Conference Participant Guide

Registration and Application 

Due April 18, 2025

All UCSB undergraduates who conducted research in the  Academic year are invited to apply for the URCA Week Conference. Students who would like to share their work must submit this form by April 18, 2025. 

Groups are asked to submit individual applications. We will try to keep groups together, but this will largely depend on participants' availability.

Registration and Application

Schedule and Structure

The conference will take place on Tuesday, May 13. 

Please note that the conference format has changed and we have three options. Events will run concurrently in adjacent rooms in the UCen. 

Roundtables

50 minute sessions starting on the hour

Focused discussions with 3-6 presenters working on related topics, hosted by subject experts. Students will give brief explanations of their research, but mostly these roundtables are intended to foster discussion. Students in these sessions will not have access to a projector or monitor.

Oral Presentations

75 minute sessions on university course schedule

Presentations that are 5-7 minutes long, immediately followed by a Q&A. Selected students will be grouped according to topic and experts from the field will act as moderators for each session.

Demonstrations

50 minute sessions starting on the hour

Students who developed creative projects or technologies that are more suitable for demonstration and interaction are invited to apply for this less formal format, in which students will be assigned an area with a table to set up and share their projects with visitors.

Some panels may have an audience, others may be discussions just among the panelists. There has been a big range in the past. It is common for students to invite friends or family members to attend their sessions.

Moderators

The moderators for the panels include faculty, graduate students, and affiliates from the Office of Teaching & Learning. They will give a brief introduction to the panel, keep things moving on time, and facilitate the discussions. These partners will also be a part of the application review process.

Presenting Your Research in a Conference Setting

Presentations at conferences vary by discipline, so don’t be surprised or worried if what other people are doing looks very different from your work. This is an opportunity to learn from each other in an interdisciplinary setting.

Some students come in with fully scripted talks and slide shows, whereas others prefer a more casual approach to talk through their research experience, methods, results, etc.

There is no one right way to do this and it may also depend a bit on how far you are in your research. You may want to present completed research, or you may also share where you are struggling and seek advice from your peers how you might proceed.