Proposers should read through these Guidelines, especially the pages on Financial Support Available, Assessment of Proposals and on Selection Criteria.

Submission deadlines: The Programme Committee will consider workshop proposals twice per year: in February and July. Therefore, normally:

• Proposals should be received by November 1st in order to be considered by February
• Proposals should be received by April 1st  in order to be considered in July

The Committee cannot consider a proposal with an insufficient number of referees’ reports.

Applicants should bear in mind the time needed to plan the meeting if a proposal is accepted for inclusion in the ICMS Workshop Programme.  Workshops normally require at least 12 months planning.

How to submit your proposal

Please submit your proposal using this form and please answer every question and attach your proposal document as a PDF (up to six pages).

If you have any difficulty with this form please email Jane Walker, Centre Manager, ICMS

The following information should be provided, but the order and headings need not be followed.

• Title
  A short descriptive name for the workshop

• Names of the Scientific Organisers
  State the names, affiliation and email addresses of the key Organisers. NB - at least one of the key Organisers should, by reason of his/her position, be eligible to hold an EPSRC grant. It may be appropriate to give a brief resumé of the accomplishments of each Organiser, backed up by references if necessary. Show who is likely to act as Principal Organiser. In some cases it may be appropriate for a smaller group of Scientific Organisers to have the support of a Scientific Advisory Group.

• The objectives, novelty and timeliness of the proposed meeting
  This part of the proposal - the scientific justification - is the key. Make sure that the objective of the meeting is clear and make a strong case for holding it at this time

• Background to current national and international activity in the area
  Show that the topic is in the forefront of current development. If other meetings have been held on what look like similar topics, show how this meeting differs.

• The expected outcome and impact of the meeting
  Show how the workshop will contribute to the development of the mathematical sciences, e.g. by establishing new applications or by creating links between established areas of mathematics. Describe the potential consequences of a successful meeting, e.g. new collaborations or research papers. Make sure that that you state how the UK community will benefit.

• Participants
  List key participants and their affiliations. Show their subject area if this is an interdisciplinary meeting. Indicate those who have provisionally accepted the invitation to attend. How will other participants be selected?

• Plans for participation of scientists from the UK, younger delegates, and women
  The ICMS policy is to maximise the impact of its workshops in the UK and beyond by ensuring that younger researchers and those active in the UK are invited. ICMS also asks that Organisers take great care to include a suitable balance of men and women who are active in the area. It is ICMS policy to expect that the organisers of ICMS workshops will: invite both women and men as speakers, or explain why this is not appropriate or possible. We expect 30% participation by women in your event. Please identify your female participants clearly on your proposal by adding (F) after their name. Please note that ICMS is able to provide financial support to enable participation by people with caring responsibilities for children or other family members.  The London Mathematical Society has produced some excellent guidelines regarding diversity at workshops.

• Dissemination
  Organisers are asked to plan for the dissemination of the results of a workshop. They will be required to prepare a short but comprehensive account of workshop activity for publication on the web, together with a final list of participants and schedule, shortly after a programme ends. If there are plans to publish proceedings, then that should be raised with ICMS at an early stage.

• Proposed start/end dates
  Workshops are normally five days in duration but other lengths will be considered. It is helpful to indicate a few alternative dates.

• Probable number of participants
  There is no minimum or maximum number of participants. Organisers should bear in mind that a very small meeting is unlikely to have a great enough impact on the community and a very large one runs the danger of losing the focus the workshop format requires. See the page on Financial Support Available for information about funding.

• Possible structure
  To fit the objectives. For example, a workshop could have expository talks, led discussion sessions, problem sessions etc. as well as the more standard four or five one-hour talks plus 15-mins discussion.

• An estimate of the travel and subsistence costs required and potential other sources of funding See the page on Financial Support Available. How many people are likely to need their subsistence covered and how many will need a contribution to travel from ICMS? What are the other sources of funding and what are their constraints?

• Bibliography
  If required, an appropriate short bibliography should be included.