Call for Proposals

2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening

Call for Proposals

Advancing equity in STEM requires an intentional focus on creating authentic, sustainable, and inclusive environments while simultaneously cultivating a community that collaborates, shares, and implements promising practices and tools shown to affect systemic change.
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At the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening, researchers, practitioners, and change agents have an opportunity to share new research findings and exchange resources; brainstorm strategies; collaborate in novel ways; and demonstrate effective programs and interventions for greater collective impact on academic STEM workplaces and professions.

Submit Proposal

General Guidelines

In lieu of traditional text-based abstracts, only visual abstracts will be accepted. Participants whose proposals are accepted are required to register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening and attend their scheduled presentation.

Timeline

December 16, 2024, 11:59pm PDT – Submissions Close
February 7, 2025 – Acceptance Notifications and
Session Assignments Distributed
May 9, 2025 – Presentation Materials Due
June 1-4, 2025 – 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM
Community Convening

Quick Links

Session Types Visual Abstracts Submission Process Appendix Download PDF of Call for Proposals Submit Proposal

Send general inquiries to [email protected]

“The networking was amazing!”

Convening Attendee

About the Convening

Since 2019, the National Science Foundation - funded ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening (EiSCC) has served as the convening for NSF ADVANCE grantees in a format that facilitates engagement with change agents within and beyond the NSF ADVANCE community. The 2025 ADVANCE EiSCC brings together a variety of change makers from higher education, professional societies, industry, government, and non-profits in an engaged exchange of knowledge, resources, and support to drive systemic change in STEM.

Attendees have an opportunity to share new research findings and exchange resources; brainstorm strategies; collaborate in novel ways; and demonstrate effective programs and interventions for greater collective impact. We invite all ADVANCE grantees alongside not-yet funded institutions of higher education, professional societies, nonprofits, companies, and more to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in STEM at the 2025 ADVANCE EiSCC.

Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network seeks to achieve intersectional gender equity for faculty in higher
education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. As the STEM equity brain trust, the ARC Network recognizes the achievements made so far while producing new perspectives, methods, and interventions with an intersectional, intentional, and inclusive lens.

The leading champion in North America to propel the inclusion of women in the field of engineering, the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), is the home organization to the ARC Network.

Call for Proposals

Session Types

Regardless of session type, all presentation proposals and resulting presentations should incorporate intersectionality throughout and should be designed with accessibility in mind.

Poster Showcase

The Poster Showcase allows for informal discussions among attendees. Poster presenters will summarize their efforts while providing an excellent opportunity for attendees to learn about and provide feedback on initiatives that have been implemented at institutions across the country.
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The final poster must adhere to all size and printing guidelines listed in Appendix I.

To learn more about the submission process for the Poster Showcase, please visit Appendix I.

High 5 Talks

This presentation format challenges scholars to delineate the highlights of their intersectional gender equity work and explain its importance in a span of 5 minutes. High 5 Talks provide an opportunity for scholars to share and receive feedback on projects at any stage of development, hear about other types of projects and methods, and network with other researchers and practitioners dedicated to advancing intersectional equity in STEM.
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To learn more about the submission process for the High 5 Talks, please visit Appendix II.

Experience Reports

Attendees want to learn about and adopt emerging practices from existing efforts. These one hour and 15-minute presentations are for well- developed and/or later-stage programs, initiatives, research, and interventions designed to examine and promote intersectional equity in STEM. For all Experience Report presentations, audience engagement is strongly encouraged. Possible presentation styles include but are not limited to the following

Lecture with engagement component
Roundtable/Conversation Hour
Panel Discussion

To learn more about the submission process for Experience Report Presentations, please visit Appendix III.

Early-Stage Innovations

These one hour and 15-minute informative presentations should introduce new or early-stage projects, initiatives, research, and interventions designed to examine and promote intersectional equity in STEM. Early-Stage Innovation presentations are meant to help develop, inform, and receive community feedback on new projects or works-in-progress. For all Early-Stage Innovation presentations, audience engagement is encouraged. Possible styles can include but are not limited to the following:

Roundtable/Conversation Hour
Panel Discussion
Open Fishbowl
Open Space

To learn more about the submission process for the Early-Stage Innovations, please visit Appendix III.

