“The Next Generation of AT Experts”

Ensuring that Assistive Technology (AT)  is a stable and recognised R&D field requires identifying and supporting the next generation of experts in our field.  ICCHP is dedicated to this goal and invites young researchers to take part in the ICCHP Young Researchers Consortium.

The aim of this Consortium is to reach out and engage with young researchers who are starting out in the AT field to encourage a long-term commitment to AT research.

The Consortium will take place during the pre-conference session.  We ask supervisors of outstanding students' work (at both undergraduate and postgraduate level) to invite them to submit an extended abstract for consideration for the consortium.

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 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. The best contributions will be invited to present in a plenary session of ICCHP.
• To allow young researchers to discuss the future of AT research by identifying trends and hot topics in the area -- in effect to suggest an agenda for the AT research community for the next 10 years. This will be achieved by group workshops that examine future trends in AT.
• To  enable young researchers who present particularly significant work in having it published in the "Technology and Disability" journal (http://www.iospress.nl/loadtop/load.php?isbn=1055418) (IOS Press), be it in a special ICCHP issue with other selected papers of the conference or in one of the journal issues as stand alone contributions.

When

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

July 12/13

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
• Deb Fels, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
• Donal Fitzpatrick, Dublin City University
• Makoto Kobayashi, Tsukuba College of Technology
• Martin Morandell, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Enrico Pontelli, New Mexico State University
• Rob Sinclair, Microsoft
• Gerhard Weber, Technische Universität Dresden

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

Support

ICCHP will cover participation fee and accommodation costs for 4 nights in the Saesonal hotel Academia of up to 16 selected young researchers. We expect young researchers or their supervising or employing institutes to support the travel costs.

Submission and Deadline

Extended abstracts on the work should be submitted till April 15, 2010. Please use the general submission form for ICCHP at

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

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

• The extended abstracts (2-4 A4 pages)
• 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 be given at 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, for those selected, 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.