Submission Guidelines
1. Timelines
1 March 2024 - Online submissions system open
15 May 2024 6PM BST - Deadline for Submissions
10 June 2024 - Notification of submission outcomes
1 July 2024 6PM BST - Deadline for presenters to register
2-4 September 2024 - BPS Social Psychology Section Annual Conference
2. Theme for the Conference
The Social Psychology Section Annual Conference is set to take place from September 2 to 4, 2024, at Queen's University of Belfast. The central theme for this year's conference is "Utilizing Social Psychology to Address Conflicts, Societal Divisions and Cohesion."
In today's world, societies grapple with challenges like conflict, polarization, inequality, and divisions, which hinder social cohesion. A divided society is already fragmented along ethnic, religious, sectarian, political, or cultural lines. What sets divided societies apart is their inability to reach a consensus on decision-making processes and to establish a common identity.
For our 2024 conference, our primary goal is to deeply explore the extensive landscape of research, innovation, development, and impact within our discipline, specifically focusing on resolving social issues related to conflicts and societal divisions. We intend to acknowledge and celebrate the critical work that has already been accomplished in this area while shedding light on the most pressing areas in need of immediate attention.
We warmly welcome submissions for symposia, individual blitz talks, and posters from all corners of the social psychology domain. Our aim is to represent the entire spectrum of topics and methodologies that fall within the realm of social psychology. In the case of symposia submissions, we strongly encourage collaborations among presenters from various institutions and career stages.
Through our 2024 conference, we aspire not only to exhibit the highest-quality social psychological research but also to create an environment where social psychologists at every stage of their careers can actively participate in engaging discussions, establish networks, and explore opportunities for fresh collaborations, both within and outside their field.
We eagerly anticipate your participation in September! Please take note that submission registration will close on May 15, 2024.
3. Presentation Methods
The Section Conference Committee welcomes submissions from both academics and practitioners. The quality of the scientific programme depends on your submissions and we thank you for choosing this conference to present your work.
Symposium
A symposium is a set of papers linked by a common theme (minimum of three papers with discussant, or 5 papers). A symposium must have a Convenor, who organises the symposium submission and acts as the responsible link person to the conference organisers and (optionally) a named Discussant. The same person can fulfil these roles.
We would like to encourage symposia submissions that bring together a diverse group of presenters for example from different ethnicities and genders, as well as different career stages, foregrounding the work of those earlier in their careers.
4. Structure for all Submissions
All submission abstracts should be up to 250 words, exclusive of the title. It should not include references and should be written in either the past or present tense. Abstracts of accepted papers will be available to download on the conference website.
Abstracts must be structured according to the following format, incorporating the indicated headings and information:
Individual submissions (i.e.; empirical, review, theoretical, practice applicable papers/posters, and the five minute challenge):
Background: State the primary objectives of the study/paper, including the main research questions or aims and place the paper in context.
Methods: Quantitative studies should include design, participants (including number of participants), measures and analyses; qualitative studies should include design, participants, method of data elicitation and reference to the analytic approach (e.g. grounded theory; discourse analysis). Review and theoretical papers should include the procedures adopted and their rationale (e.g. literature search, inclusions/exclusion criteria and methods of analysis) and/or key arguments and theoretical positions.
Findings: Quantitative studies should indicate whether relationships/correlations between key variables have significant effects (without including figures such as P-values); qualitative studies should include a general summary of their dataset (without including data extracts); review and theoretical papers should contextualise, summarise, and critically evaluate findings of previous research.
Discussion: Some discussion of the possible contribution to social psychology, or implications of the findings/conclusions.
Additional information for symposia only
The Convenor will need to submit the symposia summary, max of 250 words, (abstract title and symposia title will be the same on the system). For the Symposia summary please use the first available section ignoring all others.
Each presenter within the symposia either submit their own paper, or the convenor can submit them all. Each paper is submitted individually and then linked to form a symposia. Only the reviewers and BPS Conference team can see the full linked symposia.
To link the papers together you will need to ensure that each paper also includes the symposia title. Please note: If symposia titles are not typed exactly the same the papers will not be linked.
For each paper submitted linked with a symposia, please ensure that the title includes the paper number. For example: (1) {Title of abstract}, (2) {Title of abstract} etc.
Please ensure the summary title starts: (S) {Title of summary}
In previous years the most frequent reasons submissions were rejected included;
5. Refereeing Procedure
Reviewers will be assessing each submission on a number of criteria:
Each submission is blind reviewed by at least two members of the Scientific Conference Committee according to established criteria and standards.
Please note:
From time-to-time referees may feel that a particular submission lends itself to a different format to that which is proposed and in these cases authors will be invited to consider an alternative format.
Authors will be notified of the referees’ decision via email. The decision of referees is final. The conference organising committee are unable to respond to further enquiries once a decision has been made. Every effort will have been made to accommodate any timetable constraints notified at the time of submission.
6. Further Information
Registration
All presenters are expected to register and pay at the appropriate rate. Registration is open from March 2024 and early rates expire on 17 June 2024 6pm GMT.
Press Office
If successful, your submission may be considered suitable for a press release, timed to coincide with the conference. If this is so, a Press Officer will contact you to ask whether you wish your submission to be press released, and to discuss the content of the press release with you. To write an accurate press release, and to provide more information for journalists attending the conference, you may be asked for additional information regarding your submission. Please note all papers and posters are under a media embargo until the day of presentation.
Audio visual requirements
A data projector and laptop will be available in all session rooms. If you are likely to require additional equipment, please indicate this when submitting your abstract.
Code of Conduct
Authors of all material submitted must confirm adherence to the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct. Particular attention should be made to the section on Integrity and the importance of sub-sections 4.1iii and 4.1vi. Copies of the Code may be obtained from the Society’s website: http://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct
The use of non-sexist language
Submissions must not contain sexist language. The following suggestions are made about ways to avoid sexist language:
Guidelines for Psychologists Working with Animals
When submitting material, please note the guidelines for psychologists working with animals. Copies of these guidelines can be obtained online: http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/policy-and-guidelines/research-guidelines-policy-documents/research-guidelines-poli
SACWAP guidelines
When submitting material, please note the SACWAP guidelines dealing with the use of animals in psychological research. Copies of these guidelines can be obtained from the Leicester Office.
Contact
Email: bpssubmissions@redactive.co.uk
Website: www.bps.org.uk/events