Call for Participation: OzCHI Doctoral Consortium

Sonja Pedell and I are chairing the Doctoral Consortium for this year's OzCHI conference, held in Melbourne on 7th December. We are currently seeking submissions from doctoral students in the field of human-computer interaction who would be interested in attending. 

The OzCHI doctoral consortium provides PhD students with the opportunity to present their work-in-progress and discuss their research plans with peers and senior researchers in a supportive and constructive environment. The consortium is a full-day event held on December 7, 2015, as part of the OzCHI 2015 conference in Melbourne (see http://www.ozchi.org/2015/).

PhD candidates wishing to attend the consortium should submit a research proposal that provides a concrete outline of the research, is based on established literature, describes a clear method of inquiry, and presents early data if available (see http://www.ozchi.org/2015/dc.html for more details). The deadline for submissions is 28th August 2015. Submitted proposals will be reviewed and assessed on the basis of: solid research plan, quality of writing, how well the proposal addresses each heading, and relevance to HCI research. Positions at the consortium will be offered on the basis of these reviews. 

There is no fee to attend the consortium. It is organised by HCI academics as a service to support our doctoral student community and the research discipline. An expert panel will take part and respond to student presentations. 

Important Dates
Proposals due: 28th August 2015 
Notification of acceptance: 25th September 2015
Doctoral consortium: 7th December 2015

Submission Format
Submissions must include a research proposal of no more than 4 pages, using the OzCHI paper template, with the following structure:

• Working title
• Abstract
• Context/background: What is the research about? What is its scope? Why is it important?
• Prior work: What do the experts in this field say about your area of research? What similar work has been conducted?
• Gap and research question: What is the gap in prior work that needs addressing? What research question will your project answer?
• Research method: How do you propose to answer your question? Justify your method. How long will each stage take? (include timeline with dates)
• Current situation: How far have you progressed? Include summary of data/results if appropriate. What are your key concerns and obstacles at the moment (that you want to discuss with the panel)?
• Bio: provide a brief biography, including names and affiliation of supervisors, PhD start date and date of expected completion.

Submissions should be in PDF format and emailed directly to the doctoral consortium chairs at dc.chair@ozchi.org.