Doctoral Consortium
The CHI PLAY 2023 Doctoral Consortium provides an opportunity for doctoral students to explore and develop their research interests in games/play and HCI in an interdisciplinary workshop, under the guidance of distinguished researchers. We invite PhD students who feel they will benefit from feedback from experts in the field on their dissertation work to apply for this unique opportunity. Participants will share their work with other doctoral students as well as senior researchers in the field. Participants will present their work to the entire conference during a special conference session. The Doctoral Consortium accepts students from any stage in their candidature, but will prioritize candidates who have a clear topic and research approach and have made some progress, but are not so far along that they can no longer make changes. In addition to stating how you will benefit from participation, both you and your advisor should be clear on what you can contribute to the Doctoral Consortium.
Doctoral Consortium papers and videos are archived in the ACM Digital Library in the CHI PLAY 2023 Extended Abstracts.
Submission Process and Format
Current graduate students pursuing a PhD project who would benefit from workshop discussions of their doctoral research should submit a document and a video as described below. Detailed instructions on formatting and submission can be found at Extended Abstract Submission Guidelines.
Document
The document should consist of a single PDF file that includes the following elements and is formatted appropriately. Submissions are up to 4 pages in the new ACM Primary Article Templates. Detailed instructions on formatting and submission can be found at Extended Abstract Submission Guidelines. Please submit a single file that includes the following:
Extended Abstract
A max. 4-page research description (excluding references) covering central aspects of your PhD work, which speaks to the following key points:
- Title
- Abstract (150 words max)
- Introduction: detailing the motivation that drives your dissertation research
- Related work: Background of key works that helped you answer your research question(s) (at least partially), but also explain why your work is still needed
- Research gap: What is the research gap that your research aims to fill?
- Research question(s)/objective(s)/goal(s) or hypothesis (keep it short, more is not necessarily better)
- Method: Your research approach and methods, including relevant rationale
- Results: to date and their validity
- Discussion: What do the results mean (in relation to prior theory/data)?
- Limitations: What are the limitations of your work?
- Future Work: What should other PhD candidates research to continue your work?
- Conclusion
- References (these do not count towards the page limit)
- Appendix 1. A one-paragraph statement of expected benefits of participation for both yourself and the other consortium participants (i.e., what will you contribute as well as gain) (max. 1 page).
- Appendix 2. A letter of nomination from your primary PhD advisor (max. 1 page).
- Appendix 3. Academic Webpage: Please submit the URL for your academic/professional webpage. (Consider this the first piece of doctoral symposium advice – having an academic webpage is valuable for your career!) Our career advice to you is that a professional webpage should include your name, contact information, a current version of your CV, and most importantly a list of your publications with links to download them. Even better would be to also include a brief academic bio/statement of research interests, and descriptions of projects (including images and videos). Submitting your webpage URL is not required, but is strongly recommended, as it can be a valuable tool to help DC committee members get deeper insight into your academic background.
Video
The submission video should cover your PhD research as in the extended abstract described above. Since this is a visual medium, excellent submissions will find ways of showing important points rather than simply explaining them verbally.
Excellent guidance on how to present your PhD research in 3 minutes can be found here:
However, unlike the three-minute thesis rules, for the DC you can use more than one slide, animations, sound, videos, etc.
The only rule is that the video must be no longer than 3 minutes. Please see the video guidelines for technical requirements.
You will have an opportunity to revise your video after notification of acceptance for the final video submission on 31 August.
Review Process
The proposals will be evaluated by the DC chairs.
Review and acceptance decisions will balance several factors. These will depend on the quality of the proposal, and where you are within your PhD program. The group will be selected to exhibit a diversity of backgrounds and topics. To attend a second CHI PLAY DC, participants should make it clear how the second DC would benefit them in a different way.
Confidentiality of submissions is maintained during the review process. All rejected submissions will be kept confidential in perpetuity. All submitted materials for accepted submissions will be kept confidential until the start of the conference.
Upon Acceptance
Authors of accepted submissions will receive instructions on how to submit a publication-ready copy, information about attending the Doctoral Consortium events before and during the conference, and about preparing the final version of their video.
DC Structure
The DC is structured in sessions before and during the conference to maximize the amount of feedback that students will receive on their work.
Session 1: Students Peer Review
Shortly after the notifications are sent out, students will be assigned in groups with other students of similar topics. Students will be asked to get together in their group to watch the videos submitted by all participants together. Students will record critical, specific, and actionable feedback. After each video, students will collectively decide their top three pieces of feedback for the student in question. This feedback will be collected across all groups and shared with that student. Students may schedule this meeting at their convenience between a timeframe given.
Session 2: Mentor Meetings
Senior mentors (professors in the field) will be assigned such that each mentor will have two students to mentor. Senior mentors will be selected by the DC Chairs based on their expertise of the student topics in question.
Through this session, students will meet with their mentors to receive feedback on their work. This meeting will be scheduled sometime prior to the conference (for remote participants) or during the main conference (for on-site participants).
Session 3: DC Session During the Conference
A hybrid DC session will take place on October 10, before the main conference. Students will also have an opportunity to present their work and engage in Q&A at the main conference. Information on format etc. will be sent after acceptance.
Questions? Please contact the DC Chairs at doctoral@chiplay.acm.org.
Important Dates:
Attendance
From September 11th, 2023 | Regular Registration |
Full Papers (Journal Articles)
Work in Progress
Perspectives on Play
Student Game Design Competition
Interactivity Track
Connections Track
Doctoral Consortium
Student Volunteer
