Calls

Early Career Symposium

Submission deadline: May 15, 2026
Notification of acceptance: May 22, 2026
Attendance confirmation: May 28, 2026
Presentations submitted: June 22, 2026
Symposium: June 29, 2026
All deadlines are in Anywhere on Earth (AoE).
Submission via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iccc26
Questions via email to: iccc26-ecs@computationalcreativity.net

The Early Career Symposium (ECS) at ICCC’26 seeks to connect junior researchers (Master’s thesis and doctoral level) working on projects in computational creativity with (a) their peers and (b) more senior researchers to discuss research questions and provide research feedback and career advice. It is intended as a platform of learning and growth, and subsumes the more traditional doctoral consortium.

Participants get the chance to present and discuss their work also if they do not have a paper accepted to the main conference.

Accepted participants are asked to hold short presentations based on their previously submitted extended abstract and prepare/present a poster. They will be assigned a mentor based on the main topic of their proposal.

Participation is only possible on site.

Schedule

The ECS is scheduled on Monday 29/06/26 in the morning 10:00-13:00 (incl. coffee break) and will consist of the following parts:

  1. Flash DC talks: Participants will hold a flash presentation of their research summaries/projects. Each presentation will be 8–10 minutes long.
  2. Discussions with mentors: Based on a “project bidding” process prior to the symposium (involving only the mentors), you will be matched with senior CC researcher-mentors to receive feedback about your extended abstracts and other, spontaneous questions. Depending on availability, these will be either 1:1 or small group discussions. The exact plan will be communicated prior to the event. Your abstract will be shared with the mentors.
  3. Open mix-and-match: Mentors and students write topics they could give or seek advice for on a (virtual) whiteboard. Depending on the available time, we aim to facilitate 1–2 rounds of discussions within groups. This can happen flexibly on site and does not require any preparation.
  4. Joint lunch: For those interested in joining, self-paid. Depending on the progress of the previous parts, we might continue the open mix-and-match discussions over lunch.

How to apply

Please submit as a combined .pdf to Easychair:

  1. An extended abstract of your research project in the ICCC template (1-2 pages, including title, author and references). The research project should relate to the topics on the conferences’ general call page (link).
  2. A CV, at most 2 pages. Please include a short biography (max. 200 words), your Ph.D. topic and area, when you started your study, your institution and supervisor name(s), and any relevant background information.

The system will also request a title, abstract and keywords for your extended
abstract.

Easychair link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iccc26

Please carefully implement the instructions above; applications which do not feature this format, length and contents cannot be considered for the ECS.

Timeline

  • Application deadline: May 15, 2026 (AoE)
  • Notification of acceptance: May 22, 2026 (AoE)
  • Attendance confirmation & updated materials: May 28, 2026 (AoE)
  • Presentations submitted: June 22, 2026 (AoE) (1 week prior to the conference) – further instructions following acceptance

Please note: the application DL is deliberately set late after the short paper notifications. If you require earlier notice to plan your travel, etc., please contact us using the details below and we can do an extraordinary early admissions check.

Questions

Please send them to:

Christian Guckelsberger iccc26-ecs@computationalcreativity.net

ECS Chair

Christian Guckelsberger (Autotelic Interaction Research)
Aalto University , Finland