About  Call for Papers

The fully operational National Volunteering Secretariat (NVS) will be established on October 14, 2014 as a permanent unit under the Ministry of Social Services, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers, Sri Lanka for the promotion, coordination, facilitation and support of Volunteerism in the country.

The first-ever  National Conference on Volunteerism with the theme of Volunteerism - the Spark of Inspiration will be held on 14th - 15th October 2014 to celebrate the new era of volunteerism which the National Volunteering Secretariat will introduce to Sri Lanka. This conference seeks to explore scholarly findings and expert views on the impact of volunteerism on the country while lighting and brightening small sparks of inspiration to volunteering in the hearts of Sri Lankans to build and rebuild the country. 

As the recent UNV report “Sri Lanka Youth: Volunteering to Make a Difference” underscores, in-depth research on Volunteerism is limited in the country. The conference seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by encouraging research on Volunteerism. Therefore, papers are called for the conference under five key themes on volunteerism (Refer Table I for themes).

The selected papers will be published as a conference paper volume, and the authors will be presenting the key findings of their papers at the conference. It is hoped that the research findings will be capable of directing the policy makers, interested stakeholders and above all the National Volunteering Secretariat to take effective actions to enhance volunteerism in the country. It is also envisaged that these research studies will not only fill the dearth of research on volunteerism, but also highlight the possibilities, and promote the need for more advanced studies

* Themes

Research papers should be on one of the five themes given below. The content should be in depth, well researched, analytical and precise. Ideally the papers should be on volunteerism in Sri Lanka or at least be relevant to the Sri Lankan context. For instance, a paper could compare the volunteering situation in Sri Lanka with one or more of other countries under a selected theme.   Please note that the best two papers will be selected under each theme to be included in the conference paper publication and presentations.

Table I: Themes of the Conference

  1. Responsibilities of Volunteering on Post conflict Development, Peace, Reconciliation, Social Integration and Reintegration
  2. Impact of Corporate Volunteering on Economic & Social Development
  3. Providing Economic Value to Volunteering Contributions
  4. Impact of Youth Volunteering on the Development
  5. Impact of Volunteering on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

 * Deadlines

Please make sure that you submit the required documents and/or materials pertaining to the deadlines given below. Not following the deadlines might cause your paper to be disqualified even at the final stage.

Deadlines for the Call for Papers (Please note the Deadlines are Extended and these will not be extended any further)

Activity                                                                                                    Extended Dealines              Time Duration

Call for papers announced                                                        June 2, 2014                            

 Abstract submission                                                                    July 22, 2014                                

Selected abstracts notified                                                       July 28, 2014                                  1 week

Full paper submission                                                                 September 22, 2014                  2 months

Best 10 papers selected                                                               September 29, 2014                  1 week

Best 10 papers reviewed &  ready for printing               October 06, 2014                         1 weeks

Presentation material sent to NVS                                        October 10, 2014                         1 week

Presentations                                                                                   October 16 or 17, 2014             1 week

*  Guidelines for Abstract Submission

        Please mention the chosen theme right below the title of the paper. Example is given below. 

       Example-  Title: Corporate Volunteering as a Path to Post Conflict Development

                              Theme: Impact of Corporate volunteering on Economic & Socail Development

         General Guidelines

  1. Abstracts should be submitted to hewage.fernando@undp.org
  2. Subject line of the email should be Abstract for National Conference on Volunteerism_First Author’s Family Name_First Author’s First Name
  3. Abstracts should be based on one of the five themes of the conference
  4. Abstracts should be named in the below format

             Author’s Family Name_Author’s First Name_abstract

             Ex: Fernando_Kamal_abstract.doc

      5. Abstracts should be submitted in both word and pdf formats

            Ex: Fernando_Kamal_abstract.doc

                   Fernando_Kamal_abstract.pdf

       6. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words

      7. Abstracts should be in font type Times New Roman and in size 11, and with 1.5 spacing

      8. Please do not include references

      9. Joint authorships are welcome, however one submission per one author is permitted

10. All abstracts should be submitted in English

11. Abbreviations should be defined the first time they appear in your text. Please avoid defining or using abbreviations in the abstract title

12. Please avoid including complex mathematical formulas, graphics, tables and charts on the submitted abstracts.

13. Selected abstracts will be notified by the given deadline.

14. Please note that the abstracts will be selected by an experienced panel of scholars, and their decision will be the final decision

15. Below the abstract, please include a biography of yourself not exceeding 50 words.

16. Format for the abstract is given below

 

Abstract Title (Bolded)

First author’s Family Name, First author’s First Name; Second author’s Family Name, second author’s First Name; etc.

