Call for Special Sessions & Challenges

Download Call for Proposals of Special Sessions & Challenges [PDF]

Important Dates

  • Proposals of special sessions/challenges due: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
  • Notification of pre-selection: Wednesday, January 6, 2021
  • Final list of special sessions: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Special Sessions & Challenges

Submissions of the proposal are encouraged for INTERSPEECH 2021, covering interdisciplinary topics and/or important new emerging areas of interest related to main conference topics. Submissions related to the special focus of the conference’s theme, Speech Everywhere, are particularly welcome. Apart from supporting a particular theme, special sessions may also have a different format from a regular session. Each special session proposal must contain the following information:

  • Title of the proposed special session,
  • Names and affiliations of the organizers (including contact information and a brief biography for each organizer),
  • Up to five bullet points on what makes the session special,
  • A summary (up to one page) stating the importance of the session’s topic and objectives. Furthermore, the session format should be clearly defined (panel, oral, posters, etc.). The summary should also explain why the topic cannot be properly covered by regular conference sessions,
  • A tentative list of researchers who could contribute papers to the session. Note that with a nominal 50% acceptance rate for Interspeech papers, this means that special sessions should have a minimum of 12 anticipated submissions, unless their format allocates time to something other than paper presentations,
  • Additional or non-standard resources (e.g., data, equipment, poster stands, etc.) required for organizing the special session.

Proposals will be evaluated by the organizing committee for relevance and significance. Papers for approved Special Sessions have to be submitted following the same schedule and procedure as regular papers; the papers will undergo the same review process by anonymous and independent reviewers. Special session organizers will be involved in the reviewer assignment and in the final decisions.

Special session proposers are invited to submit a proposal via email to the Special Session Chairs: Sakriani Sakti (NAIST/RIKEN AIP) and Pavel Ircing (UWB Plzen) at special-sessions@interspeech2021.org no later than Wednesday, December 9, 2020. Please do not hesitate to ask before submitting your proposal if further clarifications are needed. Notification of pre-selection is scheduled for Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Final acceptance will be announced shortly after paper decisions are completed.