[fg-arc] Deadline Extended (June 29): IEEE VL/HCC 2026 Graduate Consortium - Paderborn, Germany (Sep 29)

[Stefan Sauer]

We apologize if you receive cross postings of this message via different channels.

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*Deadline Extended*

We have extended the submission deadline for the VL/HCC 2026 Graduate Consortium.

This is your chance to present your cutting-edge research relevant to 
human-centricity in the age of generative AI---and receive valuable feedback 
from a panel of experts! Whether you're exploring new ideas or refining ongoing 
work, this is the perfect venue to connect with peers and mentors in our community.

New Deadline: [Monday, June 29, 2026]

Submit your work now and don't miss this opportunity to elevate your research!

[https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=vlhcc2026]

LOOK: *VL/HCC 2026* will be co-located with *HCSE 2026*, the 11th International 
Working Conference on Human-Centered Software Engineering; see 
http://www.hcse-conference.org for details.

Take advantage from two leading conferences happening together in one place!

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*IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 2026 (VL/HCC)*

29 September - 2 October 2026
Paderborn, Germany

https://conf.researchr.org/home/vlhcc-2026

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*Call for Graduate Consortium Participation*
The primary goal of the 2026 VL/HCC Graduate Consortium is to stimulate graduate 
students’ and other researchers’ thinking about the intricacies of novel, 
human-centered computing technologies.

We invite submissions on any topic within the areas of interest of VL/HCC (see 
Call for Research Papers), as well as around the main conference’s annual 
special theme (see below). The Graduate Consortium is a friendly meeting in 
which you can get constructive feedback and guidance on your work from peers and 
more seasoned academics. Please read on for the details on how to participate, 
and if you have any questions, please direct them to the Graduate Consortium 
Co-Chairs (Paolo Bottoni <bottoni at di.uniroma1.it> or Chris Brown 
<dcbrown at vt.edu>). We look forward to hearing about your work!

*Important Dates*
Submission: Monday, June 29, 2026
Notification: Friday, July 3, 2026
Camera-Ready Version: Friday, July 24, 2026
Consortium: Tuesday, September 29, 2026

*Special Theme*

Recent advances in computing have led to further co-mingling between computers 
and human society. People now live surrounded by, and as part of, many 
socio-technical systems. However, as these systems have grown in complexity, 
they have also become increasingly difficult for humans to understand and direct 
toward productive and meaningful ends.

For this year’s event, we encourage graduate students and other researchers to 
submit their investigation in generative AI systems and people’s perceived sense 
of agency when interacting with, and/or programming, such systems. We are 
interested in seeing discussion on issues such as:

- the creation of usable interfaces for using generative AI tools while 
empowering users fairly and equitably;
- generative AI design approaches from a human perspective;
- challenges and opportunities that generative AI systems pose for peoples’ 
experiences of agency;
- how does human-centric computing adapt to the new technological landscape;
- how will human–AI collaboration and human-in-the-loop workflows evolve;
- what new approaches for explainability are needed;
- which new skills and capabilities are required; or
- how are notions of programming, interactivity, creativity, labor, motivation 
the presence of generative AI.
- Submissions along this theme are especially encouraged, but all topics within 
the areas of interest of VL/HCC are welcome.

*Why You Should Participate*
- Present your work to a smaller, more attentive audience.
- Get detailed, constructive feedback from a diverse panel of experts.
- Meet, learn from, and exchange ideas with other students working on similar 
problems.
- Funding is likely to be available to help cover your cost of attending VL/HCC 
(details below).

*Who Can Participate*

The consortium is open to both Master’s and PhD students worldwide, at any stage 
of the research process. Participation is particularly encouraged from PhD 
students who are close to proposing a thesis (following an American-style 
process) or within the first few years of their doctoral research (for the 
European-style PhD). Everyone who fits this criteria above is strongly 
encouraged to apply.

We invite both students who have participated once before at a VL/HCC Graduate 
Consortium (who will serve as senior-peer mentors), as well as students for whom 
this would be their first event. We expect to balance selected students 
following an approximate ratio of one-third returning / two-thirds new students; 
each returning student will be linked with a couple of new students in a 
mentoring arrangement.

