Prepare Your Proposals

Honoring the Multivocality of the Field

We are excited to partner with X-CD, a streamlined platform to submit your conference proposals. In order to submit your work, you will need to make an account with X-CD and we encourage you to use our suggested templates to prepare your submissions. Please review the below resources; if you require further clarification please email the National Office at National Office@nwsa.org. 

The National Office is grateful to our members who were affirming and honest in their 2024 conference feedback as their thoughtful responses informed our partnership with X-CD.

How We Develop Our Conference Program

Each year, the National Office invites submissions via our official Call for Proposals. The Association President sets the theme and areas of focus (sub-themes) that guide the curation of our conference program. We welcome proposals from activists, administrators, artists, educators, dreamers, practitioners, and feminist trouble makers with a vested interest in and commitment to promoting and supporting the production and dissemination of knowledge about gender and sexuality through teaching, learning, research and service in academic and other settings. Our commitments are to: illuminate the ways in which women’s, gender, and sexuality studies are vital to education; to demonstrate the contributions of feminist scholarship that is anti-racist, comparative, decolonial, global, intersectional and interdisciplinary to understandings of the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences; and to promote synergistic relationships between scholarship, teaching and civic engagement in understandings of culture and society.

As a gentle reminder, the Association limits presenters to two (2) presentation sessions to assist us with building the conference schedule as well ass honor all of our needs for balance and wellness in what can be a very capitalist space of expected (constant) production, and to allow for more diverse presenter participation!

Submitting your Proposal

The NWSA Annual Conference proposal submission portal will be open February 1st, 2025 - April 1st, 2025. We encourage submitters to fully review our Call For Proposals in order to have all necessary information regarding submission and NWSA Annual Conference protocols. 

Submission Portal

Submission Templates

In and effort to streamline your submission process, NWSA created templates for each submission type. Our templates align directly with the steps within our submission site to assist you in this process! We encourage you to use the appropriate templates linked below to develop your proposal and relevant materials.

The following formats are considered Panel Submissions: 
• Panel presentations
• Roundtable presentations
• Workshops
• Interactive sessions

    Types of Submissions

    Proposal Type

    Description
    Individual Paper Proposals

    Individual Paper proposals are submitted individually and arranged into sessions by the Proposal Review Committee. In paper sessions, authors present 10-12-minute papers followed by audience discussion. A typical structure for a session with four papers allows approximately 5 minutes for the moderator to introduce the session, 10 minutes for each presenter, and 30 minutes for discussion. 

    If you intend for more than 2-3 authors to attend the conference and present a co-authored paper, we request that you consider switching your submission type to a panel presentation or a poster. 

    Should your submission be accepted to the 2025 Conference, your individual paper submission will be grouped into panels based upon alignment with our conference sub/themes and area(s) of focus.
    Poster Presentation Proposals

    Poster proposals present research or analysis on a topic by combining graphics and text on a poster board. We schedule poster sessions together in a gallery-style time block in order to make space for presenters to interact on a one-on-one basis with the attendees viewing the poster. A well-planned poster communicates its message in a visually and textually powerful way, allowing the attendees to grasp the information quickly with the author(s). 

    We understand that many of our applicants are traveling across the United States of America and across human-made borders; we understand traveling with a poster board is no easy feat for some. Therefore, we do not impose specific guidelines for re: design and poster size, we want you to have as much flexibility as you need.
    Panel Proposals Panels provide an opportunity for examining specific problems or topics from a variety of perspectives given that they include 3-4 participants. Panels may present alternative solutions, interpretations, or contrasting points of view on a specified subject or in relation to a common theme. Panel members are expected to prepare papers addressing central questions described in the proposal. The National Women’s Studies Association and the Proposal Review Committee especially encourage complete panel submissions.
    Roundtable Proposals Roundtables typically include a moderator and 4-6 presenters who make brief, informal remarks about a specific idea or project. They allow for extensive discussion and audience participation. 
    Workshop Proposals Workshops provide an opportunity to exchange information or work on a common problem, project, or shared interest. Workshops are typically experientially oriented, grounded in some sort of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies research agenda, and include brief presentations that allow adequate time for reflective discussion and interaction
    Interactive Sessions NWSA’s members often create and introduce incredibly interactive and exciting sessions that lean outside the ‘standard’ academic conference proposal model. We ask that should your session involve movement, sound activities, or what may be considered a ‘non-traditional’ activity, that you select this category. This designation allows our Proposal Review Committee to meaningfully evaluate the proposed general conference session and how to best assign meeting space to meet the needs of our presenters.
    Author Meets Critics (AMC) Proposals

    Authors Meet Critics sessions are designed to bring authors of recent, cutting-edge books, deemed to be important contributions to the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS), together with discussants chosen to provide a variety of viewpoints.  

