Chicago, IL, USA
November 17-20, 2022

Deadline for Proposals: Sunday 24 April, 2022 11:59pm PDT 

The History of Science Society (HSS) will hold its 2022 annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Although the meeting format is being planned for in-person attendance, proposals for virtual presentations will also be considered.

Our conference theme is Sustainability, Regeneration, and Resiliency. We invite submissions on any topic in the history of science, but we especially encourage proposals of organized sessions and roundtables that address aspects of the conference theme, that may include, but are not limited to

• Decolonial approaches to environmental justice
• Intersections between technoscience, colonialism, and climate change
• Science in urban environmental policies and practices
• Biodiversity, ecological restoration, and environmental sciences
• Public health, biomedicine, and science policies
• Indigenous knowledges and practices
• Sustainable practices in historical scholarship and teaching
• Accessibility and work/life balance in the professions
• Justice-based approaches to disability and resiliency 
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in science, technology, and medicine
• How research in specific areas of the history of science may draw upon principles and methods of sustainability, regeneration, and resiliency

We look forward to your submissions! The following guidelines explain the available options for proposals in more detail.

Guidelines

●      You may appear only once on the program as a presenter in a regular session or roundtable—i.e., as a speaker or commentator. However, you may appear as a presenter and organizer or chair (or both organizer and chair).

●      Anyone who appears on the program must register for the meeting. Failure to pay the registration fee will result in removal from the program.

●      All abstracts must be 2,000 characters or fewer (about 250 words).

●      We encourage submission of proposals for sessions, roundtables, individual papers, flashtalks, and posters for in-person presentation.

●      To facilitate an inclusive environment and promote international participation, we encourage submissions in languages other than English, accompanied by a translated English version. Accepted presentations will also be required to provide, if necessary, English translations.

●      We will consider requests for hybrid panels that include a mix of in-person and virtual presentations as a rare contingency or for purposes of accessibility if not all presenters are able to come in-person. Sessions organizers should note whether a virtual component is proposed. We will also consider requests for delivery of pre-recorded presentations on the condition that at least one member of the associated panel will be present in Chicago to show pre-recorded presentations to in-person attendees. Session organizers are responsible for securing pre-recorded talks and making sure that these talks are the proper length and meet technical requirements. 

●      All accepted presenters consent to having their sessions delivered in a fully virtual format in the event that Chicago 2022 cannot take place as an in-person meeting, and the meeting is converted to a fully digital event. Should this be the case, sessions normally 90 minutes in length will be shortened to 75 minutes, and the maximum length of presentations will need to be shortened to fit this new allotted time accordingly.

●      The Program Chairs will make decisions on proposals accepted for the program using the following criteria: intellectual merit and quality, distinctiveness (to ensure balance in the program), sponsorship by forums or caucuses, non-duplication of speaking roles, frequency of speakers’ past acceptances in recent programs (2020 and 2021), and inclusion of diversity of participants in terms of demographics that include gender, career stage/track, geographical location, and institutional affiliation. The Program Chairs strive to accept as many proposals that meet the review criteria as can be accommodated given space and scheduling constraints.

●      Organizers who wish to include more than 4 presentations (including a commentary) in their session may propose a double session or roundtable. Those proposals should be submitted as two distinct submissions, with each clearly identified as “Part 1” and “Part 2” in the titles.

Demographic Data

Driven by our mission “to foster interest in the history of science,” the HSS collects demographic information to understand the composition of its submitting proposers, members, and meeting attendees; to identify under-served and under-represented communities; to formulate strategies to increase representation across communities; and to communicate aggregate, anonymized demographic data to its members and the public. We are cautious of the exploitation made possible by demographic data collection. Therefore, we are committed to collecting information in a manner that is voluntary, allows for self-description, and is purposeful. The information will be kept confidential, and any reporting of it will be in the aggregate and anonymized. The Program Chairs will take into consideration certain demographics in making decisions about the program, in an effort to achieve balance and diversity in the program.

Respectful Behavior Policy

All participants and attendees of the HSS Annual Meeting, whether participating in-person or virtually, are expected to act in accordance with the Respectful Behavior Policy, which can be read here.

Statement on Scholarly Conduct

HSS believes scholarly conduct should adhere to the highest ethical and professional standards. The Society expects contributors to its publications and meetings to present original work that respects the integrity of the research process and that conforms to rigorous standards in the citation and acknowledgment of the work of other scholars. The American Historical Association’s Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct is a useful guide.

