Information for organizers of a workshop

Any scientist or group of scientists can apply for organizing a workshop in the Lorentz Center provided that the topic of the workshop is based in the sciences. Workshops extending towards the humanities and social sciences are welcome if the goal remains collaboration with the (natural) sciences. The facilities available to a workshop are described elsewhere on this website.

Those interested in organizing a workshop should submit a short proposal and are encouraged to contact the science coordinator or one of the members of the Program Board at an early stage to discuss their ideas. The proposals are submitted for review by the program boards 3 times per year (15 January, 15 May and September 15). We aim at having the boards take a decision on the proposals in about 6 weeks.
The science coordinator may decide for an accelerated evaluation procedure in some exceptional cases, e.g. for rapid response relating to a workshop starting within a few months after submission of the proposal.

The scientific organization of the workshop is left to the scientific organizers who submitted the proposal, while the staff of the Lorentz Center looks after the logistics of the workshop organization. Every workshop is assigned one of the workshop coordinators, who takes care as much as possible of all the organization, while keeping in close contact with the organizers. The workshop coordinator officially sends out invitations to the workshop on behalf of the organizers to invite those interested to register (electronically via the website), makes the hotel reservations, keeps the participants informed etc. For practical reasons and for direct contact with the Lorentz Center it is advisable that a (co)organizer is based in the Netherlands. In view of our national funding, participation is open to any interested scientist from the Netherlands (as long as the workshop is not overbooked) and talks are open.
In exceptional cases, the Lorentz Center will accommodate (partially) closed meetings; special rules apply.

Practical organization
After approval of the proposal the scientific organizer(s) consult(s) with the executive manager to draw up the outlines of the workshop: The program with planning of the lectures and discussions, the number of invitees, time and duration of the meeting, etc. The organizer writes a short description and aim of the workshop to be published on the Lorentz Center website. Thereafter the workshop coordinator starts informing the invitees.

Time schedule

• It is advisable to reserve a timeslot for the workshop early.
• A timeslot may typically be held for 3 weeks after which the organizers should submit a (draft) proposal to keep their option.
• The final workshop proposal should preferably be ready for an evaluation round 12 to 9 months before the start of the workshop (rounds on 15 January, 15 May and 15 September).
• Within six weeks after these deadlines a go-nogo decision should be reached.
• One month before the workshop the final program should be ready on the website.

For additional information about organizing a workshop contact the executive manager, Mieke Schutte, , or the science coordinator, Henriette Jensenius, .

Guidelines for writing a proposal are found on the page 'proposal instructions'

Other workshop orangising institutes
For information about other visitors' centers and institutes organising workshops in the sciences, have a look the list of "sister institutes".