ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN - DEADLINE DECEMBER 13, 2025

CARA is pleased to open this Call for Sessions and Workshops for the 2026 Canadian Conference on Research Administration in Richmond, BC!

1. Workshops will take place on Sunday, May 10th, 2026. Workshops are normally 3 hours in total with a break after the first 90 minutes.
2. Sessions/Conversation Streams will occur Monday, May 11th, Tuesday May 12th, and Wednesday May 13th and normally run for 45 minutes. Please indicate if your session will require an additional time slot.

Submissions will be reviewed and rated by the National Conference Planning Committee (NCPC) using the selection criterion noted below. Submissions can be from one or more presenters so feel free to reach out to your peers if you wish to collaborate and co-present an idea!

When submitting your idea for a Workshop or Session, please respond to the question in the online form "What are the planned opportunities for member engagement or interaction with the presenter(s) and/or with each other? (e.g., Q&A session, or in the case of Workshops break-out groups, roundtable discussions, etc.)"

Selection Criteria:

Sessions and Workshops will be reviewed and rated confidentially by the National Conference Planning Committee on the following:

1. In broad terms, under which element(s) of CARA's Strategic Planning element(s) does the proposal fall? professional development, professional excellence, communities of practice
2. The next criteria will be rated on a score of 1 to 5 where 1 is weaker and 5 is very strong (with one difference between Workshop ideas and Session ideas for criteria 4)
3. How well organized and defined is the submitted idea (recognizing that the idea may be further refined)?
4. How relevant, current, or of interest will the idea be to the research administration community more broadly or to a subset of research administrators (e.g., those who work in finance or proposal development)?
5. Is there opportunity for attendee engagement?
   • If you have submitted a Workshop idea, this question will be scored 1 to 5
   • If you have submitted a Session idea, the committee will note 'Yes' or 'No' with no score assigned.

Some identified Hot Topics for sessions include:

1. Indigenous Decolonization
2. Research Intelligence
3. Research Security
4. Intellectual Property
5. Industry Contracts/fee for service
6. Partnerships
7. Interdisciplinarity collaboration
8. Streamlining Research Administration
9. Interconnectedness
10. Adaptability
11. Research Administration unique roles
12. EDI - indigenous partnerships - how do you do it successfully?
13. Awards
14. Generative AI
15. Research Finance
16. You may submit your own topic and note in the details area

Please be aware that CARA is a volunteer organization. No reimbursements or stipends will be offered to present

Here are the steps to submit an abstract:

1. NEW***You will be required to submit a Headshot and Bio with your abstract submission -- please have available for yourself and any other co-presenters prior to submitting. If you do not have names or bios and photos of co-presenters add this information in the notes area.
2. Click on the "Submit Abstract" button below. This will take you to a VFairs Abstract Submission page
3. Create a login using your email address and password
4. Complete the required details including session title, keywords, presenter and any co-presenters -- if there are any other details you would like to include -- do so in the notes area
5. Press submit
6. Choose either Workshop or Session. If you wish to present a 90-minute session please complete 2 abstracts with the same title and label as part 1 and part 2
7. If you have any questions regarding the process, please contact barbara@strategicevents.ca
8. Once you have submitted your abstracts, the the National Conference Planning Committee will review them
9. If they have any questions, they will reach out to you for clarification
10. Final decisions will be made no later than February 1^st, 2026