Proposals should contain the following:
• the names of the local organizing committee members
• the applicants’ names, institutions and a 2-page CV for each
• the proposed location of the conference (with a description of the venue)
• details of previous involvement of the organizers in ESERA events and a rationale (500-1000 words) indicating why the proposal should be chosen
Things to know
• Plans for the summer school must include three possible formats:
o full participant in-person attendance (traditional arrangements)
o full virtual participation
o a hybrid summer school where there is a mixture of in-person and virtual attendees.
• Since a full virtual or hybrid summer school will require extra planning beyond traditional arrangements, the organizing group needs to have the personnel resources and extra time as a part of their proposal.
• The board is interested in locations accessible (both geographically and financially) to a large number of European Science Education PhD students.
• Countries where the Summer School has not previously been held are encouraged to apply.
• The principal organizer(s) is/are expected to attend the summer school prior to the summer for which they are bidding. This person will participate in the summer school and be ESERA funded financially by the Board.
• The Summer School is paid for by student contributions (usually less than 400 euros) as well as an ESERA Board contribution. These funds pay for room and board for all students and staff, venue costs if not donated by the sponsoring university and a social function during the summer school week. Depending on the country and location of the summer school, additional funds, perhaps 15,000 euros donated from a local agency may be needed. These funds may not be necessary if local room, board and venue expenses are covered by student and Board contributions.
• The maximum that students should have to pay has ranged from 350€ to 400€ for lodging and food. Forty-nine students will be selected to attend. Two of the 49 are selected by NARST each year and are also funded by NARST.
• A venue at or near the organizer’s university facilities is preferred since it helps with planning and organization and saves money.
• The Summer School needs a lecture hall for 80 persons (for a daily plenary, but this is not required for the full duration of each day); seven group rooms with projection (nine persons in each room) and three or four workshop rooms (25 persons in each room).
• Meeting rooms and participant residences close to one another are highly desirable.
• At least 2/3rds of the residence rooms should be single rooms with some doubles for students who prefer to share and save money. Staff should be accommodated in single residence rooms in the same or a near-by facility.
• Digital capabilities among the organizing group need to be able to handle, if needed, a hybrid or virtual summer school. Some elements of even a fully site-based summer school will also require digital skills, such as digital presentation and review of posters. The local organizing group may also want to post a unique web-site for their summer school, using their own university expertise.
• The number of student and staff applicants varies greatly from year to year. Recent ranges have been from 60 to 100 PhD students and from 25 to 40 staff. An important task for the organizing committee is to arrange for the review of the student applications by ESERA members and then for the committee to make final student choices and develop a matrix of staff based on the applicants for approval by the Board. That means that all staff and students attending the summer school are selected from applications.
The sequence for selecting the ESERA Summer School 2022 organizers
• Announcement call October 2020
• Proposals due January 31, 2021
• Decision made at ESERA Board meeting in March 2021
• One or two organizers of 2022 attend the 2021 Summer School in the Poznań, Poland (July 5 to July 9th 2021) on-site or virtually
Conference
