Submitting to the Doctoral Consortium

Important Dates

  • Friday, June 11, 2021: Deadline for submissions due 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time.

  • Thursday, July 15, 2021: Notification of acceptance.
  • Friday, August 6, 2021: Final (camera ready) versions of overview and posters due 23:59 AoE.
  • Sunday, October 24, 2021: Doctoral Consortium, held virutally.

Call for Participation

The CSCW 2021 Doctoral Consortium (DC) provides an opportunity for doctoral students to discuss their research in an international forum under the guidance of a panel of experienced CSCW researchers. The DC will be held on October 17 as part of the ACM 2021 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. The ongoing Covid crisis means that the conference this year will be entirely virtual. Successful applicants will be expected to give short, informal presentations of their work and participate in discussions with other students and with mentors in a friendly and constructive workshop environment. Participants will also provide an interactive poster for the main technical program of the conference, outlining the purpose and contribution of the work they are engaged in.

The overall goals of the DC are to provide PhD students at a relatively advanced stage of their work with feedback and guidance on their current and future research directions and to develop a supportive network of junior CSCW scholars.

We welcome applicants from a broad range of disciplines and approaches that inform CSCW, including anthropology, sociology, information science, computer science, cognitive science, organizational studies, design and related fields. Possible topics include, but are in no way restricted to, the design and/or evaluation of software; studies of social media use; studies of new environments of technology use (e.g., makerspaces, Industry 4.0); and issues of sustainability, development and marginalization. We are particularly interested in applications from institutions and groups that have not traditionally been well-represented at past CSCW conferences.

Applicants should be Ph.D. students with an already established direction of research relevant to CSCW, but whose research would benefit from guidance provided by peers and senior colleagues at the Doctoral Consortium. Preference will be given to students who have a defined topic and program of work, i.e., who have proposed their topics and are within 2 years of graduation within a 5-year program or are approximately halfway through a 3 (or 4) year program.

Submission Guidelines

Applicants should submit the following items by email to dc2021@cscw.acm.org with the subject line “CSCW2021 DC Submission.” All items below should be collated into one PDF file named [YOURNAME]_CSCWDC2021.pdf (substitute your full name where it reads YOURNAME):

  • An abstract (150-250 words) describing your dissertation research.

A 4-6 page overview (including references) of your doctoral research that describes, at minimum, your research question(s), work in progress, and expected contributions. Your overview will be published in the ACM Digital Library and distributed to all attendees as part of the Conference Extended Abstracts. Please submit your application in the ACM Master Article Template.

  • A short biographical sketch, including a paragraph articulating what you hope to gain from attending the CSCW Doctoral Consortium.
  • Optional: One publication that best illustrates your research interest and/or one paper/book that you find most inspiring (e.g., something you draw on to inform your work, or something that pushed your research in a given direction)
  • As part of the submission email, please indicate the availability of funds to attend the Consortium (e.g., complete funds available through the university/research grant, partial funds available, applied for the SIGCHI Student Travel Grant and was awarded, applied for a travel grant but was not awarded, etc.). See below under “Important Note on Funding.”
  • An email letter from your supervisor sent to dc2021@cscw.acm.org indicating that they support your application to the Consortium and they agree that your research is at an appropriate stage for participation. These letters should also make reference to how you might benefit from the Doctoral Consortium and how they expect that you might benefit the other students in this group experience. The email should have “CSCW DC: YOUR NAME” in the subject header.
  • A two-page CV.
  • A list of 3-5 keywords that best describe your research.

All submissions must be received by the chairs by 23:59 AoE on Friday, June 11, 2021. Submissions received after this date will not be considered. Submissions will be acknowledged by email once they have been checked for completeness. All questions should be directed to dc2021@cscw.acm.org.

Notes on Funding and Format

We are hoping to offer financial support to a limited number of Doctoral Consortium participants by covering CSCW registration costs. Currently, there is considerable uncertainly with regard to funding possibilities and we strongly encourage all prospective applicants (domestic and international) to seek the funding appropriate and necessary for their virtual attendance.

The ultimate format of the Doctoral Consortium will be finalized in the months leading up to the conference. We expect it to include some synchronous (recorded) sessions with the full group, as well as provision for breakout sessions and asynchronous feedback where suitable. We will be attentive to difficulties associated with different time zones. If you have suggestions for ways to encourage networking or building relationships, please send them to us when you submit your application or in a separate email.

Doctoral Consortium Co-Chairs

  • Anne Marie Piper  (University of California, Irvine, USA)
  • Dave Randall  (University of Siegen, Germany and Linnaeus University, Sweden)