Symposia

A Symposium is a multi-presenter session including a well-integrated set of research or practice content and is one hour and 15 minutes in length.

Basic criteria include:

The topic should be novel, timely, and interesting to a broad range of researchers and practitioners in STEM and incorporate intersectionality throughout.
The proposed list of speakers should represent a good balance between established and new investigators and have equitable representation regarding speaker demographics and institution type.

Submissions must provide a statement describing how the proposed speaker lineup incorporates a diversity of experiences, including demographic factors, career stages, institutional settings, etc.

For increased audience interaction, the chairperson can facilitate a discussion at the end of the Symposium. Other options for audience interaction are welcome.
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To learn more about the submission process for the Symposium, please visit Appendix IV.

Pre-Conference Workshops

Workshops are structured to facilitate a deeper look into critical topics and challenges in implementing and sustaining intersectional equity efforts in STEM. These 2-hour sessions are held before the start of the convening, should be interactive, and may include lectures, panels, research findings, promising practices, case studies, real-world issues, and more. The basic criteria for workshops include:

A set of learning outcomes
Topics that are novel, timely, and interesting to a broad range of researchers and practitioners in STEM.
Actionable takeaways so that attendees leave with a blueprint for moving forward in addressing the topic of focus in their own organizations.

To learn more about the submission process for the workshops, please visit Appendix V.

Visual Abstracts

As part of the submission process, prospective presenters will upload a visual abstract detailing their plans and desired outcomes for the session. Visual abstracts can be completed using any presentation software (PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, etc.) but must be submitted in one of the following file formats: ppt, pptx, pdf. To ensure your visual abstract is accessible to reviewers, here are some best practices for creating accessible slide decks.

Visual Abstract Guidelines

Do not submit your final poster/slide deck as your proposal. The purpose of the visual abstract is to provide a summary of your presentation plan, not the presentation itself. The following guidelines cover the areas reviewers will consider as they assess proposals.

For Poster Showcase, High 5 Talks

Submit a 2-slide maximum with the following:

Slide 1: Title, Presenters, & Session Rationale
- Session title
- Presenter names
- A succinct list of clear learning outcomes
- Succinct statement on why the work matters for intersectional STEM equity in STEM
Slides 2: Audience & Outcomes
- Session goals
- Definition of your primary audience(s)
- Succinct list of learning outcomes

Early-Stage Innovations & Experience Reports

Submit a 3-slide maximum with the following:

Slide 1: Title, Presenters, & Session Rationale
- Session title
- Presenter names
- A succinct list of clear learning outcomes
- Succinct statement on why the work matters for intersectional STEM equity in STEM
Slides 2: Audience & Outcomes
- Session goals
- Definition of your primary audience(s)
- Succinct list of learning outcomes
Slide 3: Session Plan & Engagement
- Brief description of the session format and plan
- Description of how you plan on engaging attendees during the session

Symposia

Submit a 4-slide maximum with the following:

Slide 1: Title, Presenters, & Session Rationale
- Session title
- Presenter names
- A succinct statement on why the work being presented matters for intersectional equity in STEM
Slides 2: Audience & Outcomes
- Session goals
- Definition of your primary audience(s)
- Succinct list of learning outcomes
Slide 3: Session Plan & Engagement
- Brief description of the session format and plan
- Description of how you plan on engaging attendees during the session
Slide 4: Speaker Diversity
- Brief description of how the proposed panel’s speaker lineup incorporates a diversity of experiences and expertise, including demographic factors, career stages, institutional settings, and more

Pre-Conference Workshops

Submit a 4-slide maximum with the following:

Slide 1: Title, Presenters, & Session Rationale
- Session title
- Presenter names
- A succinct statement on why the work being presented matters for intersectional equity in STEM
Slides 2: Audience & Outcomes
- Session goals
- Definition of your primary audience(s)
- Succinct list of learning outcomes
Slide 3: Session Plan & Engagement
- Brief description of the session format and plan
- Description of how you plan on engaging attendees during the session
Slide 4: Presenter Background
- Brief description of the expertise and/or background of each presenter specific to the topic proposed

icon Call for Proposals Now Open

Submit Proposal

Call for Proposals

Submission Process

Submit Proposal Download Guidelines PDF

Information must be submitted at one time, as there is no option to save a draft and return later.

