Doctoral Consortium Call

The 17th International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR 2020) invites PhD students to apply for the Doctoral Consortium program.

AIMS AND SCOPE

The Doctoral Consortium (DC) is a student mentoring program bringing together PhD students and senior researchers from the area of KR. The aims of the consortium are:

• to provide a forum for students to present their current research, and receive feedback from other students and senior researchers;
• to promote contacts among PhD students working in similar areas;
• to support students with information and advice on academic, research, and industrial careers.

The DC is intended for PhD students who have a specific research proposal and some preliminary results, but who have sufficient time prior to completing their dissertation to benefit from the consortium experience. Preference will be given to students satisfying these criteria, but well-motivated applications from students who are at earlier or later stages of their doctoral studies will still be considered.

For accepted students there will be a row of dedicated events, including DC invited talks on research practice, a lightning talk session, a poster session, and a mentoring lunch. Each student will be given ample time to present their work and therefore be able to fully benefit from direct feedback from the assigned senior researcher mentor and the wider KR conference audience.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applications must be submitted through the EasyChair conference system:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=kr2020 (start a new submission, and choose the checkbox for "Doctoral Consortium").
Each application must contain the following elements combined into a single PDF document.:

• (1) Thesis summary. A description of the problem being addressed, your motivation for addressing the problem, proposed plan of research, the progress to date (what you have already achieved and what remains to be done), and related work. It must be four pages maximum in AAAI style (http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/author.php).
• (2) Curriculum Vitae. A description of your background and relevant experience (research, education, employment), of two pages maximum.
• (3) Letter of recommendation. A letter from your thesis advisor that states that he/she supports your participation in the DC.
• (4) Indication of whether a sponsored studentship is requested, and if so, whether the student volunteers to help with local organization during KR, DL, and NMR.
• (5) Optionally, a suggestion of up to 5 potential mentors with similar research interests, who could give good advice on technical aspects related to the work, and/or career opportunities.

The selection process will consider the quality of the submitted proposal and the stage of the student's PhD project.

Doctoral students who submit to the DC are permitted to have previously published on their research, and are encouraged to submit papers to KR 2020 and associated conferences and workshops.

IMPORTANT DATES

Application deadline: 5 June 2020
Acceptance notification: 26 June 2020
Doctoral Consortium: 12-18 September 2020 (TBC)

For further information, please contact the DC chairs:

Vaishak Belle (University of Edinburgh)
vaishak-anti-bot-bit@ed.ac.uk

Rafael Peñaloza (University of Milano-Bicocca)
rafael.penaloza-anti-bot-bit@unimib.it