The Steering Committee of the Conference on Spatial Information Theory is soliciting proposals to host COSIT 2026 (and 2028 – see below). Following COSIT 2024, held in Quebec City, Canada, and the one before, COSIT 2022, held in Kobe, Japan, COSIT 2026 is expected to be held in a different region again.
As with previous sites, preference will be given to locations that are somewhat isolated, yet accessible, to encourage on-going discussions throughout the conference week.
Step 1: Please inform us about your intention to submit a proposal, per email to the COSIT Steering Committee Chair, Stephan Winter (winter@unimelb.edu.au) by 1 Mar 2025.
Step 2: Then please submit a full proposal, with budget, by 1 Apr 2025. The proposal should contain sufficient detail in order to assess the suitability to hold a meeting in the spirit of past COSITs. It should comprise approximately 2-4 pages and include:
- Tentative dates and location. Include consideration of possible conflict or correspondence of related conferences, if appropriate.
- Organizing committee and other personnel, reflecting the diversity of the COSIT community, including possible:
a. General Chair(s) in charge of local arrangements and overseeing all activities listed below;
b. Program Committee Chair(s) in charge of the scientific aspects of the conference, including invited speakers and the solicitation, review and selection of research papers;
c. Communication Chair and a Sponsorship Chair, if any;
d. Team available to help with local arrangements (staff, graduate students, post-docs). - Proposed venue, with information on facilities, infrastructure, transportation, and lodging with anticipated cost;
- Proposals for any integrated activities, such as workshop and tutorial sessions, and doctoral student sessions and mentoring program;
- Anticipated registration fees and outline of the budget:
- Fixed cost independent of attendance, e.g., conference hall, invited speakers, etc.
- Variable cost per participant, e.g., the sum of coffee break, meals, conference banquet, excursions, etc.
- Estimated costs for the participants, including registration (regular and students); local transportation cost to the conference venue; hotel cost (conference hotel and less expensive options nearby, if any).
- Potential sponsors to offset the costs of the invited speakers and/or fund student
travel.
The fully refereed Proceedings will be released in an open access format through the Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPICS). Hence, the proposal should incorporate the processing charges published at https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/series/LIPIcs.
The COSIT Steering Committee is also soliciting proposals to host COSIT 2028. They should address the same points, although the Steering Committee understands that some information can be only indicative at this time. The intention with this early call is to move to an earlier selection. An update of the proposal will be requested in time, such that COSIT 2028 can be announced at COSIT 2026.
For more information about the COSIT series, past locations, and a list of the current COSIT Steering Committee members, please visit cosit.info.