Individuals may only submit up to 3 sessions, regardless of whether they are a primary or
secondary presenter.

No more than 2 presentations will be accepted; however, Pre-Conference Workshops do not count against this limit.

Each proposed session must be submitted separately.

Please be sure to submit the same demographic information across multiple presentations.

Demographic Information for Each Presenter

Name (denote primary contact)
Institution/Organization (200 characters maximum)
Position/Title (128 characters maximum)
Email Address
Bio—highlights expertise to lead a session in proposed topic area (50 words maximum)
Headshot

Presentation Content

This portion of the submission form is used to provide details that will help the program team create the strongest program possible. Please review the Appendices to ensure you understand session requirements if your proposal is accepted.

Title (20 word maximum)
Session Type (select one)
- Poster Showcase
- High 5 Talks
- Experience Reports
- Early-Stage Innovations
- Symposia
- Pre-Conference Workshops
Session Description – To be published online, in the app, and in print materials (50 word maximum)
Keywords/Phrases – list of keywords and phrases related to your topic and session
Visual abstract upload - must be submitted in one of the following file formats: ppt, pptx, pdf

Option to be Live Streamed

This year, we are offering some of our concurrent sessions in a hybrid format in which onsite presentations will also be live streamed for our virtual attendees. Sessions with a panel and audience Q&A are most conducive to this format.

During the submission process, you will have the option to indicate whether you are interested in having your session live streamed.

Livestreaming availability is not guaranteed.

Certification of Submissions

Changes to Accepted Presentations – If there are substantive changes to the content or presenters of an accepted presentation between the confirmation and the conference start date, the main presenter will notify conference planners immediately. Continuation of the session is at the discretion of the conference planners. Changes to submitted presentation materials will not be accepted after May 9, 2025.

Presentation Submission Deadline

To increase accessibility of presentations and posters, we require that all final presentations and posters be submitted electronically by Monday, May 9, 2025. Failure to meet this deadline will result in forfeiture of your proposal acceptance. All final materials will be included in the conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening as well as in the ARC Network Resource Library.

icon Call for Proposals Now Open

Submit Proposal

Call for Proposals

Appendix

Appendix I: Poster Showcase

Overview

Thank you for considering participation in the Poster Showcase at the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening. Meeting participants attend to become familiar with institutions and projects focused on transformational change, promising practices, and lessons learned.

Accepted poster presenters must submit a final electronic poster file by May 9, 2025. Electronic versions of all posters will be uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library and conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Once a visual abstract is approved, the presenter will be provided with session information, including date, time, and room. Please note that poster shipping and production costs are NOT reimbursable by the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening or WEPAN.

All presenters are required to register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.
Presenters must be present at their poster during their scheduled time to present their poster and answer questions. Presenters must arrive at their assigned station at least 10 minutes prior to their designated time slot.
Only those attending the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening are eligible to submit a visual abstract and present during the Poster Showcase.

Poster Size

Posters should not be greater than 4ft wide and 4ft. tall (48 in. x 48 in.). Power supplies (such as electricity) will not be available. If you require power or have any other requests for your poster display, please contact us no later than May 9, 2025, and the request will be reviewed. Questions about poster session and guidelines can be directed to [email protected].

Accessibility

Please consider the following resources when designing and presenting a poster:

Appendix II: High 5 Talks

Overview

Thank you for considering participation in the High 5 Talks at the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening. This presentation format challenges scholars to delineate the highlights of their work and explain its importance in a span of 5 minutes. High 5 talks provide an opportunity for scholars to share and receive feedback on projects at any stage of development, hear about other types of projects and methods, and network with other researchers and practitioners dedicated to advancing equity in STEM.
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High 5 Talk presenters must submit supporting handouts and final presentation decks by May 9, 2025. These materials will be uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library and conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.

