Mission
SIRC provides an opportunity for students from across schools, majors and disciplines to present their research and scholarship, receive meaningful feedback, and develop scholarly community.

About the Conference
SIRC has long been co-organized by Whitworth University and Gonzaga University, alternating between campuses in the spring each year. This celebration of research is open to all students in Spokane and more broadly in the Inland Northwest, and it costs nothing to attend. Although the event primarily supports undergraduate research, we invite all students in our community to celebrate their research as well.

2024 Conference
The 21st Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference will be hosted by Whitworth University on Saturday, 20 April, 2024. Advanced high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate students from the greater Spokane area and beyond are invited to present original, faculty-advised research from any discipline. Submissions may be original work conducted as part of classroom activities or performed outside of class under the direction of a faculty mentor. Submissions of abstracts must include the name and contact information of a faculty member who will verify that the proposed work is suitable for submission to a conference within a specific discipline. Students are welcome to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations.

Types of Sessions at SIRC 2024

Oral Presentation
Students may submit a proposal to present a traditional research paper or creative work which may or may not include a visual aid. This category often comprises research papers written for capstone courses or aimed at publication in academic or creative journals. Individual proposals will be combined into panels of approximately four presenters at the discretion of the SIRC Planning committee. Individual presenters are expected to deliver their research in approximately 10-12 minutes, allowing for panel discussion through an audience question and answer period at the end of the collective presentations.

Poster Presentation
Students from any discipline, Humanities included, may submit a proposal to present a research poster. Posters are self-contained visual presentations of research projects typically displayed on tables, easels, or bulletin boards. Mounting supplies will be provided at the conference. Tables will be available for free standing tri-fold poster displays. Each wall poster may not exceed 48 inches in width. They often include introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion sections, but can be amended to the specific nature of the student’s research. Student poster presenters will be expected to be present to answer questions about their research during a designated period in the morning or afternoon of the conference (preparing an approximately 5- to 10-minute oral explanation of your poster would be appropriate). Students are responsible for printing and setting up their posters in a timely fashion at their assigned location on the day of the conference.

Submissions will be accepted until Wednesday, 3 April. Faculty advisors will be contacted for confirmation shortly thereafter. A draft conference schedule should be ready and made available to all participants by Tuesday, 9 April.