Quick Facts
Important Dates:
- Submission Deadline: 11th October 2017 (12pm (noon) PDT / 3pm EDT)
- Notification: 24th November 2017
- Camera-Ready Deadline: 13th Dec 2017 (12pm (noon) PST / 3pm EST)
- Doctoral Consortium Days: Saturday and Sunday, 21st-22nd April 2018
Submission Details:
- Online Submission: PCS Submission System
- Template: Extended Abstracts Format
- Submission Content: 4-page research summary (including references) and up to 4 pages of auxiliary content
Selection Process: Curated
Chairs: Kenton O’Hara, Yunan Chen, Florian “Floyd” Mueller (dc@chi2018.acm.org)
At the conference: Accepted submissions will be presented at the Doctoral Consortium and as a poster at the conference.
Archives: Doctoral Consortium abstracts will be published in the Extended abstracts; ACM Digital Library. The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of your conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.
Message from the Doctoral Consortium Chairs
The CHI 2018 Doctoral Consortium provides an opportunity for doctoral students to explore and develop their research interests in an interdisciplinary workshop, under the guidance of a panel of distinguished researchers. We invite students who feel they would benefit from this kind of feedback on their dissertation work to apply for this unique opportunity to share their work with students in a similar situation as well as senior researchers in the field. The strongest candidates will be those who have a clear topic and research approach, and have made some progress, but who are not so far along that they can no longer make changes. In addition to stating how you will benefit from participation, both you and your advisor should be clear on what you can contribute to the Doctoral Consortium.
Kenton O’Hara, Microsoft Research, UK
Yunan Chen, University of California, Irvine
Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, RMIT University, Australia
dc@chi2018.acm.org
What is the Doctoral Consortium
The Consortium has the following objectives:
- Provide a setting where students can present their work and meet other students
- Provide feedback on students’ current research and guidance on future research directions
- Offer each student comments and fresh perspectives on their work from researchers and students outside their own institution
- Promote the development of a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research
- Contribute to the conference goals through interaction with other researchers and conference events
The Consortium will be held on Saturday and Sunday, 21st-22nd April 2018.
It will be a single track two-day event with about 25 students attending. Applicants who are selected will receive complimentary conference registration. We will also look to provide DC candidates with some travel support where possible.
Preparing and Submitting your Doctoral Consortium Proposal
A Doctoral Consortium proposal must be submitted via the PCS Submission System by 11th October 2017, 12pm (noon) PDT / 3pm EDT. The proposal must have the following four components, submitted as a single PDF file. Additional details about the expected content can be found here.
- Extended Abstract. A 4-page (including references) research description covering central aspects of your PhD work. Key points include:
- Your situation, i.e., the university doctoral program context in which your work is being conducted (Department, year of study etc)
- Context and motivation that drives your dissertation research
- Research objectives/goals/questions
- Background/literature review of key works that frames your research
- Hypothesis/thesis and/or problem statement
- Your research approach and methods, including relevant rationale
- Results to date and their validity
- Dissertation status and next steps
- Current and expected contributions
- Appendix 1. A one-paragraph statement of expected benefits of participation for both yourself and the other consortium participants (i.e., what will you contribute as well as gain) (max 1 page).
- Appendix 2. A letter of nomination from your primary dissertation advisor, that addresses the value that the DC would have for you, what contribution you are likely to make to the DC, and why this is a good time for you to participate in the DC (max 1 page).
- Appendix 3. A concise version of your current Curriculum Vita (1-2 pages).
It is essential for you to ensure that your submission is complete and in accordance with the format and content guidelines for the CHI Doctoral Consortium. Because the Doctoral Consortium Committee expects to receive a large number of applications, submissions that do not meet these requirements will be returned without review.
Doctoral Consortium Selection Process
The review and decision of acceptance will balance many factors. This includes the quality of your proposal, and where you are within your doctoral education program. Candidates who have a clearly developed idea, who are formally considered by their institution to be working on their dissertation, and who still have time to be influenced by participation in the Consortium will receive the strongest consideration. Participants in the Consortium will be selected via a curation process by the Doctoral Consortium Committee.
Over and above an assessment of research quality, the selection process will also consider additional factors. The goal is to identify a set of students that will benefit significantly from the event and support each other in their growth. As a group, the accepted candidates will exhibit a diversity of backgrounds and topics. Your institution will be taken into account, where we are unlikely to accept more than two students from the same institution and almost certainly will not accept more than one student with the same advisor. Attendees from previous CHI or SIGCHI (e.g., CSCW, UIST) doctoral consortia are strongly discouraged from applying, and should clearly explain how they think attending a second related event would benefit them in a new way.
Submissions should not contain sensitive, private, or proprietary information that cannot be disclosed at publication time. Submissions should NOT be anonymous. However, confidentiality of submissions will be maintained during the review process. All rejected submissions will be kept confidential in perpetuity. All submitted materials for accepted submissions will be kept confidential until the start of the conference, with the exception of title and author information, which will be published on the website prior to the conference.
Upon Acceptance of your Doctoral Consortium Proposal
Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection on 24th November 2017.
Authors of accepted submissions will receive instructions on how to submit their publication-ready copy (which will consist of your extended abstract only), and will receive information about attending the Doctoral Consortium, preparing your presentation and poster, and registering for the conference. Camera-ready submissions are due on 13th Dec 2017 (12pm (noon) PST / 3pm EST).
Limited support for participant attendance at the consortium is provided by CHI 2018. All such benefits are contingent on attending the two-day Doctoral Consortium. Please note that submissions will not be published without a signed form releasing publishing copyright to the ACM. Attaining permissions to use video, audio, or pictures of identifiable people or proprietary content rests with the author, not the ACM or the CHI conference.
At the Conference
All participants are expected to attend all of both days of the Consortium, including a group dinner on the first evening (Saturday 21st April 2018) and a wrap-up reception on the second evening (Sunday 22nd April 2018). Each student will present his or her work to the group with substantial time allowed for discussion and questions by participating researchers and other students. Detailed instructions will be provided to participants upon acceptance. Although many fine pieces of work have to be rejected due to lack of space, being accepted into the Consortium is an honour and involves a commitment to giving and receiving thoughtful commentary with an eye towards shaping the field and upcoming participants in the field.
Students will also present a poster of their work at the main conference. Please see the Information for Poster Presenters. In addition to the conference poster, each student should bring a small version of the poster (e.g., using letter or A4 paper) for sharing with faculty mentors and other students during the Consortium sessions.
After the Conference
Accepted Doctoral Consortium abstracts will be distributed in the CHI Extended Abstracts, available in the ACM Digital Library. The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of your conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.