    A maximum of five such sessions will be included in the program and NWSA members are invited to nominate books published between 2023 and 2025.  Both single- authored books and edited collections that are the result of collaborative engagement among the contributors will be considered. Only NWSA members may submit nominations, including self-nominations; nominations by presses will not be accepted.  

    Authors Meet Critics sessions are designed to bring authors of recent, cutting-edge books, deemed to be important contributions to the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS), together with discussants chosen to provide a variety of viewpoints.  

    A maximum of five such sessions will be included in the program and NWSA members are invited to nominate books published between 2023 and 2025.  Both single- authored books and edited collections that are the result of collaborative engagement among the contributors will be considered. Only NWSA members may submit nominations, including self-nominations; nominations by presses will not be accepted.  

    Authors Meet Critics sessions are designed to bring authors of recent, cutting-edge books, deemed to be important contributions to the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS), together with discussants chosen to provide a variety of viewpoints.  

    A maximum of five such sessions may be included in the program and NWSA members are invited to nominate books published between 2023 and 2025.  Both single- authored books and edited collections that are the result of collaborative engagement among the contributors will be considered. Only NWSA members may submit nominations, including self-nominations; nominations by presses will not be accepted.

    Constituency Group Sponsored Session Proposals

    Constituency Group ​​Sponsored Sessions may be submitted by all NWSA Constituent groups on topics of particular interest to group members and NWSA members as a whole. One sponsored session per group will be offered space in the Conference Program if submissions are received by the proposal deadline and proposals meet review criteria. Constituency Group Sponsored Sessions may be panels, roundtables or workshops. 

    A number of Constituency Groups may develop particular themes, areas of focus, or criteria for their 2025 Sponsored Session; particular Call for Proposals for our 45th Annual Conference will be available in January 2025!
    Pre-Conference Presentation Proposals 

    Each year, the Association hosts Pre-Conference sessions that focus on pertinent topics and issues impacting the field of women's, gender, and sexuality studies. These Pre-Conferences are scheduled on the first day of the Annual Conferences and are opportunities for professional development, fostering critical connections, and building upon foundational competencies.

    Our two( 2) Core Committees, Program and Administrations Committee (PAD) and the Women's Centers Committee (WCC), invite submissions of that attend to contemporary issues in the field, the impact of socio-political attacks on Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) departments and centers, pedagogical interventions, and campus-based issues, among other pertinent topics. 

    2025 Annual Conference Submissions Portal

    Submit a Proposal

    Nominate or Apply for our 2025 Awards

    Each year, NWSA in coordination with different NWSA caucuses and publications, offers multiple awards for people who are current members of NWSA. Awardees are announced in the Annual Conference program and are invited to participate in our award recognition event(s) hosted on-site during the conference. 

    Learn More!

    Convening at the Puerto Rico Convention Center

    The 2025 Annual Conference will convene at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, Borikén; all sessions and conference events will be hosted on-site at Puerto Rico Convention Center (there will be no conference events on-site at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino, our official Conference Hotel. We’re excited to share more details as we confirm conference programming!

    The Convention Center

    2025 Presenter Requirements and Resources

    Each year, the Association hosts our Annual Conference - drawing over 18,000 attendees interested in the expanding scholarship and activism that shapes our interdisciplinary field. Should your conference proposal be accepted into our program, NWSA requires presenters to adhere to particular requirements and expectations. 

    Learn More

    Accessible Presentations & Best Practices

    The NWSA works alongside our Access and Inclusion Committee to help curate how we fortify access and inclusion initiatives at the Annual Conference and develop resources to enact a culture of inclusion beyond reasonable accommodations amongst our presenters and attendees.

    Our commitments serve to meet the needs of attendees with disabilities but also work to the benefit of all conference attendees in an effort to normalize accessibility interventions as well as disability justice measures throughout our culture and community.

    Learn More

    Have You Explored the 2024-2025 Strategic Plan?

    “Reconnect, Repair, Restore: A More Thoughtful, Transparent, and Trustworthy NWSA” is a two-year strategic plan developed by President Heidi R. Lewis in consultation with the Governing Council and the Interim Executive Director.

    Explore