Strategies for Organizing Sessions and Roundtables

To encourage and aid the creation of sessions and roundtables with strong thematic coherence that draw upon historians of science across institutions and ranks, the HSS has created a collaboration form to submit proposals in need of panelists and an Airtable to review submitted proposals. Anyone with a session, presentation, or roundtable idea seeking collaborators should post and consult the postings on the Airtable to round out a prospective session. Submitting your presentation as part of a session increases the chances for it to be accepted.


Grants Opportunities

Travel Grants 
To defray travel costs, the HSS will make available several grant opportunities.

●     We hope to be able to offer National Science Foundation travel grants to graduate students, independent scholars, and recent PhDs (degree in the past 5 years) who are participating in the meeting. Only US citizens or those studying at US institutions are eligible for NSF grants. More information will be available closer to the conference date. 

●     HSS will offer a limited number of travel grants for students, independent scholars, and recent PhDs who are participating in the meeting, but who are ineligible for NSF grants.

●     Dependent care grants (up to US$250) will be offered for those who need such assistance. These grants are available to defray the costs of care either at home or at the meeting site. 

For information on these grants, please contact us via email. 


Edward Gerjuoy/John Michell Award

Thanks to a generous gift by HSS Member Virginia Trimble, the Society will offer an award of US$500 for the best abstract submitted by an independent scholar, or a scholar working at an institution whose institution does not consider them to be affiliated or employed as a working historian. If you meet this criteria and would like to be considered, please inform your organizer or select this option on the submission form.


Submission Types

Contributed Paper
A standalone presentation no longer than 20 minutes. Accepted contributed papers will be assigned to a session with other contributed papers with similar themes. 

Organized Session
A panel about a common theme, consisting of an organizer, chair, and presenters: presenters may include three speakers and a commentator, or four speakers with no commentator. The session organizer submits all abstracts, and each presenter and, if relevant, commentator, must provide their personal profile information individually. As a session organizer, please make sure that all of your presenters submit the required information accordingly, as the organized session submission will only be accepted by the system once all this information is complete. If sessions include speakers that will present virtually, organizers should indicate so in the abstract; again, at least one participant in the session must be present in-person to manage delivery of any virtual presentations.

Roundtables
Roundtables are panels that facilitate dialogue on topical issues related to professional practice, historiographical themes, or broader social/political/cultural impacts of science and/or historical practice. Roundtables may include up to six speakers (including commentator, if desired) who speak for short periods (typically five minutes), leaving ample time for exchanges with the audience. Roundtable participants may not present in another session or roundtable. 

“Futures” Roundtables
Roundtable proposals that intend to engage participants and attendees in conversations concerning the “future of the field,” “future of the profession,” “future of the Society,” “future of ... ” (etc.), of broad interest to our community can be identified as “Futures” proposals in the title and abstract, for consideration of designation as such in the program. Alignment with the conference theme, “Sustainability, Regeneration, and Resiliency,” is especially encouraged for these proposals. Only a limited number of such roundtables will be designated as “Futures” events. Any submissions that are not accepted as “Futures” roundtables will still be considered for inclusion in the program as regular roundables.

Flashtalks
As part of a special Presidential Session, the HSS invites graduate student proposals for flashtalks. The president of HSS will evaluate abstracts and moderate the session. These flashtalks will be presentations of five minutes or less with a slide, followed by discussion. Proposals require only a title and a short abstract. Flashtalk speakers are not permitted to present in other sessions or roundtables.

Posters
We welcome proposals for poster presentations to be given in person during a poster session, which may be scheduled in conjunction with a social event during the program. Poster submissions also require a brief abstract that should include information about the physical or electronic format of the poster. Because the poster session will be conducted as an open exhibit, presenters (and co-presenters) need not plan a formal presentation conforming to a time allotment, but rather be prepared to deliver brief talking points or pitches, and to engage attendees who visit the poster in conversations regarding the content of the research highlighted by the poster.

Authors’ Book Pitches 
We invite authors of monographs and editors of collective volumes published in the history of science, technology, and medicine in 2021 or 2022 to promote their work in the community. This practice affirms our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and provides accessibility for self-promotion when in-person interaction and exchange may be limited. Authors should send to the HSS Executive Office (through this form) a 3-minute video with captions and/or transcripts, summarizing the contents of their recent publication. See further guidelines for preparing your video here. We will feature the Authors’ Book Pitches on our website during the course of the meeting (and likely at the book exhibit in person), and these will be deleted when we close our conference.


Health and Safety
The ebbs and flow of the pandemic has made it difficult to predict the prevalence of COVID-19 at any given point in time. Attendees participating in-person in Chicago will be required to be fully vaccinated, boosted, and masked during the meeting, and follow all local health policies made by the Chicago and Cook County Departments of Health. We will notifiy attendees on any changes in the health protocols of our host city nearer to the Meeting date.