The SV organization is what keeps CSCW running smoothly throughout the conference. SVs are essential, priceless, and form the core of a successful conference! Being an SV offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the organizing of a conference and to interact closely with contributors, senior researchers, and peers. You must have had student status for at least one semester during the academic year before CSCW. We are more than happy to accept undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students. We need friendly, enthusiastic volunteers to help us out.

We will be accepting both in-person SVs and very few online SVs. You can apply for being either online, in-person SVs, or both. The registration form can be updated at any time until the lottery is run. We encourage all applicants to update the form once you are more certain about your participation mode later in the year.

HOW TO APPLY

Volunteers must be undergraduate, Master’s, or Ph.D. students during the 2025-2026 academic year, who have not defended their thesis at the time of the conference. Students of all backgrounds, regardless of discipline, and from all geographic locations are encouraged to apply. You do not need to have a paper accepted to participate. No previous SV experience is required, but we are looking for enthusiastic and reliable people.

Go to https://new.chisv.org/ and create an account (or log-in with your existing account). Then, go to https://new.chisv.org/conference/cscw2025 to submit your application. The application includes a few questions about your prior SV experience (not required), experience as CSCW, and why you would like to be an SV. The deadline for registering is 15.06.2025. 

Please note that enrollment in the “CHISV” system does not guarantee your spot as an SV. We will run a random lottery that selects across the received applications and notify individuals of their status (accepted or waitlisted) around 30.06.2025.

Once you have a confirmed spot and conference registration is open, you will be required to register, usually within two weeks. You will receive instructions on how to do this with a special code that will waive your registration fee for the conference. You will still be responsible for any course/workshop fees.

SV T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST

The last way you could get an SV slot is by winning the SV T-shirt Design Contest. The selection process is as follows. After an initial selection made by the SV chairs, a subset of the Organizing Committee and past SV Chairs vote on which design is their favorite in both categories. We can have one person or a maximum of two people as winners of the design competition.

If you win the contest, you get a free SV spot! That means you move off the waitlist, or if you’re already accepted, you can give the spot to a friend (as long as they are also a student). The winner will also have reduced volunteer hours!

Design details:

The design should be connected to the location (Bergen, Norway), and be respectful of local culture. Additionally, it should be fun, interesting, and stand out in the crowd.

Please send us front/back designs, noting that we cannot print on sleeves or the extreme edges of the shirts. Designs should be ONE color. In general, this means a black or white design on a colored shirt.

The imprint size is roughly 11″ wide and 13″ high front or back.

Submission details:

Mock-ups should be sent as PDF, JPG, or PNG in medium resolution. If your design is selected as a winning design, we will require the final version in an .eps or .ai format.

You may submit several designs or variations on a single design, should you so desire. You can access the CSCW 2025 logo information here: (link coming soon!).

Please submit your designs to sv2025@cscw.acm.org with the subject, CSCW T-Shirt Design Contest and follow the following naming convention for each of your designs: lastname_firstname_tshirtdesign.<ext>

This year the deadline is 15.06.2025 to submit your designs. The winner will be announced on 30.06.2025.

We look forward to seeing your creativity!

IMPORTANT DATES AT A GLANCE

All times are in Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time zone. Check your local time in AoE.

SV lottery registration opens: 01.05.2025

Lottery closes: 15.06.2025

Selection process: 

To ensure a balance between prior experience and new SVs, we aim to distribute the available SV evenly among:

  • applicants with prior SV experience
  • applicants based in Norway
  • applicants who have never SVed before
  • applicants from the Global South
  • random lottery

We further give priority to applicants who will present their paper at the conference.

Additional consideration will be made based on applicants’ availability for before or during the conference.

Results announced:

In-person SVs: 30.06.2025  (expedited decision for visa purposes)

Online SVs: 30.06.2025

T-shirt design contest:

Submission deadline: 15.06.2025

Winner announced: 30.06.2025 

WHAT WILL I DO AS A VOLUNTEER?

All SVs agree to an informal contract, where you agree to:

  • Commit to 20 hours of work between either:
    • between October 18th and October 22nd, 2025 (in-person SV) or 
    • between October 18th and October 22nd, 2025 and before the conference (Hybrid-SV) or
    • Only before the conference and on the online conference day (date to be added soon) (online-only SV)
    • The majority of positions are available for in-person SVs.
  • Arrive in Bergen, Norway on or before Saturday, October 18th, 2025 and stay through the end of the conference on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025.
  • Pay for your own housing, transportation between your housing and the conference venue in Bergen (Grieghallen Convention Center) and any meals that are not provided. You can check eligibility and apply for additional travel funding here: https://archive.sigchi.org/awards/gary-marsden-travel-awards/ 
  • Attend the digital SV orientation session that will take place some time before the conference. We will aim to accommodate time zone differences.
  • Be available and perform assigned tasks in a timely manner. Be a helpful, smiling interface to the conference for other attendees, whether you are on or off SV duty.
  • SVs will be pivotal in assisting attendees in navigating the virtual infrastructures to ensure a smooth CSCW experience. Along with the organizing committee, SVs will be putting in A LOT of effort into helping the first online CSCW pre-conference run smoothly.

HOW WILL I BENEFIT FROM SERVING AS A SV?

Student volunteers are essential to the success of the CSCW conference. In return for the help at the conference, student volunteers receive many benefits, including:

  • Free conference registration.
  • Social events with your peers.
  • Networking events with senior researchers.
  • …and many more awesome SV benefits are still being planned and discussed, so stay tuned!
  • While the volunteer duties are not always glamorous, they provide a unique opportunity to interact closely with CSCW contributors, attendees, and other student volunteers. Volunteering provides a structured, cordial environment for students in various stages of their research careers to become part of the CSCW community. Students often report that the ‘social networks’ they build from these meetings are the most significant benefit of serving as a volunteer. Indeed, it is not uncommon for future collaborations, internships/jobs, and friendships to be made through the SV experience.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please reach out to the SV Chairs via email at sv2025@cscw.acm.org. Reply-to-all on the following correspondence so that all of us stay in the loop and can better assist you.

We can’t wait to have you as a part of our incredible SV program!

Michaela Schmidt (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)

Garrett Smith (Brigham Young University, USA)

SV Co-Chairs

CSCW 2025

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