Those applying to speak or present a poster at the conference should submit an abstract as described below by 19 July. Those chosen to speak will be notified by 1 August.

Abstracts should be submitted to jack.heinemann@canterbury.ac.nz

Information for supplying an abstract
The abstract is a brief statement describing the content of your proposed talk or poster. If you have never prepared a poster before, you can find more information and perhaps inspiration at http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php/Conference_Poster_Sessions. If your abstract is selected, you will receive more details on posters and talks.

Applicants should describe their own research or other professional or scholarly activity in the area of biosafety. The following is an abstract modified from a research paper [Binimelis, R. (2008). J. Ag. Environ. Ethics 21: 437-457], but it also illustrates what we mean by a conference abstract.

“Title”
“Author”
The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Europe has been characterized by controversy. In 2002, the European Union introduced the concept of ‘‘coexistence’’ as a compromise solution that, through the establishment of science-based technical measures, should allow the market to operate freely while reducing policy conflicts on GMOs. However, the concept remains highly contested and the technical measures difficult to apply. I will present qualitative research on the conceptualization and implementation of the coexistence framework in two regions of Spain (Catalonia and Aragon), where 42% and 55% of maize was GM in 2006, respectively. In this context, the concept of coexistence and its proposed implementation both fail to resolve previous conflicts and actually work to generate new ones through the individualization of choice and impacts. Considerations of the social conditions in which the technology and the management measures are implemented were not taken into account. This resulted in the promotion of biotechnological agriculture over other alternatives.

Please provide a title and abstract for consideration by the organisers of the conference following the course. The format is as shown immediately above. The total number of words should not exceed 200. The font should be Times New Roman 12 point. The title and author should appear on the top, with the name of the presenting author underlined (for work contributed to by more than one person). We will reproduce the Abstract in the conference book, so uniform formatting is important.