Global Community Development

SIGCHI Global Community Development for Conferences policy (GCDC)

Introduction 

Each year the ACM SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) sponsors up to 24 conferences and provides in-cooperation support for over 30 more. The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (or CHI as it’s typically called) is the premier international conference for the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This flagship conference is generally considered the most prestigious in the field of HCI and attracts thousands of international attendees annually. CHI has been sponsored by ACM SIGCHI since 1983. 

In addition, the specialized conferences program of ACM SIGCHI has gradually evolved and has now become a significant part of the conference program that ACM SIGCHI offers the HCI community worldwide. The purpose of these conferences is to promote the domain of Human Computer Interaction and ACM SIGCHI as a leading international professional society in HCI. ACM SIGCHI sponsored and co-sponsored conferences aim at the highest standards in terms of quality of the technical content as well as long lasting research areas.

This Global Community Development for Conferences (GCDC) program includes all sponsored conferences involving ACM SIGCHI. 

Purpose 

SIGCHI recognises that knowledge and access to the latest developments in Human Computer Interaction research and practice through our conferences is essential for industry, education and government. However, researchers and practitioners in Economically Developing Countries (EDC) don’t always have access to the same developments in HCI as others. As such, we are focusing here on a program of support for global development around our family of conferences, with the purpose of:  

  1. Supporting conferences to bring unrepresented HCI researchers and practitioners from and working/studying in EDC through access to discounted conference registrations.
  2. Developing the next generation of HCI researchers and practitioners from and working/studying in EDC to attend our conferences, around the world, though our conference supported SIGCHI global fellowship program. 
  3. Supporting conferences as a means to bring the global research community to EDC as a means to develop research capacity, grow the local HCI community, engage with regional leaders in industry and academia for whom HCI is relevant. 

ACM SIGCHI shall primarily rely on the enthusiasm and interests of the HCI community and conference series leadership to adopt these supports into their conference series. Budget constraints may preclude a conference adopting any of these aspects of the program. 

Details of program 

  1. Discounted Registration Rates 

(Conferences which are not 100% sponsored by SIGCHI require consent from their other sponsors prior to making such a submission at the time of submitting their TMRF or submitting a revised TMRF.) 

Conferences which are 100% sponsored by ACM SIGCHI conferences (or with the consent of all the sponsoring SIGs etc.) can submit a TMRF (and budget) with a rate for ACM/SIG members who are from and working in Economically Developing Countries and a rate for ACM/SIG student members from and studying in Economically Developing Countries.

  1. SIGCHI Global Fellowships 

Conferences, hosted anywhere, can make a submission to the ACM SIGCHI Conferences Board to reduce their SIGCHI return by up to 5% (which cannot bring the return to below 0%) if they can demonstrate they have an advertised program of support within their conference called the “SIGCHI Global Fellowship”. The SIGCHI Global Fellowship is our umbrella term for any program of travel grants and support to the next generation of HCI researchers and practitioners from and studying/working in EDC  (i.e. undergraduate, postgraduate and those within 5 years of leaving formal education). If awarded, such fellowships must be costed into the conference budget, based on up to 5% reduction in the SIGCHI overhead. 

  1. SIGCHI Global Conference Hosting Program 

Conferences, to be hosted in Economically Developing Countries, can make a submission to the ACM SIGCHI Conferences Board to reduce their SIGCHI return by up to 5% (which cannot bring the return to below 0%). This submission needs to make clear how the reduction in the SIGCHI return of up to 5% will aid the hosts in delivering an improved delegate experience.

The proposal 

Proposals can be submitted by a conference chair with their steering committee’s endorsement and should be submitted to the VP Conferences. 

A suitable proposal should answer the following questions:

  1. Conference: What is the conference 
  2. Location: Where will the conference be held 
  3. Total expenses from the TMRF submitted: 
  4. People: Who speaks for, and takes responsibility for this application (name/email)?
  5. SIGCHI Global Fellowships
    1. Application form: URL or draft application form attached
    2. Funding: How much funding (from a return reduction) is requested?
  6. SIGCHI Global Conference Hosting Program 
    1. Funding: How much funding (from a return reduction) is requested?
    2. Purpose: What will the funding be used for
  1. The conference chairs must attach an email showing endorsement of the conference steering committee chair.   
  2. Have you applied for any additional funding? (if yes, please provide details)
  3. If your conference is co-sponsored, you must demonstrate a request for financial support from the other sponsors towards this proposal. 

EXAMPLES

  • A further reduction in registration rates from Economically Developing Countries 
  • Support for a regional keynote speaker
  • Support for an industry day
  • Support for a networking event with the local community.

IF YOU ARE AWARDED?

Both your application and final reports will be placed online here so all members can see how this support is managed and used. Your proposal should have one named person who will be responsible for coordination (this is typically the general chair but may be a finance chair). 

All support offered through the SIGCHI Global Fellowship program should be offered as travel grants managed directly through the ACM travel grant system. The named person will have access to the travel grant portal, and you should get access to a portal link. The link will take you to the travel grant homepage, an online form where you can enter a list of recipients, including their email addresses and amount awarded to them. These recipients will receive an email notification that includes a link to a personal online expense form for them to complete.  The form includes the instructions where to submit the form and receipts post-conference. 

This named person should ensure travel grant claims are within the overall conference budget. 

A one page report on the proposal should be submitted to the VP Conferences (including details on how any reductions in return were employed). 

Conferences making use of the Discounted Registration Rates are expected to report this annually through the council of steering committee chairs meeting. 

Effective Date: Aug 2, 2019 (validated by SIGCHI EC)
Responsible SIGCHI Officer: Vice-President for Conferences sigchi VP Conferences _at_ acm.org
Last update: Aug 2, 2019