The focus of the conference is on the "impacts and implications of FTA for policy and decision making". It will address both methodological aspects of FTA and practical impacts of FTA in a number of thematic areas. The conference will place emphasis on diversity of views by
attracting academics, practitioners as well as public and private sector decision makers from Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australasia.

Abstracts should clearly indicate whether they aim to contribute as papers or posters and to which of the five conference themes. Paper contributions should report the process of involving multiple stakeholders, the use of methods, and the achieved outcomes and impacts of empirical studies or policy implications of ongoing work. Purely theoretical papers without empirical findings or their likely implications are not encouraged.

The abstracts are expected to be around 300-500 words. Authors will be informed of reviewers' decisions by 31 May 2008, with full texts of papers and poster presentations to be delivered no later than 15 August 2008.

Papers should be between 5000-6000 words. Conference Proceedings will be published in 2009. Selected papers will also be considered for special editions of leading journals in the field. The presenters of the posters will also be asked to prepare a short (4-page) brief to accompany their presentations. Further guidelines on the preparation of papers and posters with their accompanying briefs will be issued after completion of the abstracts revision process.

Registration
The Conference will have a limited number of places. Conference registration will open before end of May 2008. There will be no conference fee for participants.

Furthermore, a number of grants to cover travel costs and subsistence expenses (i.e. hotel, local transport and food) during the conference will be available for funding mainly early career researchers from all over the world.

Only those presenting a paper or a poster during the conference will be entitled to apply for a grant. The full criteria for applying for such grants will be available in this website when registration is opened and after the selection of abstracts.