The European Multicolloquium of Parasitology (EMOP) takes place every four years during the summer (almost all previous EMOPs have been held between late July and early September). It is the official conference of the European Federation of Parasitologists (EFP), but is hosted by local organizers (usually national societies, or consortia of societies). Hosting EMOP includes the organization of:

• conference venue

• accommodation

• local transport

• satellite meetings, receptions, dinners, excursions

• sponsoring

• all financial issues (expenditure, conference fees)

Interested societies are asked to present a bid to the EFP three months prior to EMOP. If there is more than one bid that meets the general requirements (a decision will be made by the EFP board on eligible bids two months before EMOP), the bidders are invited to give a 15 min presentation at the EFP general assembly during EMOP, which will be followed by voting of all representatives of EFP member societies during the same meeting. Should there be only one eligible bid, there will be no voting, however the presentation to the general assembly is mandatory. Promotional activities (e.g. leaflets, web pages, presentations) before and during EMOP (before the voting) are optional and should be discussed with the EFP board beforehand.

The bidding document should be send by email to the General Secretary of EFP.

Bidding document:

There are no formal requirements, but the document should be in electronic form, transmittable via email, and should contain the required information listed in the following section. When compiling the document, it should be kept in mind that the overall aim of EFP is to attract as many scientists as possible to the conference. Therefore, the decision will be based on the originality of the scientific focus, affordability, and attractiveness / accessibility of the venue. A two-page summary of the bidding document should be submitted together with the bid, which will then be circulated to the EFP member societies two months before the general meeting at EMOP.

The bid should contain the following sections:

Background

A brief report on the status of parasitology in your country and on research groups working on parasite systems.

Proposed date

Dates or preferred period of time for the meeting.

Proposed venue

A brief description of the city / town (decisions are not based on size…), the conference venue and surroundings, opportunities for sightseeing, weather, accommodations (low cost accommodation should be available) and easy travel connections. Websites of the venue and the city.

Local organizing committee

The president (coordinator) and other members of the organizing committee should be clearly designated. If a commercial / professional conference organizer is to be involved, this information is needed.

Provisional program

No time schedule is required at this stage, but the envisaged structure of the conference (plenaries, workshops, satellites, number of parallel sessions) should be outlined. How will the poster sessions be organized (paper or electronic)? In which form will the abstracts be distributed? Will there be proceedings, or a special issue of a national journal? Innovations are extremely welcome, and thematic foci outside of the usual subjects should be detailed (e.g., if your country is strong on frog parasitology…). Possibilities for social activities, excursions, conference dinner, etc. should be mentioned here, as well an accompanying persons program.

Institutional and economic support

Official support by a public institution (university, academy…) is mandatory. Please attach scanned copies of official letters of support. If there will be financial support (public or private), or if the use of facilities is offered for free (e.g. lecture rooms), please support this with the relevant documents.

Travel and accommodation

A general description of international travel connections to the venue should be provided, as well as accommodation options and prices. Transport between the venue and the main hotels should be detailed. Visa requirements should be briefly described.

Budget and conference fees

Conference fees should be kept at a minimum, and there should be reduced fees for scientists from low-income countries and for students under 30. A provisional financial plan that justifies the fee structure should be provided.