Conference Presentation Program

Purpose

The CHCI@VT Conference Presentation Funding Program provides funds to help CHCI-affiliated faculty and students travel to top HCI conferences to present their research. This funding can be used to supplement funds from other sources, such as the Graduate Student Association or CS Grad Council. 

Eligibility

CHCI-affiliated faculty and students are eligible to apply. Applicants may receive no more than one award per year from this program.

Presentation Categories

Awards will be made based on four different categories of conference presentations, from highest priority to lowest priority:

• Category 1 ($1,000): The applicant is the presenting author of an accepted full paper at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

• Category 2 ($500): The applicant is the presenting author of an accepted full paper at one of the following top-tier HCI conferences:

  • ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST)

  • ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)

  • IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR)

• Category 3 ($250): The applicant is the presenting author of an accepted peer-reviewed contribution other than a full paper (e.g., workshop paper, poster, demo) at ACM CHI, ACM UIST, ACM CSCW, or IEEE VR.

• Category 4 ($250): The applicant is the presenting author of an accepted full paper at an HCI-related conference other than ACM CHI, ACM UIST, ACM CSCW, or IEEE VR.

Budget

The current budget for this program is $10,000 per year. The total budget is allocated across the four top-tier HCI conferences identified in the presentation categories above:

• $4,000 for ACM CHI

• $2,000 for ACM UIST

• $2,000 for ACM CSCW

• $2,000 for IEEE VR

Timeline

To ensure awards are made based on the priority of the presentation categories above, applications will be evaluated based on the following timeline:

• January 26, 2026 – February 8, 2026

  • Priority will be given to full papers at ACM CHI and IEEE VR based on the allocations above.

• February 9, 2026 – Late March 2026

  • Priority will be given to other contributions at ACM CHI and IEEE VR based on the allocations above.

  • Full papers at other HCI-related conferences will be considered if any funds remain from the ACM CHI and IEEE VR allocations.

• Late March 2026 – Early April 2026

  • Priority will be given to full papers at ACM CSCW based on the allocation above.

• Early April 2026 – July 30, 2026

  • Priority will be given to other contributions at ACM CSCW based on the allocation above.

  • Full papers at other HCI-related conferences will be considered if any funds remain from the ACM CSCW allocation.

• July 31, 2026 – August 9, 2026

  • Priority will be given to full papers at ACM UIST based on the allocation above.

• August 10, 2026 – January 2027

  • Priority will be given to other contributions at ACM CSCW and ACM UIST based on the allocations above.

  • Full papers at other HCI-related conferences will be considered if any funds remain from the ACM CSCW and ACM UIST allocations.

Evaluation

Eligible applications will be evaluated with regards to their presentation category, acceptance notification, final reviews, camera-ready publication, whether the research was funded by another source (e.g., a federal grant), whether the research was funded by other CHCI@VT funding programs (e.g., the User Study Funding Program, the Planning Grant Program) and whether that support was acknowledged, whether other sources of funding (e.g., Graduate Student Association or the CS Grad Council) have been applied for or received and how much, whether the applicant confirms that they will acknowledge CHCI@VT’s support in their conference presentation, and whether the applicant agrees to present their research at the CHCI@VT Weekly Seminar Series after its completion.

Award Requirements

Awardees must follow their unit’s procedures pertaining to travel arrangements and reimbursements and will work with their unit’s financial manager/specialist to acquire funds from CHCI@VT for up to the awarded amount. All reimbursements must be requested within 30 working days of the last day of travel for which reimbursement is requested.

Awardees are also required to acknowledge that their presentation was supported by the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech (CHCI@VT) in their conference presentation. This can be acknowledged by incorporating the CHCI@VT logo into the presentation or including an acknowledgement statement: e.g., “This presentation was supported by the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech (CHCI@VT)." Furthermore, awardees must agree to present their research at the CHCI@VT Weekly Seminar Series during the next semester.

Application Process

To apply, please complete the CHCI@VT Conference Presentation Funding Application. Applications will usually be processed within one week of submission. If you have any questions about this form or program, please email the Director of CHCI@VT: Ryan P. McMahan (rpm@vt.edu).