SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The 2026 Land & Water Summit invites researchers, practitioners, and experts to showcase their work through poster presentations at our conference. We are seeking contributions that align with the theme “ReciproCity with Nature – From Theory to Reality”, and address the critical issues surrounding land and water resource management in arid regions. All poster presenters must be available to present their posters 12:30-1:15PM on March 5th, 2026 at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (2401 12th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104).

The Student and early career category will be judged on technical excellence, originality, presentation, and articulating your project. For further guidelines see our, “Don’t know how to get started?” section. Winners will receive a People’s Choice certificate of acknowledgement (must be present to be judged) and/or a giftcard to a locally owned business.

Submission fees:

Student and early career professionals:

Participants are considered “early career” if they have graduated in the last two years. Current students must have a “.edu” email. Student and early career professionals do not need to register for the summit to participate in the poster season and have no poster submission fee! Poster presenters will be able to attend the afternoon summit session on Thursday March 5th, 2026. Lunch will be provided to presenters at no cost.

If poster presenters would like to attend the entire summit, they must register.

Professionals:

Professionals interested in participating in the poster session must be registered for the entire summit. An additional poster submission fee of $50 will also be required. Poster submission fees will be invoiced through Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District.

Submission details:

All applications must be submitted to Annie Montes at annie@ciudadswcd.org in PDF format no later than February 20th, 2026 5pm MST. Late submissions will not be considered.

Submission applications must include:

• Title of the poster
• Authors and affiliations, with a clear designation of Student, Early Career, or Professional.
• Keywords – up to five
• 5-7 sentence abstract of your project or proposed project
• Contact information

Example Poster Topics:

• Innovative technologies for water conservation and management
• Ecosystem restoration and land rehabilitation strategies
• Climate adaptation and resilience in arid environments
• Sustainable agriculture and food security in water-limited regions
• Community engagement and social equity in land and water management
• Policy frameworks for desert or arid regions
• Interdisciplinary approaches to address land and water challenges

AFTER SUBMISSION

You will receive a confirmation email with next steps within 72 hours after submitting your application. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please reach out to annie@ciudadswcd.org. All posters must be dropped off at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center no later than 10am MT on March 5th, 2026.

Poster Format and Printing

All posters must be 24”x 36”. We offer a free printing service for students and early career professionals. To utilize this service you must submit a PDF version of your poster to annie@ciudadswcd.org by February 27th, 2026 at 5pm MST.

Don’t know how to get started?

Contact annie@ciudadswcd.org for help with formatting, technical assistance, or with any other questions. 

Learn more about designing a viewer friendly poster >>

Learn more about poster basics and how to create a research poster >>

Guidelines for student presentations >>