1. give an overview on a focused topic of current interest to the ISBI community, or
2. synergize communities including clinical imaging, genomics, pharmaceuticals, or
3. are of wide interest to the biomedical imaging community but come from communities that do not traditionally attend ISBI.

ISBI 2022 encourages special sessions with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Special-session proposals that are submitted jointly with other societies and professional bodies are strongly encouraged.

Each session is expected to last 1.5 hours and can have multiple invited speakers, each exploring a different facet of the chosen topic. Presentations will be oral, and only by invitation of the organizers. We expect these sessions to provide attendees with a broad overview of research work being done on a given topic. Additionally, the introduction of topics traditionally unrepresented at ISBI will allow us to broaden the ISBI community. Invited speakers are required to register for the conference. Session organizers are also encouraged to seek outside funding to provide additional support for speakers.

The submitted special-session proposals would be reviewed by an independent select committee of experts from the field.

Invited contributors will be required to either submit a 4-page paper for inclusion in the proceedings, or submit a 1-page abstract that summarizes the content of the talk (which will not be included in the proceedings). These paper/abstract submissions follow the same deadlines and procedures as in the call for contributed papers. In line with IEEE standards, the 4-page papers will undergo peer review. The review process will use the same system as the main conference and will run parallel to the main review process. Selected papers accepted for the main conference may be assigned to special sessions by the Program Committee.

If you are interested, please submit a proposal on the CMT Submission Portal .

The proposal should include the following information:

1. Title of the session
2. Brief description of the proposed topic, including the justification of its relevance to ISBI
3. Short biography (maximum half page) of the session proposal committee
4. Expected audience (number of expected attendees, level of expertise or familiarity with the topic required from the audience)
5. Supporting societies or professional bodies (if applicable, please upload letters of support)
6. Tentative list of speakers (following the philosophy of equity, diversity, and inclusion)
7. Plan for further dissemination, such as position and concept papers for publication in peer-reviewed IEEE EMB / SPS journals or magazines

For each potential speaker include:

1. Name, affiliation, URL to research group or laboratory
2. Tentative title of the talk
3. Tentative abstract of the talk (maximum 300 words)
4. Short biography (maximum half page)
5. Intention of the speaker to submit either a 4-page contributed paper or a 1-page abstract

Submission format

Proposals must be submitted on an online submission portal. Supporting documents must be uploaded in PDF format.