The ACM CompEd 2025 doctoral consortium (DC) will be held on Wed. Oct 22, 2025 all day from 9am until 5pm and includes lunch. The ACM CompEd 2025 Conference starts the next day and runs from Oct 23-25, 2025.
The ACM CompEd 2025 doctoral consortium (DC) allows doctoral candidates studying computing education to explore and develop their research interests in a workshop environment with their peers and a panel of established researchers in the field. There is no cost to attend a DC. Additionally, accepted candidates will be given free registration to the ACM CompEd 2025 conference that starts the next day and up to $500 contribution to travel costs. Contact the DC chairs, Susan Rodger and Michael Kölling, for further information.
WHAT IS A SIGCSE DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM?
A SIGCSE DC has the following objectives:
- to provide a supportive setting for the discussion of doctoral research and research direction;
- to offer each candidate comments from researchers and other candidates outside their institution;
- to promote the development of a supportive community of scholars;
- to support a new generation of researchers with information and advice on research and academic career paths;
- to have candidates contribute to the conference goals through interaction with other researchers and conference events.
Candidates attending the DC will be required to make a presentation to the DC group (and if possible at the main conference), and to present a poster at the main conference, allowing them to start networking with the wider ACM CompEd community. Further details on this will be given following acceptance. The poster is part of the DC process and is to be submitted outside the ordinary poster track of ACM CompEd 2025.
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND A DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM
“As a new PhD student, one of the most helpful things for me was seeing the work of students who were ahead of me. I observed students in the middle and near the end asking questions about the research that was presented and about their studies. This helped tremendously because I could imagine a trajectory between my starting point and a PhD.”
APPLICATION FOR DC PARTICIPATION
An application for a doctoral consortium should be a single PDF consisting of two sections:
1. A two-page research description (the extended abstract) covering central aspects of your PhD work (ACM Template must be used). Only one author should be named in this description: the candidate applying for participation in the DC. If accepted, an introductory 250-word abstract will be published in the proceedings of ACM CompEd 2025 and should therefore be written to a high standard.
For more detail on the formatting of this part, see the Formatting requirements on the ACM CompEd 2025 Call for Participation page.
Key points include the following, with the recommended section headings in italics:
- an abstract of approximately 250 words which gives readers a preview of your work;
- context and motivation that drives your dissertation research;
- A brief background/literature review of key works that frame your research;
- a hypothesis and/or problem statement;
- research goals;
- research methods;
- current and expected contributions;
- a list of references.
2. The following appendices. These will be used by the selection committee to identify suitable participants for the DC. These do not need to conform to any particular template:
- Appendix A: a letter of nomination from your primary dissertation advisor indicating support for your participation in the DC, an explanation of how your work connects with the ACM CompEd community, an explicit statement that you are enrolled in a Ph.D. program, and the expected timeline for the completion of your doctorate.
- Appendix B: your concise current curriculum vitae (1-2 pages).
SUBMITTING A DC PROPOSAL
Once you have assembled – and checked – your PDF file and the two appendices, follow the instructions below, being sure to choose the Doctoral consortium submission category.
To submit your work, follow the link to the EasyChair submission page:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=comped2025
The deadline for submissions is June 16, 2025.
DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM REVIEW PROCESS
The review and decision of acceptance will consider the quality of your proposal, and where you are within your doctoral education program: the point of attending a DC is to get feedback on your research, so you must have started this. However, other criteria will be taken into consideration, so that the group of accepted candidates are not all at the same stage of their PhD, and represent a breadth of backgrounds and topics. Your institution will also be considered: there may be more than one participant from the same institution; however, priority will be given to students from different institutions.
ACM SIGCSE membership is required for DC participation (not necessarily for application)
You may attend more than one ACM SIGCSE DC; however you can only receive support for one DC per year, and priority will be given to newcomers.
You may attend ACM SIGCSE doctoral consortia in different years; however, priority will be given to newcomers.
BEFORE THE CONFERENCE
Since the goals of the doctoral consortium include building scholarship and community, participants will be expected to read the extended abstracts of all accepted participants: being accepted into the consortium involves a commitment to giving and receiving thoughtful commentary.
AT THE CONFERENCE
All participants are expected to attend all components of the doctoral consortium on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, from 9am until 5pm.
Following the DC, all accepted candidates are required to present their work (in a session and) as a poster at the main conference October 23-25.
AFTER THE CONFERENCE
Accepted doctoral consortium abstracts will be published with the conference proceedings in the ACM digital library, where they will remain accessible to thousands of researchers and practitioners worldwide.
QUESTIONS
If you have questions about anything discussed above, please contact the doctoral consortium chairs, Susan Rodger and Michael Kölling at comped2025dc@easychair.org