How to organize an ECS

This document has two purposes: (a) to tell potential bidders who want to host future ECSs what is involved in organising an ECS; (b) to guide the successful bidders in organising the ECS.

The ECS Organising Committee should include:

  • Chair of the ECS
  • Secretary
  • Honorary Treasurer (providing financial oversight on behalf of the LOC and the ECA)
  • Chair of the Scientific Committee (if different from the Chair of the ECS)
  • Local organisers

The Bursary Committee should include at least:

  • Chair of ECS
  • Secretary of ECS
  • Chair of the SC (if different form the ECS chair)
  • Chair of the previous ECS
  • ECA ExecComm representative – preferably Education Cooridinator
  • GIG3 representative

Responsibilities of the Organizing Committee

  • Setting up the Scientific Committee
      • ECS Chair
      • ECA President, Immediate Past-President, Education Coordinator, and SIG Officer
      • Chairs of the previous and following ECSs
      • GIG3 representative
  • Financial organisation
  • Sponsorships
  • Poster exhibition
  • Social activities
  • Abstract Book
  • Keeping deadlines

Deadlines for the Organising Committee

  • After the successful bid: convene the Organising Committee and consider whether the School will provide ECTS credits
  • 18 months before ECS: convene the Scientific Committee
  • 12 months before ECS: website of the ECM should be open
  • >9 months before ECS: apply to IUCr for support of bursaries
  • 9 months before ECS: registration starts
  • 8 months before ECS: convene the Bursary Committee
  • 6 months before ECS: information of bursary applicants about the result
  • 1 months before ECS: Abstract Book has to be ready for preparing hard copies in required numbers and USB stick copies

Responsibilities of the Programme Committee

  • Decision on the topic(s) of the ECS
  • Decision on the lecturers

Deadlines for the Programme Committee

  • Previous year ECM: discussion/decision on the lecturers/programme of the ECS
  • Posters and poster prizes

The scientific programme should be agreed by the Programme Committee and be sent for review to the Executive Committee before it is announced.

No one, except the ex-officio members (ECA President, Past-President and SIG coordinator, etc) should serve in the Programme Committee if they were members of the Programme Committee in either of the past two ECSs.

Deadlines for participants

  • Application for financial assistance (six-eight months before the ECS)
  • Abstract submission (in case there are posters, it should be bound with the application for financial assistence)
  • Early registration (four months before the ECS)
  • Regular registration (four months to a month before the ECS)
  • Conference (and students) accommodation (four months before the ECS)
  • Cancellation (a month before the ECS)

The website

  • The website url is ecsNN.ecanews.org where NN is the consecutive number of the ECS.
  • The website should in principle be hosted on the same server as ecanews.org
  • If the Professional Congress Organizer (PCO) uses proprietary software to build the website then the organizers should negociate with the PCO so that (in the following order)
    • the PCO will not use proprietary software so that the site can  be hosted on the ECA server or
    • the PCO  leaves a ‘static’ html site after the congress that can be copied to the ECA server or
    • the PCO leaves the site accessible on the PCO’s server as long as the PCO exist.

Organisers must provide the design, contents handling and maintenance of the website.

Electronic organisation

  • On-line registration
  • On-line accommodation booking, room, sharing
  • Bursary submission and evaluation
  • Abstract submission and evaluation (in case there are posters)
  • Abstract Book
  • Printed, (CD) or Pen drive

ECTS Credits

ECS Organizers may offer successful students ECTS points: 1 ECTS point each 8-12 hours learning/training activity. Receiving credit requires:

  • attendance during the full duration of the School
  • passing a two-hour written examination on the final morning of the School and a positive assessment of the practical work

ECTS points are only relevant for participants coming from a European university. Acceptance of the credit points by the student’s home university must be negotiated by the students themselves on the basis of the detailed School programme, the result of their examination and the assessment of their work by the School directors.

All participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

The previous version of the guidelines can be accessed here.