Approved by ISIAQ Board of Directors (09/01/15)

Approved by ISIAQ Board of Directors (09/01/15)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

TO HOST

ISIAQ’S INDOOR AIR 2018 CONFERENCE[1]

The full proposal should not exceed 20 pages in total length and should contain the following information:

A. “Vision” statement of the technical program including any special themes, student programs, etc. This should capture the organizers vision without detailed description of the conference and be consistent with the evaluation criteria below (Scientific quality and Format).

B. Proposed President: Must be a member in good standing of ISIAQ. Biographical information including prior conference organising experience, and the percent of the individual's time that will be dedicated to organising the conference during the period leading up to the conference. Identify key staff and other resources expected to be available from the proposed president's organisation and/or other sponsoring organisations. The President is to be the lead contact for the institution in terms of the conference and shall be the person that shall be empowered to respond to ISIAQ on all aspects of the event.

C. Organizing Committee: Identify the role of the proposed organizing committee and other groups in relation to the conference planning and management, paper review process, etc. Provide the names, affiliations, and highlights of the relevant professional and scientific qualifications of the members of the proposed organising committee.

D. Location and facilities: Identify the conference facilities and describe the features that are most relevant to the Indoor Air conference format.

E. Accommodations: Identify major lodging facilities that will be available including distance from conference venue, transportation to the conference venue, range of costs, and other salient features.

F. Budget: List major budget categories and planned budget amounts. Include estimated conference registration fees, plans to provide scholarships for students and other participants, and any other information considered important by the proposal writers. Proposals should also identify host country national public and private sponsors as well as international sponsors and the approximate amounts of financial support expected from each and especially any commitments already in hand. If any such support is assured, please indicate it clearly in your proposal. Identify potential major sponsors and estimate the level of support anticipated from these sponsors.

G. Registration fee: Include a statement in the proposal that ISIAQ individual members in good standing will be granted a discount on the registration fee in the amount of the regular individual membership fee at the time the registration is opened for individual members and student membership fee at the time the registration is opened for student members. The proposal should also state that ISIAQ membership as well as conference registration will be included in the registration fee for non-members and that the conference organization will compensate ISIAQ for the full amount of the membership fee for those who are not already a member at the time of registration. As of September, 2015, the rates are at a rate of $135 for non-students and $30 for students; however, these amounts are subject to change prior to the conference. The conference registration will be done in coordination with the ISIAQ-managed web site to which the organizers will provide a link on their registration page. This will enable members to log in and to register at the member-discounted rate. It is also suggested that multi-year ISIAQ memberships be offered through the registration process.

H. Social program and satellite events: While these are not mandatory elements of the conference, they have been traditional parts of most Indoor Air 'XX meetings to date. Describe them briefly. The conference banquet may, at the organizers’ discretion, be an optional event at an additional cost to registrants.

I. Organizers must commit to providing adequate time and space for ISIAQ meetings. For a typical conference schedule that begins on a Sunday afternoon/evening, meeting space and time are required for ISIAQ’s Scientific and Technical Committees, the ISIAQ Board of Directors (full day Saturday), The Annual General Meeting (60 minutes usually at the end of conference program afternoon Monday or Tuesday with no competing parallel activities) The Indoor Air journal Editorial Advisory Board (lunchtime on the day the conference opens), and the Academy of Fellows of ISIAQ (immediately following Editorial Advisory Board).

The ISIAQ BOD calls to the attention of all those interested in hosting the conference that it is envisaged that the Organizing Committee of the conference will work closely with the ISIAQ Secretariat and Administrator.

Proponents should carefully review the Criteria for Evaluation, appended to this Call for Proposals, and prepare their proposals to enable review of the proposal according to the criteria.

The applicable requirements of the Call for Proposals together with the selected proposal shall constitute the base agreement between ISIAQ and the host organization. The individual signing and submitting the proposal shall warrant that s/he has the ability to commit their organization to a binding contract. The Board of Directors, may, at its own discretion, require further commitments before awarding the conference to a prospective host.

DUE DATE: full proposals will be due at the ISIAQ Secretariat by close of business on December 1, 2015.

Appendix: Criteria for selection of Indoor Air Organizers

Summary

To ensure transparency of the selection process of future organizers of ISIAQ conferences the following criteria have been developed.

