Policies

• The symposium organizer must be a current 2025 member in good standing.
• Invited speakers must register for the meeting but need not be members.
• No speaker or organizer can participate in more than one symposium.
• Speaker substitutions are not allowed unless due to unforeseeable, valid reasons after submission.
• Online presentations are not allowed.
• If a symposium talk has more than one author, it must be presented by the first author.
• Submitting a symposium proposal or speaking in a symposium does not prevent you from submitting an abstract for a talk or poster presentation at VSS.
• Before submitting a proposal, organizers must ensure that all speakers are committed to participating in the symposium and registering for the meeting before submitting a proposal.

For questions about Symposium Submission Policies, please contact us at

Symposia are presented at the VSS 2025 Annual Meeting on the first day (Friday).

VSS 2025 will be a fully in-person meeting with no virtual components.

Four to six symposia will be scheduled, each in a 2-hour time slot.

Symposia can be organized along the lines of content or methodology, but in every case, talks within a symposium should focus on broader conceptual themes than a typical VSS presentation.

Proposals are evaluated by the VSS Board of Directors based on the following criteria:

• Scientific merit
• Theoretical and/or methodological innovation
• Timeliness
• Breadth and appeal to a substantial number of VSS attendees
• Lack of overlap with the regular program and recent symposia
• Diversity of the speakers

Symposium Format

The recommended format is four to six talks, followed by a panel discussion that involves both the speakers and the audience. The allocation of time for talks and Q&A within the 2-hour session is flexible and can be determined at the organizers’ discretion. This may include Q&A after each individual talk, concentrating it at the end of the session through a panel discussion, or a combination of both approaches. Other formats will be considered, but proposals for other formats should include a clear rationale. Symposia often benefit from a diversity of perspectives and institutional affiliations. Proposals from early career investigators are encouraged.

Symposium Information

The symposium proposal is submitted using a multi-page form that includes information describing the symposium and the talks in the symposium. A symposium may have a maximum of three organizers. A minimum of four talks is required; up to six talks are allowed. Talks must be entered in the order they will be presented. It is best to collect information about the individual talks from their authors before you start the submission process.

As the symposium organizer, you must have prior approval from your talk presenters they consent to participate in this symposium (and no other symposium), and to register and attend VSS 2025 in person to present their talk. The organizer must also agree to the Symposium Policies and disclose any Conflicts of Interest.

Required symposium information:

• Symposium title.
• Brief description of the symposium (maximum 100 words). Appears on the symposium overview page.
• Full description of the symposium (maximum 500 words). Appears on the symposium detail page.
• Estimated attendance.
• Name, affiliation, and contact information for the organizers (maximum 3 organizers).
• Acknowledgements (optional).

Required information for each talk:

• Talk title.
• Talk abstract (maximum 250 words).
• Author names and affiliations.
• Email and country of citizenship of the talk presenter (first author).
• The presenter must agree to an Ethics statement
• The presenter must disclose any Conflicts of Interest.

Organizer and Speaker Requirements

The symposium organizers (maximum of three) must be current VSS members (for 2025), but invited speakers are not required to be VSS members. All speakers are required to register for the meeting. Submitting a symposium proposal or speaking in a symposium does not prevent organizers or speakers from submitting an abstract for a talk or poster presentation at VSS. An individual may participate as organizer or speaker in only one symposium. The symposium organizer(s) may be a speaker in the symposium.

Organizers must ensure that all speakers are committed to participating in the symposium before submitting a proposal, and organizers must also ensure that speakers have not agreed to participate in more than one symposium. If a symposium talk has more than one author, it must be presented by the first author. For each speaker, please provide up to three references to published articles relevant to the proposed talk.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

It is the responsibility of the symposium organizer to disclose any relevant commercial relationships or other conflicts of interest for all speakers and their co-authors in the submitted proposal. This information must include the name of any organization with which a commercial relationship exists for both the speaker and each co-author.

Each symposium speaker must verbally disclose all relevant commercial relationships or conflicts of interest at the beginning of their talk. This information should also be included on a slide during the presentation, outlining the names of the name of the organization(s) involved with any commercial relationship(s) for the speaker and each co-author.

Compliance with this policy is a requirement.

Symposium Review

Proposals for Symposia are evaluated by the VSS Board of Directors. In addition to considering the VSS 2025 focus outlined above, our criteria include scientific merit, timeliness, theoretical innovation and breadth, methodological innovation, lack of overlap with the regular program and recent symposia, and diversity of the speakers.

Submission Schedule

Submissions Open: October 22, 2024
Submissions Close: November 15, 2024
Notification of Accepted Symposia: November 25, 2024

Submitting a Symposium

To submit a symposium, Log in to your MyVSS Account or Create a New MyVSS Account, pay for your 2025 membership, and then click the Submit a Symposium button.

For questions about Symposium Submissions, please contact us at