Call for Papers | SPLISS Conference on Elite sport success in Melbourne, November 2015

Welcome to the SPLISS Conference on Elite sport success in Melbourne, November 2015

SPLISS proudly announces the SPLISS Conference on Elite sport success. This unique two day conference will take place on Monday 23 & Tuesday 24 November 2015 in the beautiful city of Melbourne. The conference is organised by Victoria University in close cooperation with the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) and the Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom).

The previous SPLISS Conference in 2013 in Antwerp (Belgium) was a very successful one! Over 300 participants from over 45 countries joined us for a unique atmosphere, outstanding keynote presentations and interesting parallelsessions and workshops.

Visit the  Conference website.

About Spliss

SPLISS (Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success) is an international network of research cooperation that coordinates, develops and shares expertise in innovative high performance sport policy research in cooperation with policy makers, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), international (sport) organisations, and researchers worldwide. In 2008 they developed their first joint project comparing 6 nations, that resulted in a joint book “a global sporting armsrace” (note that a summary of the SPLISS 1.0 study is freely available from www.SPLISS.net).

Since 2009 the group has set up a new international collaborative project with partners in 15 countries, over 3000 elite athletes, over 1300 elite coaches and more than 240 Performance directors. The project is a collaboration of 43 researchers and 33 policy partners worldwide. The results of this most innovative benchmarking project will be presented during the conference along with a book on the SPLISS 2.0 project.

More information, please contact SPLISS@vub.ac.be or veerle.de.bosscher@vub.ac.be.

Introduction Call for Abstracts

SPLISS cordially invites you and your colleagues/peers to submit a scientific abstract/paper or poster to be considered for presentation at the SPLISS conference.

The conference website will be opened for submissions on Wednesday 28 January 2015. Submission deadline will be Wednesday 17 June 2015. The Scientific Committee will then inform you about acceptance or rejection at the latest at Wednesday 16 September 2015.

The SPLISS conference program structure will consist of four main session types:

• Plenary sessions (invited keynote speakers)
• Debate (invited speakers)
• Workshops with invited speakers
• Scientific and professional practice abstract presentations

Topics of interest for abstract submission include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. What does ‘success’ in elite sport really mean?
2. The influence of elite sport on society
3. The outcomes that elite sport delivers for different stakeholders
4. Structure and/or operation of elite sport systems
5. Comparative perspectives on elite sport systems
6. The role of city, regional or national government in elite sport and city/nation marketing
7. The legacy of international events
8. Paralympic (elite) sport systems and policy
9. (Elite) sport in developing countries

When writing your abstract it is recommended that you consider these topics. However, the Scientific Committee reserves the right to decide on the final topic grouping upon abstract selection. The accepted abstracts will be published in the official conference proceedings. A selection of abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper for a special issue in a scientific peer reviewed journal.

Format

1. Scientific Abstracts

Abstracts in this category should include the presentation of either a substantial literature review/discussion (conceptual advance) or primary data analysis (theoretical advance). Presentations will be oral. Abstracts may be submitted for presentation within the conference topical sessions (see submission details below) and will be peer reviewed.

Oral presentations will normally be limited to a 10-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute moderated question and answer period.

Scientific abstracts should be structured to best illustrate the topic selected and always include the following:

1. Aim of abstract/paper – research question
2. Theoretical background or literature review*
3. Methodology, research design and data analysis
4. Results, discussion and implications/conclusions**
5. References – limited to 5

*Authors may consider submitting details of an extensive literature critiques/review and the abstract headings will differ slightly from above. As there will be no results section there needs to be a section outlining the implications of the review, insights gained, possible research propositions and the like.

** When results are not yet available at the time of abstract submission, authors should clearly mention this and guarantee that the results will be presented at the conference.

2. Professional Practice Abstracts

Professional practice abstracts can either be submitted by researchers or by sport management/policy professionals. These abstracts are presentations about sport organizational and managerial practice, reflecting and/or reporting on success or failure of elite sport management and its impact on society. Professional practice abstracts will be reviewed by the local organizing committee and by the Chair of the Scientific Committee.

Professional practice abstracts/papers should be structured to best illustrate the topic selected and include the following:

1. Aim of abstract/paper
2. Practice description
3. Context description, actors involved
4. Implications and learning

Abstracts should include text only. Images (pictures, figures and tables are not acceptable)

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Each abstract can only be submitted electronically via the abstract submission system on the website. Abstracts submitted to the SPLISS conference should not be concurrently submitted for consideration to another conference. They should be original and not previously presented. Should it be based on a modified version of a prior presentation, this should be clearly stated.

Note that any author should only submit one abstract as first author (but can be co-author on a different abstract) and only present once during the conference.

1. Scientific And Professional Practice Abstracts

1. The length of the abstract is minimum 300 and maximum 750 words, excluding references. Abstracts that exceed the upper word limit will not be accepted.
2. The abstract must be written in English and follow the APA referencing style (5th edition).
3. Use Times Roman 10 point font size and single line spacing.
4. Use a brief title (in CAPITALS) to clearly indicate the nature of the study/presentation – do not use abbreviations in the title.
5. Use CAPITALS for subtitles.
6. Abstracts should include the names of all authors, their institutional affiliation, and the email address of the lead author – these will be removed to facilitate the review process.
7. Abstract should include text only. Images (pictures, figures and tables) are not acceptable.

2. Review Process

All scientific abstracts will go through a double blind review. The abstract will be accepted based on the following criteria:

• The abstract fits the conference theme.
• The background to the topic is succinctly outlined.
• The literature is pertinent and informs the study.
• The methodology (where appropriate) is described and explained.
• Study findings are presented clearly and analysed.
• Implications / pointers for further research are relevant.
• The abstract uses the abstract guidelines properly.

The final inclusion of any abstract in the programme depends upon a presenting author’s registration to attend the SPLISS conference.

3. Further Considerations

• All accepted abstracts will be published in the digital SPLISS Conference Book of Abstracts, provided the lead author is registered to attend the SPLISS conference.
• By 16 September 2015 authors will be notified by e-mail on the status of their submission. If possible, authors will be informed earlier.
• All accepted presenters must be prepared to present at any time during the conference as decided by the Scientific Committee.
• Final acceptance and inclusion of any abstract in the program and conference proceedings is dependent on receipt of conference registration fees from the presenting author. Delegates can only present one paper but can be second or third author on additional papers.

It is assumed that authors of accepted abstracts/papers have the financial resources to pay all personal expenses incurred, including Conference registration, production of their presentation and conference travel and accommodation.

Timely payment of the conference fee will guarantee the inclusion of each author’s accepted abstract in the SPLISS Conference Book of Abstracts.

Abstracts – Key Dates To Remember

• Start Online Registration – 28 January 2015
• Start Abstract submission – 28 January 2015
• Deadline for Abstract Submission – 17 June 2015
• Registration deadline – 1 November 2015