EABS Research Unit Policy
General Information
The EABS Annual Conference takes place in summer, usually in late July/early August. The conference begins with an evening opening session, and is then, over the three (or three and a half) subsequent days, divided up into sessions organised by research units. In addition, the local organising team and/or the committee may schedule plenary sessions on topics of interest to a broader range of biblical scholars. The conference ends with a closing event (e.g., concert and reception) in the evening of the last day.
There are three types of EABS units:
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Special sessions, which function as one-time events, devoted to a specific current issue/topic;
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One-year workshops, which may also function as one-time events, but could be formed with a view to exploring the viability and interest in the topic; in the case of the latter, if successful, a workshop can be transformed into a research unit (submission of a new proposal is necessary);
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Three-to-five-year research units, with the possibility of renewal(s).
Typically, research units are conceived of as pursuing a clearly defined research programme, and are expected to present a research plan to be accepted. It is recommended, and research unit chairs are encouraged, but not required, to hold open calls for papers, in order to allow scholars outside their own research circle to be involved. In order to allow more flexibility, sessions consisting of invited papers only are also allowed. Generally, collaboration between participants during the year is highly encouraged. Research units are also encouraged to publish the papers presented during the conference, possibly also including additional papers, in collective volumes or special journal issues.
One of the formative ideas behind EABS was to offer a platform for projects carried out in different parts of Europe (and the world), so that instead of organising a conference of their own, project members could meet as part of the EABS. Consequently, some of the research units, rather than beginning a new project, can function as outlets for presenting the results of research conducted in an already existing project.
The majority of sessions consist of papers of varying length, followed by discussion, whether after each individual paper, or a longer discussion at the end. Other formats, however, are also encouraged, including, but not limited to, panel discussions and book reviews.
Research units may choose not to meet in any particular year, but if they do not meet for two consecutive years, they will be removed from the list of current research units and archived, unless an explicit request is made to the Executive Officer. Archived groups may be re-activated through the same renewal process as applied to existing research units. An application to re-activate an archived group is to be submitted either by the former chairs or with their explicit permission.