Scientific symposia

The EDCTP Forum Programme Committee invites applications for scientific symposia to be held in person at the EDCTP Forum 2027. Integrated within the conference programme, symposia provide an opportunity to present topics of important relevance to the Forum theme to a wide range of stakeholders. The symposium format will include discussion and the exchange of views with Forum delegates, aiming to advance science, policy, and community engagement.

The Programme Committee welcomes symposia on topics relevant to the Global Health EDCTP3 Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and to the Forum theme ‘Innovating together for resilient global health.’ Please read the information below carefully before submitting a scientific symposium application.

The deadline for submitting scientific symposium proposals is 2 September 2026, 17:00 (CEST).

Propose a symposium

Duration 

Each symposium will last 90 minutes. 

Format

Symposia will be held in person at the conference centre. The format should normally include a maximum of three presentations, with sufficient time allocated for Q&A and discussion. 

Organiser 

Symposium applications must be submitted by an organiser, who will be the point of contact for the Forum and the person responsible for the symposium. The chair(s) appointed for the symposium may be the organiser or other persons. Symposium organisers, chairs and speakers are responsible for securing their own funding to attend the meeting. 

Topic

The content of the symposium should be: 

  • Novel, important and timely. 
  • Relevant to the Forum theme and remit of Global Health EDCTP3.
  • Of interest to a broad group of stakeholders and Forum delegates.

Symposia focusing on a single programme or institution are discouraged. 

Submission

Symposium proposals must be submitted in English via the online scientific symposia submission system by 2 September 2026, 17:00 (CEST). Only proposals completed in full and submitted by the deadline will be considered. 

For questions regarding scientific symposia, please contact info@edctpforum.eu.

Selection process 

The Programme Committee will evaluate all submissions using the following review criteria: 

  • Proposal quality.
  • Novelty, importance and timeliness.
  • Relevance to the Forum theme and remit of Global Health EDCTP3.
  • Interest to a broad group of stakeholders and Forum delegates, and not focused on a single programme or institution.

Guidelines and conditions for submission and processing 

  • Applications should be submitted by 2 September 2026, 17:00 (CEST). The content cannot be modified after the submission deadline (unless changes are requested by Global Health EDCTP3). 
  • No more than two symposium applications submitted by each organiser will be evaluated. 
  • All communications will be with the symposium organiser, who arranges and coordinates the session and is responsible for distributing session information among the chair(s) and speakers and for registering all speakers. 
  • Proposed speakers should be listed in the submission form. 
  • A summary of the symposium is required as part of the application, but abstracts are not required for individual presentations within the symposium. Symposia will be published in the programme book and may be published in a journal supplement and other Forum-related publications. Submission of an application constitutes agreement to its publication. 
  • Global Health EDCTP3 cannot guarantee scheduling a symposium on a particular day. Speakers should be available in person for the duration of the Forum. 
  • Symposium organisers, chairs and speakers are responsible for their own funding to attend the meeting. 
  • Decisions will be made available by December 2026. 

Scientific symposia submission system

The submission system will guide you through the process of submitting your application. At any time in the process, you can click the ‘Save as Draft’ button to save your incomplete submission and return to it later. Once all required sections have been completed, you can submit your application by clicking the ‘Submit’ button.

Title

The title cannot be longer than the specified number of words (word limit: 20).

Category

Submissions should respond to one of the following subcategories:

A. Advancing biomedical innovations

A1 – Advances in vaccines & neutralising antibodies development

A2 – Advances in drug development and tackling antimicrobial resistance

A3 – Advances in diagnostic development

A4 – Coinfections and comorbidities

B. Knowledge translation and implementation science for public health impact

B1 – Implementation science and national health research systems

B2 – Maternal and child health

B3 – Climate crisis, pandemics/epidemics and health

B4 – Policy development and equitable access

C. Research capacity strengthening, equity and ethics

C1 – Strengthening the ethics, regulatory and pharmacovigilance framework in Africa

C2 – Innovations in capacity strengthening, including digital technologies

C3 – Partnerships and alliances to enhance coordination, collaboration and cooperation

C4 – Ethics and human rights, including community engagement and good participatory practice in research

Affiliations

Enter the affiliations details for the organiser and each (co)-chair: Affiliation, Department, City, Country. Each affiliation is given a number that can be used again in the "session organiser and session co-chairs" section to link an author to a specific affiliation.

Session organiser and session (co)-chairs

Enter the details of the session organiser and session (co)-chairs: Title, First Name, Last Name, Organisation, your role in this session and affiliations (this refers back to the previous section where each affiliation is given a number). Please do not add more than two co-chairs.

Summary of session

Please include a short summary of the session (max 300 words).

Rationale for the topic

Provide a rationale for this session, explaining how it will interest EDCTP Forum delegates, align with the Forum theme, and adhere to the scientific and ethical principles of the conference (max 300 words). 

Speakers of presentations

Please provide the names of the confirmed speakers, the titles of their talks, and the time allocated to each speaker (sessions are 90 minutes long). There should be an appropriate balance regarding the gender, geography, and institutional background of the speakers. Adequate time should be allocated at the end for questions and discussion.

Please list all speakers using the following format: speaker name, organisation, title of presentation, time allocated

Declaration

The symposium organiser declares that all listed speakers and chairs have confirmed their participation and availability for this event.

Consent

If your application is selected, you consent to the publication of your surname, first name, and affiliation in the programme, which will be made available on the EDCTP Forum 2027 website, in the mobile app, and printed programme at the Forum. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please send an email to EC-GH-EDCTP3-DATA-PROTECTION@ec.europa.eu