“The Next Generation of AT Experts”

Forming AT as a stable and recognised R&D field asks for involving the next generation of experts. ICCHP is devoted to this goal and invites young researchers to take part in the 2nd ICCHP Young Researchers Consortium.

It is the aim of the Consortium to engage with young researchers who are active in the Assistive Technology (AT) field to engender a longer-term commitment to AT research.

During the pre-conference a young researchers consortium will be organised. Supervisors of outstanding students' work (diploma and PhD thesis) should invite them to present. The best contributions will be invited to present in a plenary session of ICCHP.

Objectives

• To allow young researchers to learn from experienced researchers in the field. The aim is to give the young researchers an understanding of both the history and the breadth of research in AT. This will be achieved through presentations given by the experienced researchers and also by focused interaction between the experienced and the young researchers.
• To allow young researchers to present their research work and to receive constructive criticism from both experienced researchers and their peers. This will be achieved by each participant giving a short presentation his/her current work. Presentations will be reviewed in small workshop groups led by experienced researchers.
• To allow young researchers to discuss the future of AT research by identifying trends and hot topics in the area; in effect to develop an agenda for the AT research community for the next 10 years. This will be achieved by group workshops that examine the future trends in AT.

When

Depending on the decition of the panel of chairs the consortium will be organised as a 1 or 2 days pre-conference event:

July 7-8

Who should take part

Young researchers will typically be under 35 years of age and tackling their first or second major AT research or development project. They may be based in universities, research institutes, companies or other organizations.

Consoritum Chairs

• Norman Alm, Dundee University
• Dominique Archambault, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
• Paul Blenkhorn, Sensory Software
• Donal Fitzpatrick, Dublin City University
• Makoto Kobayashi, Tsukuba College of Technology
• Enrico Pontelli, New Mexico State University
• Gerhard Weber, Technische Universität Dresden
• Rob Sinclair, Microsoft

The panel of Consortium Chairs will select up to 16 participants.

Support

ICCHP will cover participation fee and accommodation costs of up to 16 selected young researchers. We expect young researchers or their supervising or employing institutes to support travel costs.

Submission and Deadline

Extended abstracts on the work should be submitted till May 1, 2008. Please use the general submission form for ICCHP at

https://secure.icchp.org/tool/index.htm

and indicate "Young Researchers" as the category you submit to. Submission should include (one zipped file):

• extended abstracts
• a recommendation letter by the supervisor
• a short CV

Publication of the work is subject to the decision of the panel of chairs. Publication is only possible after the conference.

Programme

Based on the review up to 16 presentations by students will form the frame of the consortium. Additional inputs will be given or organised by members of the chair panel.

The concept of the consortium is to enable discussion and advice. Due to this participation in the whole programme is obligatory!

The chair panel will select the winner of the students' best paper and presentation award. This paper will have the opportunity of presentation in a keynote session in the main conference.