Abstract

Times New Roman font, size 12, Maximum 300 words. Please do not include references.

Keywords – include three or four 


17. Format for the biography is given below:

LAST NAME, First Name

Position/Department/Organization/Country:

 

Biography (maximum of 50 words):

 

Contact Information:


* Guidelines for Full Paper Submission

General guidelines:

  •   Please mention the chosen theme right below the title of the paper. Example is given below. 

           Example-  Title: Corporate Volunteering as a Path to Post Conflict Development

                                  Theme: Impact of Corporate volunteering on Economic & Socail Development

  • Full papers should be emailed to hewage.fernando@undp.org
  • All papers should be strictly original and meet academic excellence
  • Papers submitted to the conference must not be under consideration for other publications
  • Joint authorships are welcome, however one submission per author is permitted
  • All papers should be submitted in English
  • Abbreviations should be defined the first time they appear in your text.
  • By submitting a full paper, you grant the permission to NVS to publish it.

Word Limit:

  • Full papers should not exceed 30 pages, including footnotes, endnotes, tables, graphics, figures and references.
  1. Submission Format
  • Papers should be in font type Times New Roman and in size 11 and with 1.5 spacing
  • Subject line of the email should be Full Papers for Conference on Volunteerism_First Author’s Family Name_First Author’s First Name
  • Full papers should be named in the below format

Author’s Family Name_Author’s First Name_full paper

Ex: Fernando_Kamal_full paper.doc

  • Full papers should be submitted in both word and pdf formats

Ex: Fernando_Kamal_full paper.doc

      Fernando_Kamal_full paper.pdf

  • A separate coversheet should be included detailing the title of the paper, the authorship, position/ Department/ Organization/ Country
  • Except for article title and block quotations, the rest of the paper should be left-justified
  • Block quotations – quotations that exceed four lines- should be singled spaced and indented eight spaces from the left hand margin

Review

  • Full papers will be reviewed by an experienced panel of scholars and are subject to editing
  • All papers should meet standards of academic excellence

Paper Structure

  • Abstract: This should not exceed 300 words and should not include any citation.
  • Introduction
  • Material and methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Tables: Each table should be named by a descriptive title, units of numerical measurements, year that the data belong to, geographical area the data was collected from, etc. should be specified

Final Paper Format

  • Final papers should have considered all the improvements suggested by the editors
  • Tables and charts should be compatible with MS Excel format
  • All images used should be cited and must be submitted separately as jpg files
  • Bibliography must be included at the end of the paper.

Reference Style

Use an appropriate reference style. However, please be consistent throughout the paper. Inconsistencies will cause you to edit the paper.

Brief Biography

The same biography submitted along with the abstract can be used in the full paper to. One has the freedom to make amendments if necessary. Use the format given below for this purpose

* Guidelines for Conference Presentations

Time limit

  • Presentations should not exceed eight minutes

Material Used

  • Power Point Presentations or any other method can be used
  • Any material to be displayed should be submitted to NVS (to hewage.fernando@undp.org  or by other means) well in advanced and at the latest by, October 07 2014

Presentation

  • Presentations are encouraged to be lively and appealing to the audience
  • Use of humor, graphics, and charts is encouraged
  • Please note that your presentation will have to create a strong base for the panel discussion which will follow

Questions and Concerns

Any question or concern should be addressed to National Volunteering Secretariat directly to any of the following contact details.

  1. Email: Ms Marian Fernando at  hewage.fernando@undp.org
  2. Telephone: Ms Marian Fernando at 077-8098009 or 011-2187005