ISSOTL and its Convenings Committee welcome expressions of interest in hosting the 2018 ISSOTL annual conference. The ISSOTL Board has stated a preference for a conference location outside North America in 2018, but the Convenings Committee will consider expressions of interest from any institution or group of institutions regardless of location.  

ISSOTL works closely with local hosts to organize and run each annual conference. Hosts typically provide intellectual leadership to the conference by articulating the theme, organizing the proposal selection/review process, and constructing the conference program in collaboration with the Society, as well as identifying the location for the conference and managing all local arrangements. ISSOTL supports the hosts by offering guidance, networking, and support, as well as supplying the online system for proposal selection/review and for collecting conference registrations. 

Expressions of interest to host the 2018 conference must include: 

• Name, title/position, and institutional affiliation of primary contact and names/institutions of other proposed members of the conference organizing team
• Host institution(s)
• City and country in which conference would be held
• Intended site of the conference – a university campus, conference center, a hotel, or some other venue
• Tentative dates in October on which the conference would be held (as the conference is traditionally held in the month of October)
• A brief statement (maximim 200 words) outlining the reasons why the institution(s) and location are appealing hosts for the ISSOTL conference

Expressions of interest must be emailed to admin@issotl.com by September 4, 2016, and addressed to Katarina Mårtensson, co‐chair of the Convenings Committee and co­‐president-­elect of ISSOTL.  

The Expressions of interest will be reviewed by the Convenings Committee. Some potential hosts will be invited to submit a more detailed proposal (10-­12 pages maximum), which will be due no later than October 4. Decisions about hosting the conference in 2018 will be made by the Board in October 2016. 

Questions about expressions of interest, hosting the conference, or the selection process should be directed to Katarina Mårtensson.