Call for Abstracts for the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Bi-regional FETP COVID-19 Online Scientific Conference
The Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Bi-regional FETP COVID-19 Online Scientific Conference will be held on November 10-12, 2020 from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm daily (CST or GMT+8). Taiwan FETP will be hosting the conference. More information on the conference will be made available at the SAFETYNET website (https://www.safetynet-web.org/) in the coming days.
All field or applied epidemiology training programs in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions are encouraged to submit two abstracts from their respective programs. Abstracts on COVID-related studies from current trainees or graduates from 2018-2020 are welcome. In case a trainee needs a presentation to complete the course, his/her abstract could be non-COVID related.
Only abstracts cleared for submission by the program director or training coordinator/officer should be submitted. Abstracts should be submitted by the program director or supervisor anytime from August 10 to September 15, 2020 on-line at https://forms.gle/u1vqDRCRs66rBf2b8 (for those with Google accounts) or by sending via email to Dr. Maria Concepcion Roces (conchyroces@gmail.com). For those submitting abstracts by email, kindly include the email addresses of the presenter and program director, the name of the training program and host country, and whether the presenter is a current trainee or recent graduate (please include year of graduation if recent graduate).
All abstracts submitted will be reviewed by three epidemiologists. In October, FETP Program Directors will be informed which abstracts have been accepted for presentation. Upon receipt of the results, directors are expected to communicate the results to those who will be presenting. These presenters will receive guidelines regarding the structure and delivery of their oral presentations.
Instructions for writing abstracts
• All abstracts should be written in English.
• Use Microsoft Word to create the abstract, then paste your abstract from your word document into the Google Form or send via email (see the sample abstract at the bottom for the format).
• Abstracts may not exceed 300 words in length. The word count includes the headings of the structured abstract (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions) but does not include the title and authors’ names. A word count is easily obtained by selecting the appropriate text of the abstract and then choosing the “Word Count” command in the “Tools” menu of MS Word.
• Justification: left aligned only
• No graphics will be accepted.
A sample abstract can be found here. Each abstract will be evaluated based on these criteria.
Google Form
The Google Form will request the following information:
1. Information on the program director and presenter
Have the following information with you when you submit an abstract on-line.
Name and email address of Primary author (presenter)
Name and email address of Program Director
Status of primary author: current trainee or graduate (alumni)
Year Graduated (if an alumni)
2. Title of abstract
Be brief. Avoid subtitles if possible.
Capitalize major words only. Capitalize the second component of hyphenated terms. Do NOT use abbreviations or acronyms in title.
Give geographic location (country, province or city) and dates of study or investigation. Do not abbreviate geographic locations; separate them from the rest of the title by a dash, e.g., Dengue Fever Outbreak — Ho Chi Minh City, 2015.
2. Abstract Text
Title and authors
Main text with sub-headings
Structure the abstract, using the following subheadings to identify each section: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions.
Each subheading should be typed flush left, in bold font, and followed by a colon.
The Background section should address both 1) the public health significance of the subject and 2) the scientific background and rationale for the study (see sample abstract).
The Results section must contain data. It should not include such statements as "Data will be discussed." If considerable work is needed before the conference, please state in the abstract that results are preliminary.
Because of time constraints, changes cannot be made to the abstract after it is submitted. You may find, however, that the results and conclusions of the study do change, based on data analysis done after submission. If your abstract is accepted and significant changes have been made after submission of the abstract, please highlight the changes in your presentation.
If you have additional questions, please write to Dr. Maria Concepcion Roces at conchyroces@gmail.com and Dr. Angela Song-En Huang at huang.songen@cdc.gov.tw.