Call for Expressions of Interest for organizing the ESRS conference 2011
This is the official call for expressions of interest for arranging and hosting the XXIII European
Congress for Rural Sociology in 2011. The responsibility for ESRS congresses will be shared between
a local arrangement committee and a scientific committee. The local arrangement committee will be formed by the host institute and will handle all local arrangements. The scientific committee will be appointed by the ESRS council at a later stage. The scientific committee will handle the scientific programme and will develop the conference theme, preferably in discussion and agreement with the
local team.
Expressions of interests should be specified according to the below guidelines and submitted to the President of the Society before March 1st, 2009.
Specifications in the expression of interest:
When expressing your interest, please provide information on the following:
1. Contact person for the bid: name, mailing address, phone and fax, email.
2. Name and short CV of the proposed chair of the Local Arrangement Committee.
3. Name of the guest institution.
4. Proposed meeting site and description of it: meeting facilities for plenary sessions and working groups.
5. Location: travel distance to nearest international airport; accommodations available to participants and projected room prices.
6. A preliminary budget, following the form attached [xls], with projected registration fees in Euro: assuming 300 paid registrants; splitting up costs for the congress, one excursion day, a welcoming buffet and closing dinner/party.
7. Proposed dates of the Congress (preferably second half of August).
8. Some ideas about a potentially relevant conference theme, to be discussed and agreed upon with the scientific committee.
On the basis of the expression of interests the ESRS council will select eligible candidates before the end of April 2009 and ask for a more detailed elaboration of their proposal and budget by June 30th, 2009. Choice between candidates will finally be based on:
• Financial soundness of the congress budget;
• Commitment of the organizing team;
• Adequacy, appropriateness and accessibility of the venue;
• Attractiveness of the location.
Following the announcement of the winning bid, a Memorandum of Understanding shall be drawn up between the bidding institution and ESRS in which the responsibilities of the local arrangement committee and ESRS will be explained and agreed upon. On behalf of ESRS the Scientific Committee will work together with the winning bid to bring about a successful conference.
Exeter, September 2008, Jo Little, President ESRS
Please send the bids to
Minna Lehtola, secretary of ESRS
Swedish School of Social Sciences
University of Helsinki
PO box 16
00014 Helsinki
Finland
Email: minna.lehtola AT helsinki.fi