[Event at CIG] IJCAI-ECAI 2026: Early Career Spotlights - Call for Nominations

[Thomas Eiter]

[apologies for multiple cross-postings]

Early Career Spotlights (ECS)

IJCAI-ECAI Early Career Spotlights (ECS) is an invited speaker program to 
recognize early career researchers who have already made significant research 
contributions to AI and who demonstrate great promise for future impactful 
contributions. Awardees will be assigned a presentation slot and a talk 
abstract in the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 proceedings.
Eligibility

To be eligible for the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 ECS, AI researchers should have 
completed their PhD degree after 2019. Exceptions to this rule may however be 
granted in case of career interruptions (parental or family leave, long 
illness, etc.) or other compelling circumstances.

Content of Nominations

To avoid duplicate nominations, nominators should inform the early-career 
researcher of their intent to submit a nomination, and there should be a single 
nomination for each early-career researcher. Self-nominations are not 
admissible.

Nominations should consist of:

- A letter of support (1 page) from the nominator(s) that provides
   evidence as to the significance and impact of the nominee’s research
   contributions to AI and their future potential as an AI researcher. Impact
   should be understood broadly, e.g., impact on academia, industry, and/or
   society.

- A CV of the nominee (2 pages), including education and employment
   history, teaching, service to the research community, any elements of
   community recognition, and a list of most relevant publications and
   other research productions in AI.

Career interruptions or other personal circumstances relevant for fairly 
assessing the nominee’s contributions and potential should also be mentioned in 
the CV and/or nomination letter.

How to Submit Nominations

Nominations should be submitted at 
https://chairingtool.com/conferences/IJCAIECAI2026/early-career-spotlight?role=author 
.

A single PDF file (.pdf) should be attached, consisting of the letter of 
support and CV. It should also contain the name, email address, affiliation, 
and PhD defense date of the candidate.
Note: Nominations of early-career researchers who have a close relationship 
with a member of this year’s ECS Committee should be submitted by email to a 
committee member who does not have a conflict with the nominee.

Important Dates

     Nomination deadline: April 12, 2026 (AoE time)
     Notifications:  April 30, 2026

ECS Committee

This year’s ECS committee consists of Thomas Eiter (chair), Bo An, Longbing 
Cao, Esra Erdem, Bernhard Kainz, and Carlo Strapparava.
The composition of the committee may be modified if needed, to handle any 
Conflict-of-Interest situations.
Contact

Inquiries should be sent to the ECS committee chair, Thomas Eiter 
eiter at kr.tuwien.ac.at .

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