Information Retrieval specialist group: Call for one day event proposals

Proposals will be evaluated based on the organisational and financial plans and benefits to the Information Retrieval community.

Important Dates

• Submission deadline for this round: 19 May 2023
• Notification: 02 Jun 2023

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be in PDF and include the following:

• Title of the event
• Chairs and organisers
• Contact information
• A description of the event topic and its goals
• A statement on how the event complements or relates to other IR events
• Proposed venue
• Desired format, including preferred dates and duration, onsite or hybrid
• Outline of the program (including talks, breaks, and any social events)
• Potential (or accepted) speakers
• Publicity plans
• Funding plans and preliminary budget

Organisers of accepted events are expected to announce the event and call for speakers, solicit speakers, compose the program, and organise the event. Evaluation criteria include topic significance and timeliness, scientific quality, proposed organisation, level of interest, and synergy with other events.

Accepted events will be supported up to £1,000 and are expected to have a credible financial plan and budget. We anticipate holding further funding rounds in due course. Topics should be related to the theory and practice of information retrieval and interaction, such as:

• Topical issues in IR practice, e.g. trust, bias, and fairness
• Interdisciplinary topics, e.g IR and information science, data science, or user experience
• The use (and abuse) of large language models and other AI techniques
• Domain-specific or professional issues, e.g. in eCommerce, media, recruitment, library and information science, healthcare information, etc.
• Innovative approaches used in operational IR systems and products

Proposals and enquiries should be submitted via email to the IRSG Vice Chair and Chair (tgr2uk+irsg@gmail.com and Udo.Kruschwitz@ur.de) with "BCS One Day Event Proposal" in the email subject.

About the IRSG

The IRSG is a Specialist Group of BCS. Its mission is to provide a focus for the European IR community, facilitate communication between researchers and practitioners and promote the adoption of IR research within industry. We host a major European conference (ECIR) and provide an associated programme of workshops, seminars and events. The IRSG provides access to further IR articles, events and resources. For how to join the IRSG please see http://irsg.bcs.org, or contact the membership secretary at h.liu@soton.ac.uk.

BCS is the industry body for IT professionals. With members in over 100 countries around the world, BCS is the leading professional and learned society in the field of computers and information systems.