CFA: 2025 Midwest Russian, East European and Eurasian (REEE) Undergraduate Digital Poster Forum

October 29, 2024

CFA: 2025 Midwest Russian, East European and Eurasian (REEE) Undergraduate Digital Poster Forum

Michelle McKenzie presenting at the undergraduate poster forum

The Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies at The Ohio State University is pleased to announce the 2025 Midwest Russian, East European and Eurasian (REEE) Undergraduate Digital Poster Forum. 

The forum will take place on Saturday, April 5, 3:15-4:45 PM on the second-floor foyer of the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center as a part of the 2025 Midwest Slavic Conference. The research forum will highlight the work of undergraduate students who are conducting guided research on any topic in any discipline related to the Eastern European and Eurasian regions. Participating students will design a digital poster to present their original research at the forum and will be expected to give a short oral presentation on it to judges.

Poster and Presentation 

Students will be required to submit their idea online. This must include a title and general abstract (5-6 sentences) of their topic and argument. For ease of accessibility, students are asked to create a digital poster that will be displayed on a screen in the conference foyer. We recommend that students use PowerPoint to create their digital posters. Students will be allowed to use 2 slides to summarize their research. Slides should be inclusive of images as well. 

Event Details 

Participants must submit their poster idea, title, and general abstract (5-6 sentences) of their topic and argument to CSEEES (cseees@osu.edu) by Friday, January 24, 11:59 PM in order to be considered eligible. Judges will have a chance to review abstracts in advance and develop questions for participants. 

Eligibility

The digital poster forum is open to undergraduate students who are or have conducted guided research with a faculty member from their home institution. Additionally, undergraduate students who have submitted a paper proposal to the Midwest Slavic Conference but have instead been recommended to submit to the poster forum by the conference review committee are also eligible. Students may present either a paper OR a poster during the conference, but not both. All participating students must register for the conference as student presenters, but are eligible to request a registration waiver from the Young Scholars of Slavic Studies fund. Due to time constraints, we will only be able to accept 8 poster presentations.

Format 

On April 5, presenters will need to give a 5-minute oral presentation of their poster and topic to a panel of two judges and audience members (faculty, students, and members of the general public). Each judge will ask each student a question and assess all posters.

Judging Criteria 

All posters and oral presentations will be judged out of 25 points for the following criteria: aesthetic design/readability (5 points), quality of oral presentation (5 points), clarity of argument (5 points), creativity (5 points), and uniqueness of research (5 points).

Gift cards will be awarded as prizes to the top 3 posters: $50– 1st place; $35 – 2nd place; and $25 - 3rd place.  The winners will be announced at the Midwest Slavic Association meeting on Saturday, April 5 and the posters will remain visible on the digital display screen for all conference goers to view throughout the weekend.