Petfood Forum 2025's Student Program is seeking abstracts for undergraduate and graduate oral presentations and posters. The deadline to submit is January 31, 2025. 

The conference is scheduled for April 28-30 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. Please do not submit an abstract if you are not sure you will be able to attend Petfood Forum in Kansas City during those dates.

Potential student speakers are invited to submit academic research abstracts on topics including:

• New research on companion animal nutrition;
• Novel ingredients and their potential applications in pet food or treat formulations;
• New information, techniques or processes for product development in pet food;
• New research, technology or processes for pet food production;
• New research, technology or other information on pet food packaging;
• New, specific information on one focused aspect of pet food safety (no general overviews of regulations or pet food safety programs);
• Reviews or compilations of the above topics.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

An advisory board of pet food industry experts will evaluate all submissions for:

• Relevance of topic;
• Presence of new or innovative information, concepts or research. Originality is key, so please be sure your abstract gives a clear idea of how your topic is unique and/or based on new research findings or work not found elsewhere;
• Proposed speaker’s experience or background with the topic;
• Lack of commercialization or promotion.

No abstract will be considered if it seems commercial. Abstracts similar in title or content to previously presented material should include significant new information.

Previously published or presented research (at non-Petfood Forum events) IS acceptable.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Abstracts must be written in English.
• The abstract should sufficiently explain the topic, especially how it is unique or based on new information — but please do not submit a full paper.
• The potential speaker’s expertise in or knowledge of the topic should also be clear.
• Please include any public speaking experience.

Abstracts must be received no later than January 31, 2025. After this deadline, the abstract submission system will no longer accept submissions. Any requests for late submissions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

AFTER REVIEW OF SUBMISSIONS

All submissions will be reviewed within two weeks after the January 31 deadline; you will receive an email about whether your submission has been accepted.

If your abstract is meant to be presented in PowerPoint format, you will receive a PowerPoint template to use to create your presentation, including a set range of number of slides and amount of information or bullet points to include on each slide. Please use and follow this template. If you have chosen to present in poster format, you may use your institution's template.

For all presentations, you will be required to provide a headshot by a specified date, as well as other files.

Failure to provide required files and information by the specified deadlines could result in your being replaced as a speaker or poster presenter for Petfood Forum 2025's Student Research Program.