Submitting to SfNC2026: Liberty to Create
We are accepting both scientific abstracts and artist presentations as part of this year’s meeting. There are different guidelines for each.
Scientific Abstract Solicitation
Our annual meeting is a forum for timely presentation of recent and impactful research across all topics of creativity neuroscience. As such, we invite all research on creative thinking, using tools ranging from behavioral measures, to neuroimaging and other neuroscientific methods.
Our secondary goal this year is to spark meaningful conversations about how scientists and artists can work together to understand the creative process in the arts. To that end, we encourage submissions that address the following themes:
New ways of measuring subjective experience
We welcome approaches that bridge personal meaning with observable data, offer innovative tools for studying aesthetic and creative experience, methods that examine how creators and audiences interact, or capture domain-specific creative states.
The full complexity of creativity and aesthetic experience
We encourage submissions that investigate the emotional and subjective impact of the arts. We are especially interested in submissions that explore the deeper, richer, and sometimes uncomfortable truths of the arts: psychological depth, curiosity, strong or challenging emotions, and what makes art surprising or transformative.
The knowledge of artists and cultural workers
We value the methods, perspectives, and forms of expertise held by artists, designers, performers, and cultural practitioners. We are curious about how creative practice and scientific research can inform and challenge one another.
Expertise, domain-specificity, and creativity misconceptions
We also encourage proposals that address creativity misconceptions, highlight how creativity differs across domains, or trace the contributions of domain-specific expertise to “Big-C” innovations in artistic contexts.
Submit an abstract by clicking the link below to navigate to our member site. You must be an SfNC member or be sponsored by an SfNC faculty member to submit a scientific abstract.
Call for Artistic Submissions
SfNC is committed to platforming artists whose work speaks to creativity, expression, process, embodiment, insight, imagination, and the many ways humans create and experience meaning.
You do not have to be an SfNC member to submit an artist abstract. However, if accepted, presenters are expected to join SfNC and register for the conference in order to present your work. We are collecting artistic submissions via a separate form from the scientific abstracts.
Formats
We welcome submissions in several formats, each designed to foster dialogue between artists, scientists, and the broader creative community.
1. Performances, Methods-Focused Talks, or Creative Workshops
We hope to accommodate a select number of stage-based artistic presentations during the conference. These may include:
Methods-focused talks: presentations that illuminate your creative process, techniques, research, or artistic inquiry.
Creative performances: musical, theatrical, dance, movement-based, visual/performing arts, multimedia, spoken word, or hybrid forms.
Creative workshops: short participatory sessions that invite movement, interaction, experimentation, or collective expression.
These sessions will typically run 10–25 minutes. Because stage space is limited, we will be able to accommodate 2-5 high quality proposals in this category.
2. Creative / Conversational Exhibitions (Artist Poster Session)
The heart of the SfNC meeting is our interactive poster sessions, and we are thrilled to include artists as part of the central program.
Artists are invited to present their work in a conversational exhibition format—a gallery-style session that functions as the artistic equivalent of a scientific poster. This format is ideal for work that benefits from dialogue and sensory exploration rather than a formal presentation.
Accepted artists may display:
Visual works or still images
Sketches, storyboards, or process documentation
Textual or conceptual materials
Video, animation, or digital media (looping or static)
Artifacts, tools, or methods used in the creative process
Attendees will move freely from exhibit to exhibit, engaging artists in conversation about their work, process, and ideas. We anticipate accepting a larger number of submissions in this format.
3. Hybrid or Experimental Formats (Optional Category)
For artists whose work does not fit neatly into either a performance or an exhibition, we also invite proposals for hybrid formats—such as interactive installations, participatory experiments, media-based environments, or in-between forms. These submissions will be evaluated on feasibility and alignment with the conference space.
Registration details coming soon.
We’re putting on a show — literally.
Hosted at the FringeArts Building, Philadelphia’s premier center for alternative performance arts, SfNC2026 will make full use of its dynamic space: a 250-seat theater, a lively restaurant and bar, and an open-air patio along the Philadelphia riverfront.
This immersive venue will allow us to create an environment that embodies our theme. We will explore the humanistic, expressive, and subversive power of art, drawing inspiration from Philadelphia’s revolutionary spirit, past and present. As the city draws international attention during America’s 250th anniversary, SfNC 2026 will offer a timely and memorable reflection on creativity, freedom, and the power of art to challenge convention and energize the human spirit.