Metascience is exploding into the mainstream. Its simple premise – that we should turn the methods and tools of science back towards analysing and improving the scientific system itself – is now widely accepted. Around the world, we see new initiatives and alliances being set up to make this happen. These are propelled by a fast-growing and diverse community of researchers, policymakers and practitioners who are deploying advanced tools and methodologies to investigate, intervene and redesign science.

Since its inaugural 2019 meeting at Stanford University, the biennial series of Metascience conferences has become an influential meeting point for this community, which now spans every academic discipline, and embraces governments, universities, R&D-intensive firms, research funders, foundations, publishers and infrastructure providers.

From 30 June to 2 July 2025, we are hosting the largest meeting yet — Metascience 2025 will be a global summit for 650 speakers and participants, hosted by the Research on Research Institute (RoRI) at UCL, in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter. Metascience 2025 aims to bring together the diverse metascience community to share ideas and the latest evidence and methods, and foster a culture of continuous experimentation and learning.

We are now inviting proposals for virtual pre-conference symposia, in-person panel sessions, and talks or posters on any topic related to metascience. We intend to explore a broad range of metascience topics, but the conference also has three headline themes, which reflect points of change and opportunity: institutions; innovations; and alliances.

• Institutions – How are governments, funding agencies, foundations and universities supporting and strengthening metascience? Where do we see effective approaches in the public, private and third sectors to building metascientific capacity, and connecting this to decision-making? What metascientific possibilities are being created by new types of research institutions? How can metascience help us to understand and improve institutionalised research cultures?
• Innovations – How are technological and methodological advances – particularly using AI – expanding the possibilities of metascience? How can these and other innovations help us to navigate and shape change in research systems (e.g. in support of new modes of publishing and peer review; high-risk research; or transdisciplinarity)? What can we learn and scale up from the latest advances in metascience?
• Alliances – How can we build better long-term infrastructures for metascience that complement broader moves towards open data infrastructures? What role could a new Metascience Alliance play (alongside other collaborative networks) in support of community building, career pathways, matchmaking and experimentation?

We welcome proposals that address these themes (and their intersections). But we also warmly encourage proposals linked to new work and/or methodological advances across broad fields of metascience.

If there’s anything you think this community should be thinking and talking about, please submit a proposal! We especially encourage submissions from members of groups that are underrepresented in metascience, and research more generally, to foster an inclusive program.

Please send any questions to metascience@nomadit.co.uk. 

Submissions should be received by 23:59 GMT on Friday 7 February 2025 for consideration by the Program Committee. Proposals received after that date may be considered, but only if there are still available slots. We aim to announce selections within six weeks, by Friday 21 March 2025.

We invite proposals for any of the following contributions:

We invite proposals for 60-90 minute virtual events on any topic related to metascience, to take place online in the two weeks (Monday 16th June – Friday 27th June 2025) leading up to the Metascience 2025 in-person meeting.

A similar round of virtual symposia took place prior to Metascience 2023 and can be seen here. Virtual symposia could include, for example: a sequence of presentations; a moderated panel discussion; or a facilitated community discussion.

Proposers will provide a title and abstract describing the event, a list of the contributing presenters or discussants, and preferred timing. The primary purpose of the virtual symposia is to engage colleagues who are unable to attend the in-person meeting in London. There will be a particular emphasis on scheduling events for maximum inclusion of participants across a range of timezones.

We invite proposals for 90-minute panel sessions on any topic related to metascience, to take place during Metascience 2025 (30 June to 2 July 2025).

The purpose of panel sessions is to foster debate and conversation among attendees. Panel sessions should not be dominated by long talks and lengthy slide presentations. They are expected to involve 4-5 brief contributions (with or without slides) exploring different aspects of a given theme. Some panel sessions will be curated by the Program Committee, but this is an opportunity for proposers to curate a session on a topic or theme of interest.

Proposals for panel sessions need to identify a theme, a chair/moderator, and speakers and will be expected to pay attention to the diversity of participants. More competitive proposals will identify a clear, provocative topic that has relevance to multiple disciplines or stakeholder communities.

We invite proposals for talks, paper or poster presentations on any topic related to metascience, to take place during Metascience 2025 (30 June to 2 July 2025).

Talks will be 10-15 minute presentations on any topic related to metascience, or new and emerging research findings. Posters will be displayed at the conference for a substantial portion of the meeting, with dedicated times during coffee and lunch breaks for participants to engage with poster authors and content.

Proposals for papers will first be reviewed as a potential talk, and then as a poster. If you are not interested in a talk and only a poster presentation, please contact metascience@nomadit.co.uk after submission.

Guidelines and Deadlines

Submissions should be received by 23:59 GMT on Friday 7 February 2025 for consideration by the program committee. Proposals received after that date may be considered, but only if there are still available slots. We expect to announce selections by Friday 21 March 2025.

We offer the following guidance for proposals under all three headings:

• Topics of broad interest to metascience researchers from multiple disciplines will be favored over topics of more narrow interest
• Sessions with a well-defined theme and clear goals for the session will be favored over more open-ended and unstructured sessions
• Sessions with presenters from multiple disciplines or stakeholder communities will be favored over sessions with presenters from a single discipline or community
• Sessions with presenters representing diversity in social identities and including members of underrepresented groups in science will be favored over sessions with little diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups

You will be asked to include a URL to a professional biography and upload a professional headshot for yourself and any co-speakers/presenters. Please have this information available at the time of submission.

How Proposals Will Be Evaluated

All proposals will be reviewed by members of the Program Committee which comprises 26 international metascience experts (listed on the Conference homepage). Each proposal will be scored by three reviewers according to a rubric based on the guidance given immediately above. The final decisions on selection and programming will be made in consultation with the full Program Committee with a view to maximising quality, interest and plurality of perspective. We aim to notify applicants of the Committee’s decision within 6 weeks of the submission deadline (by 21 March 2025).

Alongside the deliberations of the Program Committee, we aim to use the proposal submission process to do some interesting metascience! Without it affecting the selection process, we will evaluate the value of AI/ML tools to support peer review and selection, and the feasibility of the use of such tools in ways which respect applicant privacy (i.e. proposal text will not be shared with third-parties). A full report on this will be made available to Metascience 2025 attendees.

Thank you for your interest in Metascience 2025 – we look forward to receiving your proposals. Please send any questions to metascience@nomadit.co.uk.