Symposia

The symposia are perhaps the best known of all our meetings. They have a distinctive identity: limited to 25–30 invited participants, they are designed to bring together scientists with differing backgrounds and skills who have a common area of interest, and to provide a suitable environment for the generation of new ideas. Over the three days, about half the time is reserved for discussion. It is an essential element in the design of the symposia that all members should contribute: the discussants are as important to the success of the symposium as the paper-givers. Eight symposia are held annually and research workers from 60 countries have participated in these meetings over the years. 

We have held several hundred symposia covering a wide range of topics. We concentrate on topics in which active research is taking place: there has been particularly rapid growth in the numbers of meetings on immunology, genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, molecular genetics and neurobiology over the past decade; agricultural and environmental topics have been included in the programme; and there have been fewer meetings devoted to purely clinical subjects in recent years. The archive provides a complete list of the symposia held since 1949.

How are symposia organized?

The decision to adopt a particular proposal is made about 12 months before the meeting takes place. A member of our senior scientific staff is nominated as organizer, who then consults leading research scientists in the field before selecting the topics for each session, speakers, discussants and chair. The organizer takes full responsibility for the structure and content of the meeting, and all invitations, including the choice of chair, remain absolutely within our control. There are good reasons for this policy. The first is that the success or failure of a meeting will reflect directly upon us. The second is that in meetings with a limited number of participants, invidious decisions have to be made, and it is in everyone's interests that these should be made by us rather than a scientist within the field.

Invitations are sent out 9–10 months before the symposium. Participants receive draft then final programmes, deadlines for synopses and typescripts, and questionnaires and requests for information from the editors in particular, information that will help promote the book (and therefore the work of the participants themselves). For guidelines for contributors click here. We welcome participants' partners and provide their accommodation (bed and breakfast) free of charge, although we cannot finance their travel. The symposia take place in our conference room. The room is small and carefully arranged to maximize discussion and interaction. The proceedings in the conference room are, of course, the core of the symposium, but events outside the planned sessions can have a considerable influence on the quality of the discussions and the overall value of the meeting. We ensure that all arrangements run smoothly, and we play an active role in promoting informal contact between participants.