The International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) has over the years endorsed and supported regional academic conferences. The purpose is to assist conference organisers in promoting their conference, which, in turn, is expected to eventually be to the benefit of IAME and its Members.
Such support can be an effective and efficient way towards promoting maritime, port and logistics related research and the Association as well. Increasingly, there are conference organizers’ interested in having IAME support, since this is a way for a conference to enhance its credibility in academia and eventually in the industry.
To assist IAME in supporting conferences as well as to establish the duties and responsibilities of conference organisers towards IAME, this document establishes guidance principles to be made available to conference organisers whenever they request IAME endorsement.
1. The Council developed these guidelines in line with Article 48 of the IAME Constitution stating “[T]he Association may, in any way deemed appropriate, support other conferences and events. It is up to the Council to make the final decision on any specific request or proposal in this field. The Association particularly promotes the organization of Regional Conferences when they are held in a region different from the venue of the Annual Conference held the same year”.
2. The IAME Annual Conference is the main event for IAME. The principle consideration of any regional conference endorsement should be the need not to detract from our flagship IAME Annual Conference, or confuse/damage IAME as an Association.
3. IAME might endorse and promote Regional Conferences that focus on thematic or regional issues related to maritime economics. International issues remain the domain of the IAME Annual Conferences.
4. IAME might endorse and promote the organisation of Regional Conferences when they are held in a region that is different from the venue of the Annual Conference held the same year.
5. Endorsed regional meetings should not be held near the dates of the IAME Annual Conference, as that may mean that members may not attend both. An at least a two months time space is advisable. This is one way of securing that any endorsement of Regional Conferences does not undermine the willingness of universities/institutions to bid for the IAME annual conference.
6. Conferences endorsed by IAME should be organised by an IAME member (as main organizer), preferably linked to an academic institution. Non-academic institutions (linked to an IAME member) are not excluded, as long as the event and organiser can help to promote maritime economics as an academic discipline.
7. Conferences endorsed by IAME should, in principle, have an academic focus, i.e. presentations of academic papers including a high quality review system that corresponds to the standards of the IAME Annual Conferences.
8. Conferences endorsed by IAME should have a measurable return to IAME members. This measurable return can be, for example, discounted registration fees for IAME members, and/or a lump sum contribution to IAME, and/or full access of the IAME members to conference papers and or presentations.
9. Any IAME support to Conferences is institutional rather than financial.
10. Conference Organisers asking for endorsement are requested to provide a set of information as listed below:
a. Define conference dates that do not collide with the IAME Annual Conference Organisation. A two-month interval before and after the dates of the IAME Annual Conference is recommended to protect IAME interests. Before submitting a request for a sponsorship, Conference organisers requesting IAME sponsorship are therefore advised to check IAME Annual Conference dates. Exceptions are possible, in close consultation with the organizers of the same year’s IAME conference.
b. Indicate the location where the Conference is to take place and define clearly the call for papers as well as the important dates (deadlines).
c. Define clearly the main theme and research topics of the conference. Part of these topics, should be of interest to IAME members. Likewise, identify clearly the purpose of the Conference. The focus should be research led rather than industry led. In addition identify if the Conference has an international, regional or national character.
d. Establish reasonable fees to charge conference delegates. IAME members should be entitled to participate in these conferences benefiting from a discount rate of (recommended) 20%. Likewise, Conference organisers should allocate the time in the Conference schedule for an IAME representative to be nominated by the IAME Council to present the Association. The final decision to take advantage of this time slot is to be made by the IAME Council. Likewise, conference organisers should notify IAME in advance about the conference day when this time slot is to be made available.
e. In consultation with IAME’s Council, the IAME logo is to be used in all Conference materials to be made available to delegates and in the conference promotion. In the opening speech of the conference, Conference organizers should acknowledge IAME sponsorship. To promote the Association, among Conference delegates, an IAME subscription form should be made available to all Conference delegates in the conference briefcase as well as other information about the Association. Please provide a rough estimate of how many delegates should become potential IAME Members.
f. Provide an evaluation assessment from previous Conferences if they have taken place. Conference delegates feedback is important for IAME to assess the importance of the Conference. If possible, the following information should be provided: Number of delegates | Number of delegates presenting papers | Number of delegates attending the conference | Delegates’ countries of origin | Number of sessions | Number of papers presented altogether | Number of papers presented by each delegate | Most researched topics | Quality of the conference venue, food etc. | Quality of the hotels offered to delegates.
g. Once the conference is finished, Conference organizers need to provide an evaluation assessment of the Conference. The following information should be provided: Number of delegates | Number of delegates presenting papers | Number of delegates attending the conference | Delegates’ countries of origin | Number of sessions | Number of papers presented altogether | Number of papers presented by each delegate | Most researched topics | Quality of the conference venue, food etc. | Quality of the hotels offered to delegates. The information provided is to be used internally by the IAME President and the Council.
h. Guarantee that papers will be blindly peered reviewed. Conference Organisers are welcomed to invite IAME members to be part of the Conference Paper Review Committee and/or International Steering Committee. IAME would welcome that at least 25% of the Members participating in those Committees are IAME Members.
11. An IAME Council decision to grant the requested sponsorship is to take place within a period of 30 days after the request for sponsorship has been received by IAME President and Secretariat.
12. The final decision will be made on the following principles:
a. Scientific quality and significance of conference
b. Suitability of proposed conference
c. Evidence of sufficient advanced planning
d. Suitable time spacing of conferences of a similar type
e. Rotation of leadership for conferences in a series or of a similar type
g. Geographically diverse Paper Review Committee and/or International Steering Committee
g. Feedback from previous conferences
13. All requests for sponsorship will be evaluated on a non-discriminatory basis
14. These recommendations are meant as guidelines, only. Under no circumstances can a proponent derive an entitlement for sponsorship. The final decision will lie with IAME’s Council, who may on a case-by-case basis take additional considerations into account.
15. The IAME Guidelines, as well as any amendments, are communicated to IAME members and posted at the IAME website, so that IAME members are fully aware when preparing and hosting Regional Conferences.
Download the guidelines in pdf here.