The selection of the organizers is based on the evaluation of the proposals following two criteria: Scientific Quality and Format, and Implementation.

ISIAQ BOD issues letter of intent after which the potential organizers are required to write the full proposal. ISIAQ BOD can also invite potential organizers of the conference to write the letter of intent/proposal. The proposals are evaluated by an external panel, and recommendations are given to the ISIAQ BOD.

After selection of the host proposal, the organizers will receive the evaluation and during negotiations will be asked to supplement the proposal on the aspects judged by the external panel to be weak or poorly defined. Based on the recommendation of the external panel, the ISIAQ BOD will make the final decision and will announce the organizer of the next Indoor Air conference.

Evaluation Criteria

Process

The proposals are evaluated based on the Scientific Quality and Format, and Implementation. The Reviewers judge each criterion and summarize their review for each criterion indicating weaknesses and strengths supporting their recommendation and comments.

Scientific quality and Format

This criterion is evaluated based on the following elements. Note that some of these topics are difficult to know or plan before abstracts and/or papers as well as workshop proposals are received. The proponent may indicate the direction or nature of what they will seek or solicit and the basis on which they will make decisions for each. Often depends on the accepted papers.

· The main theme of the conference – focus, areas they want to address (STCs will be making recommendations)

· Technical sessions themes (STCs will be making recommendations and should be involved in the planning process)

· Selection of plenary speakers – (philosophy and intention)

· Involvement of STCs (need adequate time for their sessions)

· Scientific Advisory Board

· Broad spectrum of stakeholders, e.g., involvement of scientists being on peripheries of IA sciences, e.g. invitation of medical doctors/people dealing strictly with epidemiology, exposure analysis etc.

· Connection to practice (should not be given major focus but should be addressed

· Student-centered and student-organized sessions, awards and other activities

· Originality and novelty

· Review process (how many reviewers, other details as planned)

· Plans for post-conference publication of papers, (specific journals, audience, contacts made, cost issues)

· Awards for papers, posters, speakers, etc.

· Added value - Potential revision or implementation of the historical format/template (papers, posters, workshops, symposium, debates, others – not mandatory, but of interest).

Implementation

This criterion is evaluated based on the following elements:

· Organization committee (name institution, disciplinary focus)

· Budget and allocation of funds, e.g. estimated conference fee, fee for students etc. Budget needs to include anticipated funding from institutional, governmental, private sector, or other sources. Note that ISIAQ highly values efforts to keep registration affordable for participants by reducing costs where possible without sacrificing the quality of the scientific program or the overall attractiveness of the total conference experience.

· Period for the conference (time of year, flexibility) (avoid conflicts with major international meetings of indoor air-related societies, conferences)

· Conference location and venue (number and capacity of session rooms, plenary)

· Logistics, e.g. collection of abstracts and papers and collaboration with ISIAQ BOD – Academy Conference Committee.

· Lodging and social program (various people will have different criteria, diversity of cost and of type of lodging facilities that will be available should be provided with distance from conference venue and transportation to the conference venue)

· Risks and contingency plans

· Dissemination (means of announcing the conference to the potential audience)

· Social program

Evaluation Panel

The external Evaluation Panel will be chosen by the Academy Executive committee and chaired by the President of the Academy.

Who can apply?

Any ISIAQ Individual Member in good standing can apply to be President of future ISIAQ conferences. It is required that the President is a Member in good standing and the organizing committee members be ISIAQ members. The service for ISIAQ and long membership (tenure) can be an advantage but ISIAQ also encourages new members to join the Society. Therefore this issue should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

As evaluation of proposals is made by the external panel, a current member of ISIAQ BOD can apply as well but he/she should inform the ISIAQ BoD and Academy of Fellows about his/her intensions as quickly as possible and recuse her or him-self from all BoD discussions related to organization of ISIAQ conferences. If a Board member submits a proposal or declares an intention to do so, he/she shall recuse him/herself from all deliberations and activities of the Board pertaining to the selection of the next Conference host.

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[1] Note that the historical rotation of the Indoor Air ‘xx conference series would place the 2018 conference in North America. Proposals from other regions will not be disqualified, but a favorable bias will be applied to select a conference host from North America.