Doctoral Consortium Call

The 18th International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR 2021) 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 we also encourage students to apply who are at an earlier or more advanced stage of the completion of their thesis.

Accepted students will participate in several dedicated DC events, which will likely consist of a lightning talk session, a poster session, a mentoring lunch, and a DC invited talk (the precise format of the DC will be finalized closer to the conference). 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=kr2021

Each application must contain the following elements combined into a single PDF document:

• 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 and use the same style as for KR paper submissions (see submission page ).
• Curriculum Vitae. A description of your background and relevant experience (research, education, employment), of two pages maximum.
• Letter of recommendation. A letter from your thesis advisor that states that he/she supports your participation in the DC.
• 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 2021 and associated conferences and workshops.

Important Dates

• Application deadline: June 30, 2021 July 23, 2021
• Acceptance notification: July 21, 2021 July 30, 2021
• Doctoral Consortium: November 6-12, 2021 November 3-12, 2021

For further information, please contact the DC chairs:

Jens Classen (Simon Fraser University, Canada) jens_classen-anti-bot-bit@sfu.ca
Magdalena Ortiz (TU Vienna, Austria) ortiz-anti-bot-bit@kr.tuwien.ac.at