Academy of Aphasia 61st Annual Meeting

University of Reading, UK and Virtual (Hybrid)

Saturday, October 21– Monday,October 23, 2023

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 20th, 2023 The 61st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia will be hosted at Park House, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, UK. Saturday’s opening night reception will take place at the Museum of English Rural Life, which explores the history of the English countryside and its people. The Academy welcomes submissions of original experimental, clinical, theoretical, and historical research from any field that contributes to the study of aphasia, including Speech-Language Pathology, Psychology, Neurology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, History, and Computational Modeling. We encourage onsite attendance—required for platform presenters—although we also offer the option to participate online via an interactive hybrid platform. Our keynote speaker is Prof. Sophie Scott of the University College London (UCL). Prof. Scott is Director of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience (ICN) and Head of the Speech Communications Group at the UCL. Her research interests span several different areas, including the study of the neural basis of vocal communication and production to the mechanisms and streams for auditory processing, hemispheric asymmetries, and the interaction of speech processing with attention and working memory. Currently, she investigates the expression of emotion in the voice, particularly in laughter processing. She also studies individual differences and plasticity in speech perception as fundamental factors for people with cochlear implants and profiles of recovery in aphasia. At UCL, Prof. Scott gives classes on these topics, and she also runs a module for master’s students on communication skills for cognitive neuroscience.

Now in its sixth year, the NIDCD-funded Academy of Aphasia conference grant (R13 DC017375) will sponsor selected student fellows to attend and present their work at the conference. Fellows will also receive focused mentoring and training from seasoned faculty mentors at the meeting. Both U.S. and international students are eligible to apply; please contact Swathi Kiran (kirans@bu.edu) with inquiries. The grant also sponsors a state-of-the-art New Frontiers in Aphasia Research seminar. This year’s topic will focus on stroke and vascular cognitive impairment, and the speaker will be Dr. Sudha Seshadri of the University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Seshadri is the founding Director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Her scientific research focuses on neuroimaging, genetic, and epidemiological factors associated with brain aging, stroke, dementia, and vascular cognitive impairment. Since 1998, Dr. Seshadri has been a senior investigator of the Framingham Heart study. She has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2009, and currently serves as the principal investigator on eight NIH-funded grants and participates in twelve additional grants.

Abstract (proposal) preparation and submission guidelines

Submission procedures.  Abstracts of proposed platform and poster presentations must be submitted through the vFairs platform. Stay tuned for the submission link in future communications and on the conference information of the Academy of Aphasia website.

Presentation types. The annual scientific meeting includes both platform and poster sessions.The Academy considers platform presentations and poster presentations to be of comparable scientific merit. Scheduled presentation times of platform sessions and poster sessions will not conflict. At the time of abstract submission, preferred presentation type will be indicated by the submitter.

Platform session presenters will be required to attend and present onsite (in Reading). Platform session presentation types include:

· Scientific papers – consisting of original research that has not yet been published.

· Symposia – consisting of a number of papers focusing on a common theme from researchers representing different laboratories. These papers may report on previously published research.

· Mini-Workshops – methodologically-oriented sessions consisting of a number of papers (possibly from the same research group) reporting a unique approach to a timely topic.

Poster session presenters have the option to either: a) attend and present in the onsite poster hall (in Reading); or b) attend and present in the online poster hall. Regardless of presentation mode, poster presenters are strongly encouraged to be available at their poster for the duration of their assigned poster session for purposes of live interaction; therefore, a single attendee may not present more than one poster simultaneously. Poster sessions include:

· Scientific papers that can be presented primarily in a visual format. All posters (onsite or online) will also be posted in virtual form in the virtual poster hall for the duration of the meeting.

Authorship of submissions. More than one abstract may be submitted by an individual, but an individual can be listed as first author on only one submission. Both members and non-members of the Academy are encouraged to submit proposals for scientific papers, symposia, mini-workshops and posters. All submissions will be given equal consideration on the basis of their scientific merit and topicality for the Academy.

Guidelines for abstract content and format. The submitted abstract should provide a concise statement of the problem or hypothesis, procedures and analyses conducted, results obtained, and final conclusion(s) drawn. Abstracts may include a maximum of 500 words in the abstract proper (excluding title, authors, references and acknowledgements), one camera-ready figure and one table. Abstracts must conform to the specified template format to be considered for acceptance to the conference program.

Proposal of Symposia and Mini-Workshops. It is highly recommended that organizers of symposia and mini-workshops contact the chairs of the Program Committee about their plans, well in advance of abstract submission, by e-mail (academyofaphasia.program@gmail.com), to receive feedback on organizational issues. The organizer then should submit an abstract summarizing the topic, including the names and affiliations of all participants, and the abstract title for each of the proposed presentations within the topic area. In addition, an abstract should be submitted for each of the individual presentations, including the title of the associated symposium in the Acknowledgments section.

Conference participation. The meeting is open to anyone interested in attending. However, Academy of Aphasia members, authors of accepted papers, and the first authors of rejected papers will have preference if onsite or virtual space limitations restrict the number of registrants.

· Certificate of conference participation. Conference participants may request a certificate of conference participation, which they may use subsequently to pursue application for continuing education units (CEUs) or continuing professional development (CPD) with their respective professional organizations.

· Childcare A courtesy list of local childcare providers will be available to registrants upon request.This year, we will provide a $100 registration credit for people who choose to find childcare options during the conference. Proof of receipt of childcare services will be required.

· Student Award. This award is given to the student presenting the most scientifically meritorious paper (either platform or poster presentation). Submissions are judged by the Program Committee on the basis of the abstract submission and the conference presentation itself. All full-time graduate students giving a presentation are eligible for the student award, although priority will be given to students presenting original research. Students wishing to

be considered for the Student Award must so indicate at the time of abstract submission. To be eligible for the Student Award, the author-presenter must:

· be enrolled full-time and be in good standing in a graduate program at the time of submission

· be the first author and presenter of the paper submitted

· not have received a student award from the Academy in the past

Selection criteria for the meeting program. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Program Committee. Selection of papers will be based on scientific merit, innovation, appropriateness for the Academy of Aphasia, and on the representation of topics in the program.

Notification regarding acceptance: The Program Committee will e-mail a decision by July 18, 2023.

Program availability. A PDF eBooklet with formatted abstracts will be available during the conference.

Program Committee: Paola Marangolo (Co-Chair), Gloria Olness (Co-Chair), Shari Baum (Co-Vice Chair), Adrià Rofes (Co-Vice Chair), Eva Kehayia, Aneta Kielar, Gabriele Miceli and Tatiana Schnur.

Local organizing committee: Arpita Bose, Fatemeh Mollaei, Samrah Ahmed, Doug Saddy (University of Reading, UK).