Call for workshops: submission information
The theme of the Colloquium is 'Forward together for trusted evidence', which explores the challenges for the future around the trustworthiness of healthcare information whilst also celebrating 30 years of producing trusted evidence.
We recognize that everything Cochrane does is about and for patients and other health consumers. We ask that all workshop submissions consider the impact on patients and healthcare consumers. In particular, we welcome submissions that are co-produced, co-presented or co-designed with patients or other healthcare consumers.
We invite you to submit workshop proposals that are interactive and topical, and will keep participants talking. Innovative formats are welcome. We are interested in producing a varied programme of workshops, including challenging and interesting topics on evidence, as well as cutting edge developments.
Submissions are invited to the following programme streams. Please choose the programme stream that most closely fits your submission. There will be an opportunity in the submission form to choose from a more detailed topic list.
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Producing trustworthy evidence is challenging. What are the best solutions for producing evidence best suited to important health priorities? These solutions might focus on methods, tools, processes and relationships. These should aim to promote rapid, relevant and trusted evidence production.
We are interested in work that builds capacity in evidence production right now, that integrates new technologies, repositories, methods and data sharing to strengthen evidence production for the future.
Advocating for conditions that best support the production of trusted evidence, including work on research transparency and data sharing, fraud in research, avoiding duplication of effort and research waste, and building capacity for evidence generation in all contexts.
This stream is about building on our ability to share uncertainties and the evolving nature of evidence, generating trust in evidence and countering misinformation. This includes - but is not limited to - how we engage with evidence users to understand what they need to support their health decision making and how we make trustworthy information valuable and useable.
Working in partnership helps build trust in the evidence we produce. Partnership working can include prioritizing the needs of evidence users and ensuring that evidence addresses priority questions that are important to them.
At a systems level, we need to consider connecting primary and secondary research, including bringing together those making health decisions at all stages of evidence production and sharing.
If you have any questions about the relevance of your submission to the programme streams, please contact us: workshops@cochrane.org
The deadline for submissions is 6 March 2023 (23:59 GMT).
Tips for successful workshops
Your workshop should have clearly stated goals, include a high level of interaction with participants and provide a structured plan appropriate for the length of your workshop.
- Think about current topics and issues that are relevant to patients and healthcare consumers - the quality of evidence, methods developments, new tools and techniques, engagement with knowledge users.
- Not everything has to be new - participants also love good communicators who teach the basics well. Include hands-on work and examples of good practice or common errors to avoid - and maybe add some fun or a new interactive format to shake things up.
- Plan for your discussions to be well-structured and useful - stay on track and make sure you have a good facilitator to guide discussions arising from topics on the day.
- Avoid lectures - if, in a 90-minute workshop, you have more than 10 slides before starting an interactive component, you have too many!
- If you have offered a workshop in the same format before, why not refresh it this year?
- If you are running a series, make it clear whether people need to attend prior parts of the series, and where there might be overlap. We will name sequential workshops accordingly, e.g. 'part 1 of 2'.
- Consider the size and room requirements of your workshop. We have rooms with varying capacity that can be set up in theatre- or cabaret-style (with groups of tables) seating. Larger rooms will generally be set up with theatre-style seating.
- Proposals that primarily present the results of a research project should be submitted as oral or poster presentations. Proposals that primarily involve unstructured discussion should be scheduled as meetings.
How to submit a workshop
To submit a workshop, click on the 'Submit Workshop' at the top or bottom of this page. On first visit, you need to create a Cochrane account by following the login button. It is required for every facilitator of the workshop to log in at least once. You do not need to register for the Colloquium to submit an workshop.
Once logged in to your account, you can access the online submission form which must be used to submit workshops. Complete this form and click 'Save' to submit it for review. You can log back in and access your submissions using the 'My submissions' link. You can edit your workshop until the deadline of 6 March 2023 (23:59 GMT).
- Workshops must be submitted online by 6 March 2023 (23:59 GMT).
- Only workshops submitted in English will be considered.
- Submissions must not be longer than 350 words.
- The workshop should follow the structure: Background, Objectives and Description. If your workshop does not fit into this format, please choose alternative headings that are appropriate. Please include a statement on the relevance and importance to patients. This may be of direct relevance or it may be as a contribution to methods that result in more robust evidence production.
- The workshop title should not be longer than 20 words.
- If abbreviations are used, the abbreviated term should be written out in full the first time it is used.
- You do not need to submit a PDF version of the submission alongside the form.
You will receive an automated email to acknowledge your submission. (Please allow up to 20 minutes to receive this email.) If you do not receive an email, or if you require any help with submitting your workshop, please email the co-chairs of the Workshop Committee at workshops@cochrane.org.
Acceptance of workshops into the conference programme will be determined by the relevance of the topic, the design of the workshop, and readability and clarity of the description. All submissions may be evaluated by a patient or consumer partner, so keep that in mind when submitting and write in plain language.
The final decision is made by the Workshop Committee. We aim to notify you of acceptance or rejection of the submission on or near 24 April 2023.
All facilitators of accepted workshops are required to register and attend the Colloquium. The organizers reserve the right to withdraw workshops if facilitators have not registered for the Colloquium by 2 June 2023.
Workshops Committee
For any enquiries about the call for workshops, please contact us at workshops@cochrane.org.