To encourage a variety of ideas and approaches, if multiple applicants from a 
particular university apply, then no more than two per university will be 
selected. To be eligible, each applicant may have participated no more than once 
in the VL/HCC graduate consortia of past years.

*Application Process*
To apply, please submit the following documents via EasyChair, in the GC track 
<https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=vlhcc2026>:

- A 2-page research abstract, formatted as a PDF in the standard IEEE two-column 
letter Conference Proceedings format 
<https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates>.
- Accepted participants’ abstracts will be included in the conference 
proceedings. To make it easier for you to write a successful abstract, we 
provide examples from past years below.
- Your curriculum vitae (CV), as a second PDF file. This CV should mention 
whether you have previously participated in any graduate consortia, and list 
them if so (e.g., “Participated in the VLHCC’24 GC and the CHI’23 GC”).
- Both submissions’ EasyChair titles must begin with your full name, for 
example: “Alex Smith: Jogging with Psychology while Programming” and “Alex 
Smith: CV”.

Please use “VL/HCC GC submission” as the type of submission in the Topics section.

In addition, please also ask your thesis advisor to submit the following, also 
via EasyChair, in the GC track <https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=vlhcc2026>:

- A letter summarizing your accomplishments and describing how far along you are 
in your Master’s or PhD program, and why attending the GC this year would be 
important for you. Please ask them to mention if you have already attended 
VL/HCC GC in any past year.
- The advisor’s submission must also begin with your (the student’s) full name, 
for example: “Alex Smith: recommendation letter from Petunia Matwani”.
- Please ask them to use “VL/HCC GC recommendation” as the type of submission in 
the Topics section.
- For US applicants, who are applying for travel funds: the advisor’s letter 
should include a statement on the availability of funds (or lack thereof) for 
student travel, as well as a commitment to covering any costs that a travel 
grant is unable to cover.

*Financial Support*

We anticipate being able to offer at least partial funding for travel and/or 
attendance expenses for US participants. We will contact participating students 
when funding information is available.

*Schedule*
The consortium event will be a full day in-person event on Tuesday, September 
29, 2026. Participants are expected to attend the main conference, as well as 
the graduate consortium. Other conference attendees are welcome to attend the 
consortium, to listen to the presentations, to interact with participants, and 
to give feedback to presenters. More details will be provided closer to the 
event, including times, location, and agenda.

*Posters and Publication*
Selected students will also be asked to present a poster on their work at the 
Showpieces Reception during the main conference. This is a good opportunity to 
discuss your research with the broader group of conference attendees and get 
additional feedback and guidance on your work. Details will be provided to 
accepted applicants. As mentioned above, accepted participants’ abstracts will 
be included in the published conference proceedings. Details of the publication 
process will be provided to accepted applicants; in the meantime, please ensure 
your submission is formatted as a PDF in the standard IEEE Conference 
Proceedings format.

Examples of Successful Applications To be successful, a submission to the 
Graduate Consortium generally has to have the following parts:

  1. The paper starts with a sentence or two that describes a real-world setting.
2. It then identifies a problem in that setting.
3. The remainder of the paper’s introduction outlines an approach for solving 
that problem.
4. In a subsequent section, the paper describes a prototype or preliminary study 
showing the feasibility of that approach.
5. The paper explains why more work is still required in addition to this prior 
work.
6. The paper concludes by describing future work that will build on this prior 
work in order to complete the approach.
7. Somewhere along the way, the paper explains how the approach builds on or 
differs from other related work.

We have annotated three excellent submissions that exemplify the pattern 
described above. We hope that you will find these examples thought-provoking and 
helpful as you design your own submission this year.

- Information on the Web: How End Users Make Use of Data 
<http://vlhcc2012.di.unisa.it/downloads/zang.pdf>
- Roles in Online Collaborative Problem Solving 
<http://vlhcc2012.di.unisa.it/downloads/fan.pdf>
- Re-forming the Internet with its End Users 
<http://vlhcc2012.di.unisa.it/downloads/toomim.pdf>