may already be complete and/or not operating a call for additional papers.

If you are participating in an organised session, your session organiser will submit details of your paper on your behalf. You should NOT submit these separately through our online system. 

If your paper proposal to an organised session is unsuccessful, you are encouraged to re-submit the paper proposal for an 'open' session, as below. Please note that the deadline for the open call for papers is Friday 12 March 2021.  

View advertised Calls for Papers

'Open' call for papers - sessions convened by the RGS-IBG conference planning committee

Members of the geographical and related communities are invited to submit paper or poster proposals to sessions organised by the RGS-IBG conference organisers. The organisers will use the paper titles, abstracts and keywords to group them into themed sessions, and arrange a Chair for the session. Subject to scheduling limitations, the organisers do their best to accept all suitable papers submitted to open sessions for the conference. Please refer to the contribution limits below.

The information about papers accepted for organised sessions will be sent to the conference organisers by the session convenors, and should NOT be resubmitted here by authors.

Contributions that do not fit within the themes of any organised sessions and/or have not been selected for organised sessions may be submitted for consideration in 'open' sessions.

You will be asked to select whether you would like to be considered for an in-person or online session. In 2021, we will be unable to facilitate ‘hybrid’ sessions (i.e. remote presenters cannot take part in an in-person session). Should it become impossible to hold in-person sessions, all sessions will be offered the opportunity to change to online-only, or to withdraw at that stage. We will make a decision on this by May 2021, and will contact all delegates ahead of making such a change.

The deadline for the open call for papers is Friday 12 March 2021. You will need to set up an account on the conference platform, and will then be able to submit details of your abstract. Please select the 'Open Call for Papers and Posters' track. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions guide for more information. We have also put together this step by step guide to submitting your paper to the open call.

Submit your paper to the open call

Contribution limits

• Delegates will be limited to ONE paper presentation and ONE panel contribution, OR, TWO panel contributions.

• A single paper may only be presented once at the conference.

• We cannot guarantee to resolve all timetable clashes for non-presenting co-authors where they are involved in multiple sessions. 

• There is no formal limit on the number of sessions one can chair, but we encourage delegates to be realistic about what they can take on.

• There is no formal limit on the number of sessions that one can (co)convene. However, we do not undertake to resolve timetable clashes for convenors where they are involved in multiple sessions, where they are not presenting or chairing.

• Sessions can be either online OR in-person. For organised sessions, this decision sits with the session organiser, in agreement with the session contributors.

• If you are submitting an abstract to our open call for papers, you will be asked to indicate whether you would like to be considered for an in-person or online session. Please note that we reserve the right to move individual papers to an online format to ensure session viability.

• All poster presentations will be online. You can submit an abstract for your poster via the online portal above.

Registration requirements

• All programme contributors, except non-presenting co-authors, must register to attend the conference by the early bird registration deadline of Friday 18 June 2021, and pay the appropriate registration fee. 

• Some delegates, particularly those from low-income countries, may be eligible to be invited by a Society Research Group to receive waived registration fees as a Research Group Guest. Please contact the Research Group sponsoring your session, or the conference organisers, for more information. Applications must be submitted by the Chair of the Research Group in question. The scheme will open in spring 2021.

Eligibility to contribute

• We welcome attendance and participation from all members of the geographical and related communities/disciplines and other interested parties.

• Anyone can participate in the annual conference, and you do not need to be an RGS-IBG Fellow or member to attend (though discounted registration is available for Society members).

• You do not need to be a member of a Research Group to propose a contribution to a Research Group sponsored session.

• International delegates are especially welcome to propose a contribution to an organised session, or to organise a session.

• Given the content and nature of the annual conference, most student attendees are ordinarily at postgraduate level. If you are a student who is under 18 and are interested in participating in the conference, please contact the conference organisers at ac2021@rgs.org to discuss this before submitting a proposal or registering.

Other information

• The Society does not publish a proceedings of conference, either online or in print. The conference organisers therefore do not require authors to submit their full paper to us before or after the conference. Session chairs or convenors may request a copy of the paper/presentation from authors to help with discussion in the session, but this is at their discretion.

• Successful proposals, including the names and affiliations of session contributors, will be made public via the Society’s website and will be kept on record as part of the Society's historical archive.

• If authors require confirmation of paper acceptance, for example for funding applications, please contact ac2021@rgs.org for assistance.