Eligibility and Guidelines

High 5 Talk presenters are required to register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening. Detailed information, guidelines, and recommendations for high 5 talks, as well as day, time and room will be sent to duly registered presenters.

Recommendations

Keep it Simple: What is most important for the audience to take away from the session?
Keep it Succinct: A small number of slides should feature only the most pertinent information on the topic.
Keep it Straightforward: Presentations should be direct. Content should be summarized and portrayed visually, such as with information detailed in a graph.

Accessibility

Please consider the following resources when designing and presenting a presentation and handouts:

Appendix III: Experience Reports and Early-Stage Innovations

Overview

Experience Report presentations are for well-developed and/or later-stage programs, initiatives, research, and interventions designed to examine and promote equitable work environments from an intersectional perspective. For Experience Report presentations, audience engagement is strongly encouraged. This session is one hour and fifteen minutes in length.
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Early-Stage Innovation presentations are for new and early-stage programs, initiatives, research, and interventions designed to examine and promote equitable work environments from an intersectional perspective. Early-Stage Innovation presentations are meant to help develop, inform, and provide feedback to works-in-progress. For Early-State Innovation presentations, audience engagement is strongly encouraged. This session is one hour and fifteen minutes in length.
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Accepted Experience Reports and Early-Stage Innovation presentations must submit supporting handouts and final presentation decks by May 9, 2025. These materials will be uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library and conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Accepted presenters are required to register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening. Detailed information, guidelines and recommendations for Experience Reports and Early-Stage Innovation sessions, as well as day, time and room will be sent to duly registered presenters.
Only those attending the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening are eligible to submit a visual abstract for the Experience Reports and Early-Stage Innovation sessions.

Accessibility

Please consider the following resources when designing and presenting a presentation and handouts:

Appendix IV: Symposia

Overview

A Symposium is a multi-presenter session including a well-integrated set of research or practice content and is one hour and fifteen minutes in length. The proposed list of speakers should represent a good balance between established and new investigators and have equitable representation regarding speaker demographics and institution type.

Symposia presenters must submit supporting handouts and final presentation decks by May 9, 2025. These materials will be uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library and conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.

Basic criteria include:

The topic should be novel, timely and interesting to a broad range of researchers and practitioners in STEM.
All Symposia submissions must provide a statement describing how the proposed speaker lineup incorporates a diversity of experiences, including demographic factors, career stages, institutional settings, etc.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Symposia presenters must register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening. Detailed information, guidelines, and recommendations as well as day, time and room will be sent to duly registered presenters.
Only those attending the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening are eligible to submit a visual abstract for Symposia.

Accessibility

Please consider the following resources when designing and presenting a presentation and handouts:

Appendix V: Pre-Conference Workshops

Overview

Workshops are structured to facilitate a deeper look into critical topics and challenges in implementing and sustaining social equity efforts in STEM. These 2-hour sessions should be interactive and may include lectures, panels, research findings, promising practices, case studies, real-world issues, and valuable expertise by experienced workshop facilitators and presenters.
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Pre-Conference Workshop presenters must submit supporting handouts and final presentation decks by May 9, 2025. These materials will be uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library and conference app for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.
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Basic criteria include:

The workshop should include a set of learning outcomes
Topic should be novel, timely and interesting to a broad range of researchers and practitioners in STEM
Attendees should leave with a blueprint for moving forward in addressing the topic of focus in their own organizations

Eligibility and Guidelines

All presenters are required to register for the 2025 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.
Detailed information, guidelines, and recommendations for high 5 talks, as well as day, time and room will be sent to duly registered and accepted presenters.

Accessibility

Please consider the following resources when designing and presenting a presentation and handouts:

icon Call for Proposals Now Open

Submit Proposal

Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. As the STEM equity brain trust, the ARC Network recognizes the achievements made so far while producing new perspectives, methods and interventions with an intersectional, intentional and inclusive lens. The leading champion in North America to propel the inclusion of women in the field of engineering, the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), serves as the backbone organization of the ARC Network.