The Organizing Committee invites the submission of abstracts for presentations, which fall within the scope of the conference for oral presentation and poster display. Although the following list is not intended to be exhaustive, abstracts may address the following topics: 

- Plant Response to Cold and Heat Stresses
- Plant Response to Drought, Salt and Osmotic Stresses
- Plant Response to Oxidative Stress
- Plant Response to Nutrient and Flooding Stresses
- Signal Transduction of Stress Tolerance
- Functional Genomics of Abiotic Stress Tolerance
- Modelling and Systems Biology of Abiotic Stress Tolerance
- Breeding & Biotechnology of Abiotic Stress Tolerance
- Plant Abiotic Stress Signaling

Abstracts submitted to the Conference will be evaluated and selected for poster or oral presentations. The Conference programme is designed in such a way as to encourage young researchers to give oral presentations. Abstracts will be published in the Conference abstract book.

Authors should format their abstracts (MSWord .doc or .rtf ) using the following style to and send them past2012@vipca.at: 

• The total size of the abstract should not exceed 200 words. The total size includes: title, author(s) and abstract body. Abstracts which extend this limit will not be accepted. 

• Each registered presenting author is entitled to submit only one abstract

• The text should be in clear and concise English. Please be consistent in punctuation, abbreviations and spelling (English). 

• Title of abstract: Please use upper and lower case and capitalize each word, except for words such as "the, as, of, with, a, in, and, from, by, etc."

• Use of standard abbreviations is desirable. Place special or unusual abbreviations in parentheses after the full term the first time it appears. 

• The body of the abstract should include: background  - methods  - results  - conclusion • Add 3-5 key words related to your abstract. 

• Submission deadline: January 20, 2012 

• The authors of the accepted abstracts will be asked to prepare a poster if not chosen for a short oral presentation. Oral presentations usually do not exceed 15 min. All accepted abstracts will be published in the conference abstract book.

The authors of the chosen abstracts will be asked to prepare and bring posters with them.  Instructions to prepare a poster: 

• There will be several Poster Exhibition sessions during the Conference which will create an opportunity for networking. During the sessions, presenters are expected to stand by their poster/exhibition in order to discuss their research/design project with the viewers. The poster presentations will continuously be on display for viewing during the Conference from February 22 - 25, 2012. 

• Poster authors must consider that they are responsible for printing and bringing the poster to the Conference. 

• Poster Set-up: Each poster presenter will tack his/her poster on a dedicated board. It is your responsibility to set-up your poster. 

• Paper size: Paper size should not exceed A0 format ( 841mm x 1189 mm / 33" x 47" ) in portrait (vertical) set-up 

• Authors are encouraged to a) include a photo of themselves on the poster so that they can be identified easily b) print several copies of their posters in A4 format and hang these up in an envelope on their designated poster board. This will make communication and future collaborations easier and more visible.