Submission of complete special session proposals
We invite proposals for complete special sessions on specific themes/areas within the scope of the conference. Proposals including the list of 3-4 speakers with their affiliations and their abstracts should be submitted by the prospective organizer(s) who will commit to promoting the paper submission process of their special session and chair or co-chair the session during the conference. Proposals will be considered by the Conference Programming Committee against the criteria of originality, interest and subject balance. The papers submitted to special sessions will be also individually reviewed by the Conference Committee.

Prospective organizers of special sessions should submit proposals indicating:

• Title of the session.
• Name(s) of organizer(s).
• Affiliation of the organizer(s).
• Email of main contact person.
• Description of the Special Session (in the form of a 500-1000 word outline highlighting the motivation and relevance to smart specialisation).
• Potential participants (name, affiliation, title of the contributions and abstracts when available).
• Abstracts of each proposed paper (500 words, text only, no pictures, graphs or tables, structured in the following sections: Motivation/objectives; Main research question(s); Methodology; Results; Implications and discussion; Resources/references).

Please email your proposals to Lesa Reynolds: lesa.reynolds@regionalstudies.org

General Submission of papers
Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a long abstract (500 words, text only, no pictures, graphs or tables) structured in the following sections:

• Motivation/objectives;
• Main research question(s);
• Methodology;
• Results;
• Implications and discussion;
• Resources/references.

Paper proposals will be reviewed and selected by the Conference Programming Committee against the criteria of originality, interest and subject balance.

Important details
Paper proposals should be sent through the Regional Studies Association online portal at https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=271 by Friday 17th July 2020. You will be notified of acceptance by Wednesday 30th September 2020.

Participant numbers for this "free to attend" conference are limited, travel & accommodation must be covered by the Participant).

Only one author per selected abstract will be invited to attend this conference. Please do not book your travel and accommodation until you have received an invitation. Only invited participants will be able to attend the conference.