Doctoral Consortium

What is the Doctoral Consortium at IMX 2021?

IMX’s Doctoral Consortium (‘the DC’) is a part of the conference in New York, for people studying towards PhDs (or other doctoral degrees) that are relevant to the themes of IMX 2021. If you are a doctoral candidate who has found yourself reading or referencing work presented at IMX in the past, or if the scope of IMX makes you feel that this is a community that you would benefit from being part of, then we would love for you to apply to join us in New York virtually.

IMX DC is a forum for you to share your work and ideas with fellow PhD students, and with more experienced researchers in your field. You’ll get the chance to give a presentation of your work, get feedback and suggestions from members of the community, and participate in a practical group activity that will help you support each other with ideas for the current and future research. If you are successful in your application for a place in the DC, you will be invited to attend the rest of IMX 2021; the world’s leading international research conference on interactive media and user research.

As part of submissions to the Doctoral Consortium, we invite you to consider the conference theme, “Beyond Entertainment”. With this theme we encourage, in particular, submissions that deal with representing the diversity in which Interactive Media is used in our lives. If you’re currently studying for a doctoral degree that includes any of the topics in the list below, then IMX would love your application to become part of the DC:

• Audience understanding Maybe you’re researching trends in multi-platform trends, or methods to understanding quality of experience.
• Immersive and interactive content experiences Two screens, three screens, more screens? VR, AR or mixed-reality? 3DoF, 3DoF+, 6DoF? And the use of video in other contexts, such as healthcare or education.
• Technologies, systems and interfaces Are you applying AI or game engines in the world of video experiences? Or perhaps integrating social media, making recommendations, or synchronised apps?
• Production tools and workflows Are you studying how video’s craft processes are changing, or developing new design techniques or prototype tools?
• AI and machine learning Are you studying the use of machine learning and/or AI techniques to understand social media experiences? Or perhaps monitor media bias, misinformation and fake news?
• Business models and marketing If you’re investigating how industries will be transformed by changing use of video experiences, then please tell us about it at IMX
• Cultural and social studies Media addition, ethics and primary, remix culture, creative kids and fandom – what is the impact of changing video experience on our society?
• Disruptive studies and video-centric art Please submit your design fictions, your speculative installations and your challenging engagement. We’d love to hear about them.
• Experiences beyond entertainment Are you studying technologies, interfaces, and experiences in interactive art, digital performance & opera, musical festivals, museum exhibitions, and digital humanities?

IMX is an inclusive, growing, interdisciplinary community. If you aren’t sure whether the specifics of your research are in scope, please email dc@imx2021.com and the DC chairs will do their best to advise you.

How to Take Part?

If you’ve established what your PhD research questions will be, but have still got at least a year before submission of your dissertation or thesis, then that ‘middle period’ of a PhD is a great time to benefit from a Doctoral Consortium. 

Document 1: PhD Paper – Extended Abstract

Take part in the IMX DC by submitting a paper between 2-4 pages long (including references). The paper should be in New SIGCHI Extended Abstracts Format. Submissions should NOT be anonymous. Submissions must be done through the Precision Conference submission system (PCS). Your submission should be well organised and structured in a way that demonstrates the links between the concepts presented. Your paper should clearly specify:

• Your name, advisor(s) name(s), and the university where you are conducting your doctoral work
• Current year of study and projected completion date
• A real world problem that relates to and motivates the PhD
• The concrete research problem(s) that the (proposed) PhD is addressing and how this fits into the bigger picture of other research that addresses the real world problem
• The aims, objectives and scope of the research
• The methods used to achieve the objectives and the proposed solution(s), including a brief description of work done so far and a tentative plan for future work
• The main contribution(s) of the research to interactive TV/media experiences and justification why the contribution will lead to a PhD
• Expected next steps 
• Dissertation status and long term goals

Document 2: Supporting Materials

The supporting materials may include the following (you may format the documents as you see fitting):

• A short CV (max 1 page).
  • Provide a summary of your current curriculum vitae, including research publications. (Please separate published papers from those in submission.)
• A list of three key readings that have influenced your PhD.
• A list of three researchers in academia or industry who work in your field of research and you have wished to meet or get in touch with (this is used to help us find you right mentors). 
• A link to an optional short video presenting your PhD research (max 5 mins) or one of the main studies of your PhD. You can use any creative format or genre that fits your research to produce this video. 
• A paragraph or a short list of ideas/questions that you would like to get feedback on. This could be, for example, methods you have chosen or have proposed to use and the implications of such choices; data analysis and the artefacts thereof; post PhD career support, choices, and outcomes.

Authors should submit accessible papers to ensure that everyone can review and access submissions to IMX. Resources for preparing accessible submissions can be found here and help to support accessible submissions is available through contacting access@imx2021.com

Review Process – Curated

Submissions will be reviewed by the Doctoral Consortium Chairs. Participation in the DC will be limited to candidates who have been accepted into the Consortium.

Upon Acceptance

If you are accepted to the DC, we will send you instructions on how to submit the publication version of your submission, as well as how to prepare the presentation and a poster. Authors will also receive information about doctoral consortium registration and attending the conference. Participation in the DC is free of charge to the accepted doctoral students. The registration includes free access to the conference program during the conference. All such benefits are contingent upon attending the DC event as well as presenting a poster during the conference. 

At the Conference

If your paper is selected for the DC, you’ll join a group of fellow doctoral students in New York virtually. The DC will take place in parallel to the Workshops that make up the opening morning of IMX. It will be facilitated by the consortium chairs and other experts from the IMX community. You’ll be able to present and share your topic with the chairs, experts and other participants in a fun and inclusive environment.

Once the main IMX conference is underway, you will be asked to present a poster of your work at the main conference, during the DC poster session. The DC chairs will also award the author of the best DC submission with IMX’s Doctoral Consortium Award, to be presented as part of the conference virtual social event. Details of virtual conference and how to prepare for poster presentation will be shared later, closer to the conference dates. 

After the Conference

Your paper will be published in the  IMX 2021 Adjunct Proceedings (archived with a DOI on FigShare).