Call for Abstracts

Note: Some information on this page is no longer current due to the COVID-19 situation. An update is in progress.

Coral reefs are at a critical junction due to a variety of stressors, casting doubts on the future of reef health globally. It is becoming increasingly clear that by the end of this century the structure, function, and services of most coral reef ecosystems will be drastically altered from their current state. Research over the past decades has been dedicated to developing predictive models of reefs and their environments. This involves responses of coral reefs, from the microbial to the ecosystem level, to projected changes and interactions with human societies. It is therefore timely to systematically take stock of the accumulated knowledge on coral reef composition and function with an eye towards the future. This outlook has to consider the socio‐economic and governance aspects in decisions that need to be taken for effective reef management.

The ICRS 2021 scientific program will therefore cover a wide range of subject areas and disciplines concerning coral reefs of the past, the present, and the future. ICRS 2021 will feature contributions ranging from geological, palaeontological, and geobiological subjects to contemporary descriptions of reef status, processes and changes including mechanisms of coral bleaching and diseases. Predictive models of reef functions, emerging technologies, conservation, restoration, and management of novel reef ecosystems are also in the thematic focus of ICRS 2021.

The overarching theme of ICRS 2021 is “Tackling the Challenging Future of Coral Reefs”.
Under this umbrella, ICRS 2021 aims to address key scientific questions, such as:

• What can we learn from the past in order to understand future reefs and their functioning?
• Which are the underlying processes driving present changes including coral bleaching, diseases, resilience, and community shift patterns in reefs?
• With increasing dominance of other functional groups, how do we renew our understanding of reef systems?
• Which novel data and observations must we capture from reefs at a wide-scale to improve our predictive understanding?
• What kinds of adaptive management, conservation, and restoration measures need to be developed for future reefs?

Session Program

The ICRS 2021 session program is divided into 15 overarching themes, composed of specialised and open sessions, which will form the framework of the scientific program.

The scientific program comprises 97 selected sessions aimed at covering the broad spectrum of topics and disciplines of the global coral reef community.

Please take a look at the many sessions proposed and submit your abstract!

Guidelines for abstract submission

Due to the new hybrid strategy, we extend the deadline for abstract submission until October 15th. This provides the opportunity to participate on-site, online, or both – and gives the necessary time to prepare new abstracts. We now particularly invite abstracts from people that want to join online only, but of course also abstracts from people that want to join on-site can be submitted until the new deadline. During the submission process, people are now asked to indicate if their submission should be presented online only. We have introduced this in order to get more quantitative information about the interest for the online component of ICRS 2021 Hybrid. As with the on-site submissions, all new abstracts will be evaluated for quality in a double-blind mode, and abstract submitters will be notified of acceptance beginning of 2021.

Only during registration (opens in early 2021), participants decide whether they want to present and register for the on-site event, online only, or both components of ICRS 2021 Hybrid. This means that participants who have already submitted their abstracts can switch to the online presentation later during registration, if the development of the pandemic makes this necessary. Registration fees for the online only option will be approximately 50 % of the rate for the on-site event. 

Resubmission of an abstract already accepted for ICRS 2020

1. Abstracts have to be resubmitted online.
2. Abstract language must be English.
3. Resubmission of an accepted abstract, according to the guidelines, directly confirms its acceptance and assigned presentation type (oral/poster) for ICRS 2021 (no abstract re-evaluation). Resubmitted abstracts will be checked by the ICRS secretariat.
4. Authors resubmit their abstract to the same session and with the same presentation type as assigned for ICRS 2020.
5. Authors enter the original abstract number generated during the submission process in 2019 (resent by email on 2 July 2020) during the resubmission process. Please enter your original Abstract Number as: "ICRS2020-_ _ _ _"
6. Authors are encouraged to update the content of their abstract if new material is available, but changes of the title and/or scope are not possible (this will be checked).
7. Presenters are limited to one (1) contribution (oral or poster presentation) in one (1) of the listed sessions.
8. Resubmitted abstracts can have a maximum of 30 authors/co-authors. Changes are possible.
9. The presenting author acts as lead contact for the respective session chairs and organisers.
10. The usage of special formatting should be limited. The correct replication in all media cannot be guaranteed.
11. Abstracts received after 15 October 2020, 23:59:59 CEST cannot be considered.
12. Changes and corrections (except for title and scope) may be executed before this deadline.
     

Submission of a new abstract / or resubmission of an already accepted poster for new consideration as an oral presentation at ICRS 2021

1. Abstracts have to be submitted online.
2. Abstract language must be English.
3. All listed sessions will be publicly open for submissions. Only exception: The Open Session of every theme is only open for new poster submissions.
4. Presenters are limited to one (1) contribution (oral or poster presentation) in one (1) of the listed sessions. A new abstract submission is only possible without the resubmission of a previously accepted abstract.
5. Individual co-authorship (not presenting) is not limited.
6. For resubmitted abstracts previously accepted as poster, please DO NOT enter the original abstract number for ICRS 2020.
7. The presenting author acts as lead contact for the respective session chairs and organisers.
8. Any abstract submitted can have a maximum of 30 authors/co-authors.
9. Submit an informative title (max. 150 characters) and a short abstract (max. 2,500 characters). The text has to be orthographically suitable for publishing.
10. Do not include any information about the authorship or source in the title and text section, as all abstracts will be reviewed and selected in "blind" mode (without knowing the identity of the authors).
11. The usage of special formatting should be limited. The correct replication in all media cannot be guaranteed.
12. Abstracts received after 15 October 2020, 23:59:59 CEST cannot be considered.
13. Changes and corrections may be executed before this deadline.
     

Follow-up procedures:

1. New abstracts and resubmissions of previously accepted poster presentations, where authors prefer a new consideration for oral presentation at ICRS 2021, will be evaluated by the responsible session chairs.
2. Session chairs (principal and co-chairs) will receive an email providing access to an online evaluation service, which will guide them through the process of reviewing and selecting the abstracts submitted to their session. Only new submissions and resubmissions of previously accepted posters as oral presentations will be evaluated.
3. Session chairs will complete the review of new submissions as oral or poster presentations in "blind" mode (authors' identity hidden). 
4. The ICRS 2021 Secretariat will view the chair's selection in "open" mode (author identity visible) and, if necessary, coordinate a balanced composition of speakers/presenters with the principal chair.
5. Abstract submitters will be notified of acceptance beginning of 2021.
6. Presenters with an accepted contribution must confirm their participation by registering. During registration (opens in early 2021), participants decide whether they want to present and register for the on-site event, online only, or both components of ICRS 2021 Hybrid. 
7. Sessions will consist of oral and/or poster presentations. Oral presentations will last for 12 min, followed by 2 min for questions.
8. ICRS 2021 organisers cannot provide financial support towards presentation costs. Presenters fund their own registration, travel and accommodation costs.

For all queries, please contact: office@icrs2021.de