1st International Conference on eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (xAI 2023)

Call for Doctoral Consortium papers

(26/28 July 2023, Lisbon, Portugal)

The conference provides an opportunity for doctoral scholars to explore and develop their research interests under the guidance of distinguished researchers and industry practitioners from the field. Doctoral scholars should consider participating in the Doctoral Consortium (DC) at the beginning of their scientific journey. This forum will provide PhD scholars with an opportunity to: 

Present and discuss their research ideas to experienced scholars in a supportive, formative, and yet critical environment
Explore and develop their research interests under the guidance of distinguished researchers from the field who will provide constructive feedback and advice
Network and build collaborations with other members of the community
Explore career pathways available after completing their PhD degree

PhD scholars are asked to submit a brief proposal outlining their doctoral research, which the consortium committee will evaluate. Good quality applications will be selected for presentation at a DC session as part of the conference. Each scholar with an accepted submission will be assigned a mentor who will provide feedback on their work and discuss the doctoral research with the student and the audience at the consortium.

DC proposals must be submitted using the easy-chair platform here. Select the submission type “Extended abstract/DC proposal/Late-Break work/Demo” and the track “Doctoral Consortium proposal“.

Each proposal should be a single PDF with four required components:

1Six-page research description (excluding references) plus two extra pages for references (6+2 pages) containing:
– name, surname, institution and email of the PhD scholar;
– Context and motivation for your research;
– Key related work that frames your research;
– Specific research questions, hypothesis and objectives;
– Research approach, methods, and rationale for testing the research hypothesis;
– Results and contributions to date;
– Expected next steps and final contribution to knowledge.

The above sections can include diagrams, charts, pictures and formulas.
2Benefits and contribution statement (1 page):
– Your name, Advisor(s) name(s), and the university where you are conducting your doctoral work;
– Current year of study and projected completion date (plus information about the regulations of your PhD program regarding length, any part-time study, etc.);
– Describe what you hope to gain by participating in the DC and how your participation will benefit other students and faculty.
3Letter of Recommendation (from primary PhD dissertation advisor) (1 page):
Describe your interaction with the student and your assessment of the quality of their work. Please explain how the conference doctoral consortium would benefit this student at this point in their doctoral program, as well as the contributions you expect the student to make. Please explain the structure of your student’s program and their expected level of progress so far. Recall that students who cannot obtain a letter of recommendation from their dissertation advisor (or the equivalent) should instead include a short explanation and a description of where the student is in their doctoral progress and the anticipated timeline.
4Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages):
A concise summary of your current curriculum vitae, including research publications, clearly separating those published papers from those under review or in press.

Section 1 must be written using Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) in the format provided here. Latex and word files are admitted: however, latex is preferred. All submissions and reviews will be handled electronically. Sections 2, 3, and 4 can be placed as an annexe to section 1 (after the reference section, starting on a new page). Please ensure your submission is complete and conforms to the format and content guidelines above. Because the DC Committee expects to receive many applications, submissions that do not meet these requirements will be desk-rejected.

A PhD scholar with an accepted doctoral proposal must register for the conference to participate in the Doctoral Consortium at the conference. The deadlines can be found below.

Publication & indexing

All the accepted doctoral consortium proposals “shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication” in a dedicated free, open-access volume in CEUR Workshop Proceedings. All these proposals will also be indexed in Scopus since CEUR partners with it.

Note that “shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication” means we do not have control over the decision taken by the CEUR-WS committee to approve them, as reported in the publishing guidelines by CEUR-WS.org. However, since the conference organisation is strictly adhering to these guidelines, we can be rather sure that our request shall be accepted by CEUR-WS.


*All dates are Anywhere on Heart time (AoE)

Article (main track & special tracks)

Authors/title/abstract registration deadline on submission platform (easy-chair)*:April 15, April 20, 2023
Article upload deadline on submission platform (easy-chair)*:April 20 April 25, 2023
Notification of acceptance:May 12, May 19th,2023
Registration (payment) and camera-ready (upload to easy-chair):May 19, May 29, June 6th, 2023
Article presentation instructions notificationJune, 26th, 2023
Accepted article presentation (at xAI-2023)July, 26-28th, 2023
Publication (Springer CCIS series)August 2023
*full, short and extended abstract articles

Doctoral consortium (DC) proposal

DC Proposal author/title registration deadline on submission platform (easy-chair):April 16th, April 25, 2023
DC Proposal upload deadline on submission platform (easy-chair):April 30, May, 5, 2023
Notification of acceptance:April 30, May 19th, May, 22nd, 2023
Registration (payment)May 7, May 29, 2023
DC proposal camera-ready (upload to easy-chair): June 16, 2023
DC presentation and meeting instructions notificationJune, 26th, 2023
Doctoral consortium meeting (at xAI-2023)July, 26-28th, 2023
Publication (planned with CEUR-WS.org*)August 2023
*Proceedings shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication

Late-breaking work & demos

Late-breaking work & demo author/title/abstract registration on submission platform (easy-chair):May 23, 2023
Late-breaking work & demo article upload deadline on submission platform (easy-chair):May 28, 2023
Notification of acceptance:June 06, June 10, June 13, 2023
Registration (payment) & Late-breaking work & demo camera-ready (upload to easy-chair):June 16, June 20, 2023
Late-breaking work & demo presentation instructions notificationJune, 26th, 2023
Late-breaking work & demo presentations (at xAI-2023)July, 26-28th, 2023
Publication (planned with CEUR-WS.org*)August 2023
*Proceedings shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication

Special track proposal

Proposal submission (contact):Anytime before February 08 February 15 2023

Panel discussion

Panel Discussion proposals:May 21, 2023
Notification of acceptance:May 28, 2023
Registration of Panel Discussions facilitators:June 06, 2023

Conference

The World Conference on eXplainable AI26-28 July 2023