How it works

If you're an early-career researcher, we’d love you to tell us how nanopore sequencing is changing your field of research for the chance to present in the Spotlight Session at London Calling 2025.

In short

From the applications submitted, three speakers are invited to present in the Spotlight Session. First, each speaker presents a two-minute pitch, providing a sneak peek of their full talk. After this, delegates are invited to vote for their favourite pitch via the conference app or on the virtual platform. The winner of the vote is revealed later that day and will present their full talk on the main plenary stage the following day. The two runner-up speakers will present their talks in a session later on in the conference, so that everyone will have the chance to see the full presentations.

Your pitch

In the form of a two-minute pitch, you have the chance to tell delegates exactly why they should vote to see your full talk on the plenary stage. Your pitch acts a bit like a trailer for the exciting work you’ll be presenting, with previous speaker’s pitches featuring everything from a theft in Hobbiton to a poem about Bordetella pertussis As our conferences bring together a wide range of research areas, it’s important to keep your pitch (and your full talk) broad, to ensure that anyone can follow the science you’re presenting.

Voting

After the pitches, delegates have 60 seconds to vote for the talk they’d like to see in the plenary track, via the online conference platform. When the votes are in, the winner is revealed and their full talk is shared with the delegates. After the pitches, delegates (in person and online) will have 60 seconds to vote for the talk that they’d like to see on the main stage. When the votes are in, the winner is revealed, and they will present their full talk to the delegate audience.

The full talks

All three Spotlight Session participants share their full talks at the conference: the winning talk is shared straight after the winner is announced, as part of the main agenda, and the runner-up talks will take place later in the conference. The full talks are 10 minutes long, plus 5 minutes for questions from the audience.

What happens after the talks?

All the Spotlight Session talks will be recorded and made available to view after the conference, both via the online conference platform and then on our website

And it’s not just about the winning. In fact, Nanopore Community Meeting 2018 Spotlight runner-up Nicola Hall went on to deliver a plenary talk for London Calling 2019.

How can I apply?

For your application, we’d like you to send us your video pitch, answering the following questions:

How is nanopore sequencing changing your field of research? Why would you love to present in the Spotlight Session? If you are selected to take part, this is the video pitch that will be shared at the conference. You can also add a written abstract to your application to provide more information on the work with nanopore sequencing you’d like to present.

Abstract submission for the Spotlight Session is now closed. The deadline for submission was Sunday 14th January 2024 at 23.59 hrs (UK time).