Conference date:Â Thursday 15th September 2022 – from 09:00 – 17:00 CEST. Conference to be held virtually.
The FAO ASFA Secretariat and AquaDocs (IODE and IAMSLIC) are issuing a call for proposals for their joint conference: Aquatic Science Information Professionals Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The call for proposals will be open until 15th July 2022. This one day conference will provide a forum to share experiences of information professionals working in aquatic science sectors that support, or contribute to meeting, the SDGs. Librarians, Information Managers, Data Managers, Publications and Communications Officers working in aquatic sciences, fisheries or aquaculture are invited to submit proposals to the conference which could fall under one or more of the below themes. Whilst SDG14 – Life Below Water perhaps most obviously links to aquatic science librarianship, we welcome proposals that cover any of the 17 SDGs, for example SDG 2 – Zero Hunger, SDG 4 – Quality Education, SDG 5 Gender Equality, SDG 13 – Climate Action are all relevant to the work of aquatic science information professionals.
Conference Themes
- How the librarian profession contributes to the UN SDGs – Librarian skills such as effective information management and sharing is vital to meeting each of the SDGs. Proposals on the role librarians can play now and in the future to help achieve the SDGs are welcomed, with a particular focus on Open Access information and how librarians can improve the accessibility of aquatic science research outputs (particularly from the global south and communities underrepresented by commercial publishers).
- Library services or projects that support the UN SDGs – Library services such as reference services, literature searches, information and literacy programmes (ILP), research data management services, and training sessions to students and future researchers, can all contribute to meeting SDGs. Likewise, many libraries directly support the work of their institution by contributing to projects. Proposals are welcomed on the work of libraries that lead to a direct or indirect support to the SDGs.
- Information or data products that support the UN SDGs – Any repository, database or information product that supports one or more of the UN SDGs could be presented at this conference.
How to submit your proposal
Proposals should consist of an abstract (maximum 500 words) which outlines your presentation. This should be emailed to tamsin.vicary@fao.org by 15 July 2022.Proposals will be reviewed and the Conference Programme will be finalised by 31st July by which date you will be notified of whether your proposal is accepted. Anyone thinking of submitting a proposal is welcome to contact Tamsin Vicary for an informal discussion.
The Conference will offer two types of presentation, please indicate which of the below options you wish to present:
Flash presentation – each flash presentation will be allocated 5 minutes, with presenters expected to be available to answer questions afterwards.
Full length presentation – each full length presentation will be allocated a total of 30 minutes. This will be expected to consist of 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions and answers. To accommodate different time zones, presentations can be recorded and sent in advance if the speaker prefers.
Information for presenters
Following the conference, we will ask presenters to share their presentation and provide a written paper on their presentation topic by 30 November 2022. The Conference proceedings will be published in the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Proceedings series.
