The CHI’24 sustainability committee is excited to announce the debut of a Special Recognition for papers that take exceptional measures toward sustainable research practices. This initiative aims to draw attention to sustainable research and celebrate authors’ dedication to sustainability. This honor is open to any project that has taken steps to be more sustainable–not only projects that directly address sustainable topics. There are many creative ways that HCI researchers could consider to make their work more sustainable and potentially earn the Special Recognition for Sustainable Practices, including:
- Offsetting carbon costs (e.g., of training machine learning models)
- Hosting a no-waste workshop
- Purchasing recycled materials
- Minimizing project-related travel (e.g., holding hybrid and virtual meetings)
- Incorporating community leaders in project funding
- Advocating for sustainable policy
- Public outreach or education on sustainable topics or practices
- Reducing electronic waste (e.g., through sustainable purchasing practices, reusing and recycling parts)
Any of these actions or similar could potentially earn your project a Special Recognition for Sustainable Practices. We hope to hear many other creative ideas as well!
How to Apply
The submission portal in PCS includes a new field where authors can describe steps they have taken to make their work/projects more sustainable. In 2-3 paragraphs (300 words or less), tell us what actions you’ve taken to make your project more sustainable, your reasoning for taking those actions, and what impact you’ve seen. Note: Please note that what you enter there is separate from the review process. Additionally, this is a new effort to promote sustainability hence, we are trying things out. So, depending on the feedback we receive, we might extend this initiative to other SIGCHI venues.
Special Recognitions will be announced prior to the first day of the conference on May 11th. Papers receiving Special Recognition will be highlighted on Twitter/X and will be mentioned in the closing keynote during the conference.
