Call for Thematic Tracks

The EPIA Conference on Artificial Intelligence is a well-established European conference in the field of AI. The 18th edition, EPIA 2017, will take place at Porto in September 5th-8th, 2017. As in previous editions, this international conference is hosted with the patronage of the Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence (APPIA). The purpose of this conference is to promote research in all areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), covering both theoretical/foundational issues and applications, and the scientific exchange among researchers, engineers and practitioners in related disciplines.

Conference format

To promote discussions among participants, the scientific program of EPIA 2017 will be composed of a set of thematic tracks, in addition to a journal track. Plenary sessions with invited lectures given by leading scientists will also take place.

The conference will also feature a doctoral symposium, a poster session, AI competitions and tutorials on specific topics.

More detailed and up-to-date information may be found at www.fe.up.pt/epia2017

Call-for-tracks

The worldwide AI research community is invited to submit thematic track proposals for EPIA 2017. Thematic tracks are intended to provide an environment that fosters an active exchange of ideas between researchers within specific sub-areas of AI, including theoretical/foundational, integrative, application-oriented and newly emerging areas.

Each track is coordinated by an Organizing Committee composed of, at least, researchers from two different countries. Track organizers should also create a highly international Program Committee for the track, with recognized researchers within the corresponding scientific areas.

The selection of thematic tracks will be made by the Program Chairs and Steering Committee of EPIA 2017. We aim to build a strong, well-balanced conference program. If there are significant thematic gaps in the program after the track proposal submission closes, the chairs may actively solicit additional proposals. Likewise, significant overlap between tracks will be addressed by suggesting track merges.

Papers accepted in thematic tracks will be published by Springer, in a volume of the Lecture Notes on Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) series. Submitted papers should be prepared according to the corresponding format, with a maximum of 12 pages.

Presentation slots will be accommodated in the conference program for every accepted paper, in thematic sessions that may run in parallel.

Furthermore, it is the intention of the conference organizers to include a poster session in the conference program, providing a forum for more informal discussions, where authors of accepted papers will be welcome to participate with their own poster.

Responsibilities

The Organizing Committee of each track will be responsible for:

Creating an international Program Committee for the track.
Publicizing the track by all necessary means, including distributing the call-for-papers of EPIA 2017.
Coordinating a double-blind review process for papers submitted to the track, ensuring that each paper is reviewed by at least three program committee members.
Assisting the Program Chairs of the conference in the paper selection process.
Ensuring the delivery of camera-ready versions of papers accepted for the track in accordance with the guidelines and deadlines defined by the conference organizers.
Coordinating track session chairing assignments.

The organizers of EPIA 2017 will ensure:

A web-based tool to support the scientific organization process (paper submission, reviewing, selection, etc.).
The coordination and final deliberation on paper acceptance decisions.
The publication of thematic track papers in the conference proceedings.
A meeting place and time for holding the track sessions, including common equipment (e.g. computer and beamer).

EPIA 2017 organizers reserve the right to cancel a track if deadlines are missed, or if the track organizers are unable to attract a minimum number of quality paper submissions. If that is the case, track session merges may also be imposed.

Proposal submission

Track proposals should not exceed 3 pages and must be submitted as a PDF file to epia2017@fe.up.pt

The proposal should contain the following information:

Thematic track title.
Name, affiliation, postal address, phone and email address of all members of the track Organizing Committee, which must include researchers from institutions in at least two different countries.
Identification of the Organizing Committee contact person.
A brief description of the specific scientific/technical scope of the track.
A list of topics of interest.
The reasons why the track should be held within EPIA 2017.
A tentative list of members of the proposed track Program Committee, which should be highly international (e.g. no more than 50% from a single country).
A preliminary version of the track call-for-papers.
The planned format (e.g., invited talks, paper presentations, panel discussions, etc.) and duration of the track.
Any plans on preparing a journal special issue for selected and extended versions of papers accepted in the track.
Planned forms of publicizing the track.
A list of technical/room requirements for the track.
Specific initiatives to support and improve the quality of the overall conference.
Any sponsors or other funding initiatives for the thematic track.

Important dates

Thematic-track proposal deadline: September 15, 2016
Notification of track acceptance: September 30, 2016
1st Call-for-papers: November 15, 2016
Paper submission deadline: April 15, 2017
Notification of paper acceptance: May 31, 2017
Camera ready papers deadline: June 15, 2017
Conference dates: September 5-8, 2017

EPIA 2017 Committees

Event Chairs