Guest blog post by Barbara Signori and Sibyl Schaefer, iPRES 2025 Programme Committee Papers & Panels Co-Chairs
Are you interested in organizing and running a panel at iPRES 2025? Then you've come to the right place. Panels are a very popular format at iPRES conferences – they provide an opportunity to hear from a range of viewpoints and experiences on a particular topic, and always attract a large number of conference attendees. Panels are the ideal platform for experts to present and discuss a topic from different perspectives and with different views. They support the exchange of experiences and the speakers as well as the participants learn directly from each other.
For iPRES 2025, we are looking for panels with discussions addressing key issues or trends in digital preservation. It is very important to us that the panels are interactive and encourage lively discussion among the panelists and the audience. We especially encourage panel submissions to include panelists that will bring diverse perspectives to the topic, and voices which have been historically overlooked.
Here are some helpful tips and resources to support your panel submissions ahead of the 14 April 2025 deadline.
Panel submissions
Use the Workshop, Panel, Tutorial Template to submit your detailed panel proposal (up to 2 pages) for peer-review. The proposal should cover the panel topic, as well as goals, target audience, format, panelists / experts (including a facilitator, if applicable) and preferred duration (usually 60 minutes). Specify if a similar panel has been given previously at an iPRES conference, and if so, how this year's panel will be unique.
Following the formatting and guide in the template, panel submissions must include the following information:
Title: Up to 15 words.
Authors (Panelists / Experts): Indicate the name, affiliation, country, email, and ORCID ID for each.
Abstract: Provide a concise summary of your panel.
Submission Type: Panel.
Keywords: Select up to 3 terms from the iPRES vocabulary spreadsheet that best describe the content of your panel, and up to 2 additional terms of your own choosing if needed.
Conference Theme: Select one conference theme that best aligns with your panel.
Extended abstract: Provide an extended abstract that describes the content and aim of your panel. Clearly describe the topic that will be presented, its unique contribution to the field and the intended discussion. You should use the headings in the template to format your abstract.
References: Include any references, using the IEEE style outlined in the template.
Author biographies: Include a brief biography of each author, up to 50 words each.
Panel proposals will be peer-reviewed based on the following criteria:
Relevance to the conference themes.
Originality, innovation, and contribution to the field of digital preservation.
Clarity and organisation of ideas.
Significance for the digital preservation field and impact on the community.
Focus on interactive discussions about significant issues or trends in digital preservation.
iPRES 2025 will be a hybrid conference and submissions are welcome whether authors (panelists / experts) will be attending on-site or online. However, we strongly encourage on-site attendance to maximise engagement between presenters and attendees during the entire conference. Presenting authors at iPRES 2025, including panelists, must register for the conference to confirm their space on the programme.
We look forward to seeing your panel contributions!