Call for Working Groups​​​​​​​​​​​​

We invite proposals to lead a Working Group at the ESRS congress in Wageningen from 5th to 9th July 2027.

Working Group sessions will take place from the afternoon of Monday 5th July to the afternoon of Thursday 8th July. The theme of the congress is Knowledge for Sustainable Futures: Rural Communities, Social Action and Democracy

(click here for the theme description)

We invite you to submit a proposal for a Working Group (WG) and contribute to shaping the scientific programme of the congress. Details on the proposal format, how to submit, and the deadline are provided below. After submission, your proposal will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. It is possible that some WG proposals may be merged when topics overlap or later if the number of abstract submissions do not justify an autonomous group. If WG proposals are accepted, publication of Working Groups and the Call for Abstracts will take place via the congress website in December (this will include names and email addresses of convenors).

 

Delegates are able to lead or co-lead one Working Group at the Congress.

 

As a working group convenor you are making a professional commitment to organise the Working Group, and will be responsible for helping to promote it, stimulate interest and recruit participants, receiving proposals and abstracts for papers and deciding which ones to accept, liaising with participants over the format of presentations, and attending and running the working group sessions during the congress.

 

Thank you for considering to convene a working group at ESRS 2027.

Proposal format

Proposals should be kept short and succinct and not exceed 550 words. They should be structured as follows:

 

Title: Short title

Convenors: Name(s), affiliation(s) (please identify who will be the contact person).

Objectives: Briefly explain how your proposed WG engages with the overall theme of the congress, which of the three sub-themes it is relevant to, and what you are hoping to achieve.

Topic: Introduce the topic of your WG and how it fits with current scholarly knowledge. This may include a short list of sub-themes.

Format: Explain how your WG will be organised. Each WG session will last for 90 minutes (WGs may be spread over several sessions during the congress). Traditional long paper workshops are welcome, but you are also encouraged to consider non-traditional formats in order to encourage engagement and participation.

Submission & Deadline

  • The deadline for Working Group proposal submissions is 8 October 2026.

  • Please submit your proposals to the Congress email esrs2027@wur.nl.

  • Enquiries can be emailed to the chair of the Scientific Committee Jeremy Phillipson at jeremy.phillipson@newcastle.ac.uk.

Examples of Working Group Formats

We are open to a wide range of session formats and encourage Working Groups to choose approaches that best support engagement, discussion, and exchange. Examples could include one or a combination of the following (this is not an exhaustive list, and other formats are welcome):

  • Traditional workshop: 3-4 papers presented by authors in advance of opening the floor for Q&As and wider discussion.

  • Discussant workshop: Discussants review papers. Paper are submitted in advance of the congress and each discussant responds before opening the discussion to the author of the paper and the floor.

  • Panel debates: 4-5 panellists make very short presentations on the topic and a moderated discussion follows between panellists and audience.

  • Pecha Kucha: 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each (total 6 min 40 sec) emphasising visual storytelling; moderated discussion follows.

  • World Café: 3-4 meeting stations are located around the room. A number of questions are posed at each, moderated by a table host. Participants rotate around the room to engage with the conversation and at each new station they are briefed by the host on the previous discussion. A brief summary is fed into the wider group by the table hosts.

  • Split session: Traditional short paper presentation followed by small table discussions.

  • Lightning talks: Very short presentations (3-6 minutes) are made before moving on to an open and moderated discussion involving the audience.

  • Fishbowl: 4-5 speakers are seated in an inner circle with one free chair; this is the fishbowl. The remainder of the group are seated in concentric circles. The inner group start discussing an issue, and any member of the audience can occupy the empty chair. When this occurs, a current member of the fishbowl must leave to free up a chair. As discussion progresses, participants enter and leave the fishbowl. At the end the moderator summarises the discussion.