Call for Session Proposals at Science Summit at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) 12-29 September 2023

Submission Deadline: 1st May 2023

You can propose a session in which you will act as the convener, or you can propose yourself as a speaker. As convener you will organise the session by submitting the abstract and organizing the speakers that will participate in that session. Where you present yourself as speaker, the data for the convener and one speaker are the same.

By way of guidance, please consider the following:

– You may find it helpful to look at the agenda for the Science Summit at UNGA77 which took place in New York and online from 13-30 September 2022. You can view session abstracts and speaker profiles;

– Typically, sessions should last 2h30m, but we apply a lot of flexibility to this timeframe;

– All sessions should be gender balanced and inclusive. Inclusive can mean many things: in this context, it means trying to include at least one speaker from each inhabited continent. We, as organisers are happy to support you in this objective if needed;

– The broad summit objective will be to advance awareness of the contribution of science and innovation to the SDG agenda. You may wish to focus on a specific SDG or a horizontal aspect of the SDGs, such as enabling partnerships. Please also address possible issues and priorities for the UN Summit of the Future planned for 2024.

– We invite proposals for sessions on all aspects of physical and natural sciences. We also support sessions on related themes and topics, including financing science and research, the impact of data protection and other regulations, frugal innovation, the contribution of women in science and in particular, the inclusion of women in science policymaking, showcasing leadership from emerging economies, amongst others;

Key policy and programme developments include:

You may propose a physical session in New York, a hybrid session which will include virtual participation; or a fully virtual session. We welcome all formats.

The organizational model requires conveners to arrange their own meeting venue in New York. This ensures that the Summit participation remains free for all. We provide guidelines on how to organise a meeting venue, so please ask. In 2022, 47 UN Permanent Missions collectively hosted 82 sessions. In addition, due to Covid restrictions, it was not possible to convene any meeting in the UN HQ in 2022. This will be possible in 2023 but does require that a request to your nation’s Permanent Mission is made as soon as possible in 2023. Please check with us to find out if your county hosted a session in 2022.

We encourage all participants who will need one to apply for a Visa to enter the US as soon as possible. We are happy to provide a letter of invitation to support your visa application, so let us know.

If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you want to discuss your proposal ideas, please contact:

Declan Kirrane

Email: declan.kirrane@iscintelligence.com

Submission Form

1Convener details
2Speakers
3Session Information

Convener's contact details

For social media promotion of your session