The Scientific Committee solicits proposals from individuals interested in organising sessions, and also from authors of individual papers. A major focus of the meeting is Bayesian methods in government, official statistics and public policy, and several sessions will be reserved for presentations on topics related to the theme. Beyond this, the meeting will feature sessions on research and applications of Bayesian statistics in many diverse areas, especially on topics consistent with the interdisciplinary outlook and mission of ISBA. Talks will be organised in sessions of 2 or (mainly) 3 presentations, each talk being 30 minutes long, including discussion time. We invite proposals from
session organisers interested in putting together a session of 2 or 3 talks on a specific topic
contributing speakers on any topic.

We particularly encourage proposals in areas related to the meeting theme. Suggested session topics are listed below, though proposals need not be restricted to these areas. Possible Theme topics:

Bayesian methods and official statistics
Statistics in the European Union
Bayesian statistics in national and international finance
Confidentiality and disclosure limitation
Economic and governmental forecasting
Government accounting and/or auditing
Risk assessment (environmental, economic/business, etc)
Bayesian methods in insurance
Bayesian methods in agriculture
Decision analysis in government policy
Statistics in education and education policy
Bayesian methods in political science
Bayesian methods in sampling and census, including non-response in surveys
Bayesian statistics in public health (disease mapping, health care policy, program evaluation, etc).
Under the general theme of government and official statistics, we solicit proposals for one or more formatted sessions with two or three speakers presenting a coordinated discussion of important statistical and societal problems. Such a session might involve a subject matter expert to present the problem and background work, followed by one or two speakers discussing specific Bayesian approaches and contributions, highlighting challenges and unsolved problems, and possibly discussing advantages of Bayesian methods over earlier (Bayesian and non-Bayesian) approaches. In addition to the theme topics, we encourage proposals for sessions and talks in any area of Bayesian statistics and decision science, including topics in theory, methodology and applications.

Proposals from session organisers must include the names of proposed speakers (preferably 3 speakers) and a session chair. Proposers of such sessions will assume responsibility for managing the speakers and ensuring a successful session at the meeting. Tentative titles of all talks should be included with the names of proposed speakers. Individual authors should simply send a proposed title for their talk. All proposals should include full e-mail addresses of all named participants, as well as their institutional affiliations. All individuals interested in presenting at the meeting will be able to do so, in either a plenary or parallel session of talks, or in evening poster sessions. Individuals who prefer to present in a poster session should mention that on their submission. All proposals should be e-mailed to Mike West, and all future correspondence with the Scientific Committee will be carried out electronically. Enquiries can be e-mailed to any member of the Scientific Committee. To be given full consideration, proposals for sessions or for individual talks must be received no later than October 1, 1999. While we will accept proposals that are received later than the October 1 deadline, we cannot promise that all organizers' requests will be met. This call for participation, and other details of ISBA 2000, is available at the ISBA web site. under the Meetings link.