The CUI 2026 Doctoral Consortium is a half-day session where doctorate students of conversational user interfaces can discuss their research with other students and experts within the field. Doctoral work is important to our rapidly advancing area of research, and we very much look forward to making the Doctoral Consortium a meeting place for students in the field.
The Doctoral Consortium is a unique opportunity for students, at any stage of their doctoral work, to interact with experienced researchers in conversational user interfaces and discuss with peers.
Senior members of the community will be assigned as mentors for the event. All students and mentors will attend the half-day Doctoral Consortium event in the conference, giving students the opportunity to discuss their ongoing research, academic life challenges, and career plans with mentors.
The event will be conducted in hybrid mode, meaning that it is possible to attend in-person or virtual. If possible, physical attendance is recommended to benefit from informal in-person networking.
Key dates
| Deadline type | Date |
|---|---|
| Submission | Thu, April 9 2026 |
| Acceptance Notice | Thu, April 30 2026 |
| Camera-Ready in PCS | –––––––––––––––––––––– |
| eRights completed | –––––––––––––––––––––– |
| TAPS processing completed | –––––––––––––––––––––– |
Eligibility
Students conducting research in the field of conversational user interfaces (broadly defined), at any stage of their Ph.D. studies.
The process
All Doctoral Consortium applications will proceed through the following process. Please contact the Doctoral Consortium chairs if you have any questions.
1. Prepare your application
Students are invited to submit an application in extended abstract format for participation.
You must use the ACM LaTeX or Word templates to prepare your submission. LaTeX users may start their work by using the official ACM template available on Overleaf, which we strongly encourage. LaTeX users should have the following document class: \documentclass[sigconf, screen, review]{acmart} for submission.
Word users should use the double-column “Interim Template”.
The application should be submitted as a single pdf file (max. 2 pages) outlining a research statement which contains the following:
- A summary of the applicant’s research topic
- Answers to the following questions:
a. How far you are in your PhD?
b. What is the motivation for this research?
c. What is the expected contribution to the field?
d. What progress have you made so far?
e. What would you like to learn and discuss during the Doctoral Consortium?
Incomplete applications will be rejected.
2. Submit your application
You should submit your application by email to cui2026-dc@cui.acm.org, making sure to include your full name, affiliation, and preferred contact email in the submission email text, as well as your extended abstract.
OR
You should submit your application via PCS [LINK NEEDED], making sure to include your full name, affiliation, and preferred contact email on the extended abstract (non-anonymous submission).
Important: When submitting your application please indicate if you plan to attend the Doctoral Consortium in person or remotely.
3. Selection process – curated
Doctoral Consortium participants will be selected on the basis of their research statement through a curated process where the aim is to establish a participant group with complementary research interests and aims for participation. We aim for an inclusive selection process.
4. Present and discuss your PhD
As well as taking part in the Doctoral Consortium discussions and presentations, accepted participants are furthermore encouraged to present their thesis as a poster. This poster shall be presented alongside the posters from the poster session at the main conference so that students may receive feedback from conference attendees who are not part of the Doctoral Consortium.
The CUI 2026 posters chairs will send information about the poster format upon acceptance as the Doctoral Consortium will use the same format.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the Doctoral Consortium chairs – cui2026-dc@cui.acm.org