CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Our theme for 2025 is “Cancer and our community”. This is because cancer affects our community very deeply, and as clinicians and researchers our goal is to improve the lives of people in our community affected by cancer. NZSO is the perfect forum to bring the many affected by cancer together with those who are trying to create novel solutions for the problem. We want to share the stories of how our research can help, but also to listen to what our community needs from us. NZSO 2025 will be a korero focusing on our connections and how we can learn from and help each other.
To help better share the impact of our work, we are emphasising plain language and lay communication of scientific results, in a way that can be easily understood by the general public. We will be promoting the use of the #betterposter format, and all poster presenters will be asked a one minute video that conveys the importance of your research and its findings, that can be shared publicly (e.g. via an NZSO YouTube channel)
Groundbreaking, life-changing research is happening right here in New Zealand, and we are excited to celebrate and share it with our community.
Key dates
Call for abstracts open | 1 April
Registration open | May
Abstract submission deadline | Extended to midnight Wednesday 2 July
Acceptance notifications sent | August
Presenters must be registered by | 28 August
Conference | 9 - 11 October
Presentation categories
Oral presentations
If your abstract is accepted as an oral presentation you will be allocated a place in the programme. You will be advised of your allocated presentation time at the time of abstract acceptance notification. Note that there are a limited number of oral presentation opportunities and your abstract submission may be selected for a poster presentation.
Pharmac Emerging Researcher Awards
There are two awards of $3,000 each, open to NZSO members. One for clinical and one for bio-medical. If you would like to be considered for one of these awards please select this presentation type during the submission process. Note these are oral presentations and will take place in a dedicated session.
Poster presentations
If your abstract is accepted as a poster, you will be required to produce a poster to be displayed within the exhibition. There will be a dedicated poster session allocated in the programme on Friday evening. We encourage you to use the #betterposter format and all poster presenters will be asked to create a one minute video that conveys the importance of your research and its findings, that can be shared publicly.
Abstract format
During the submission process you will be asked to load your abstract as plain text in a box rather than upload a word document. The word count for this is 300 words. During the process you will be asked to advise the names and affiliations of authors. This process allows for all abstracts to be formatted the same way.
Other information
Abstract requirements
- Maximum of 300 words
- Do not insert any tables or figures as your abstract will be as plain text, rather than an uploaded document
- Check spelling and grammar. Submitted material will be published in conference materials - the abstract should, therefore, contain no errors
- Standard scientific abbreviations may be used - non-standard abbreviations should be included in parenthesis after the first use of the full word
- Do not indent paragraphs
- Present sufficient data to support conclusions - it is unsatisfactory to use statements such as "data will be presented" or "results will be discussed".
Assessment of submissions
All abstracts submitted for poster and oral presentations are reviewed and assessed by nominated NZSO members with biomedical or clinical expertise. A standardised scoring tool is used for each assessor to rank submitted abstracts. Subsequently all assessors come together to decide final allocations of oral presentation, poster or declined. The number of accepted oral presentations are at the discretion of the review and conference committees.
Publication of abstracts
Accepted abstracts will be published in the conference app. By submitting your abstract you agree to this condition.
Registration
All presenters are required to register and pay to attend the conference. Presenters must be registered by 28 August.
Contact
For further information contact:
Georgia Watson | Conference Innovators
T: +64 3 352 8120 | E: georgia@conference.nz