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.
- 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@kr.tuwien.ac.at .