In Brief

The annual SIGIR conference is the major international forum for the presentation of new research results and the demonstration of new systems and techniques in the broad field of information retrieval (IR). The 48th ACM SIGIR conference will be held in person in Padua, Italy, from July 13th to 18th, 2025. SIGIR 2025 workshops will provide a platform for presenting novel ideas and emerging areas in IR, in a less formal and more focused way than the conference itself. Researchers and practitioners from all areas of IR are invited to submit workshop proposals for review.

2025 Format

Workshops will be on-site and in person. All workshops will require at least one organizer to attend, as well as a (yet-to-be-determined) number of participants. More information at the SIGIR 2025 In-presence Policy page.

Important Dates for Workshop Proposals

Time zone: Anywhere on Earth (AoE)

• Proposal submission: January 9, 2025
• Proposal acceptance notification: February 6, 2025
• Individual workshop paper submission: April 23, 2025
• Tentative workshop overview camera ready: April 24, 2025
• Tentative workshop paper acceptance notification: May 21, 2025
• Workshop day: July 17, 2025

Topics of Interest

Workshop topics typically match those identified in the SIGIR 2025 general call for contributions (see, e.g., full papers); proposals on other topics related to IR are welcome. We encourage prospective workshop organizers to submit proposals for highly interactive workshops (either full-day or half-day) focusing on either in-depth analysis or broad-ranging approaches to information retrieval. The format of each workshop is to be determined by the organizers. We expect workshops to contain ample time for discussion and engagement for all participants – not just those presenting papers. Workshops fostering collaboration, discussion, group problem-solving, and community-building initiatives are particularly encouraged. Workshops focused solely on the presentation of papers in a “mini conference” format are discouraged.

The organizers of approved workshops are expected to define the workshop’s focus, gather and review submissions, and decide on the final program content. Organizers (including co-organizers) are strongly encouraged to write an article for the ACM SIGIR Forum summarizing the event. At least one organizer is expected to attend the entire workshop.

Child Care Service

SIGIR 2025 promotes inclusion and attendance also by organizing a child care service, in order to foster work-family balance by offering congress attendees the opportunity to attend events with their children.

Children from 0 to 12 years of age are welcomed in a specially set up room inside Padua Congress Center throughout the duration of the congress. A colorful, “warm”, safe and welcoming environment, in the same structure that hosts the congresses, a protected place where parents can leave their children, but at the same time stay in touch with them during the breaks of the different sessions.

The nursery space dedicated to the 0-3 age group, equipped with a changing table and other facilities dedicated to the little ones, is next to the kids’ area for children over 3 years old and a cinema room for screenings.

The activities are run by a company specialized in education services with expert staff, appointed by Padua Congress Center, and include thematic workshops - from painting to creative activities - as well as playtime also in the open air, in the facility's outdoor spaces. Children are also offered lunch.

The service is available - for a fee (depending on sponsors) - to all SIGIR 2025 attendees who request it. For more information and updates, check out the SIGIR 2025 Child Care page.

Submission Guidelines

Workshop proposals, in no more than 4 pages, should include the following information:

• Title
• Motivation for the workshop, its appropriateness for SIGIR, its complementarity to the main SIGIR 2025 conference topics, and why it would be of interest to the IR community
• Theme and purpose of the workshop
• Format (half/full-day), planned activities, and a tentative schedule of events, including potential keynote or other speakers
• Planned interaction and engagement: Describe how the workshop will be structured to encourage active discussions, idea exchange, and collaboration among participants. Detail how the organizers will create an interactive format, distinct from a "mini conference," such as breakout discussions, group exercises, and panels designed to deepen engagement with the topic.
• Distinction from main conference topics: Outline how the workshop theme covers areas complementary to or not typically discussed in the main conference program, highlighting emerging, niche, or interdisciplinary topics that could provide fresh perspectives to participants.
• Audience reach: Describe the potential to attract new attendees who may not traditionally participate in SIGIR, including practitioners, academics from related fields, or industry specialists with unique insights or applications in information retrieval.
• For each organizer, an indication of their likelihood of attending onsite
• Special requirements and their importance to the workshop’s success, along with a contingency plan if requirements are unmet (such as potential last-minute organizers to ensure the workshop runs onsite)
• List of organizers with a short biographical sketch of each organizer, describing relevant qualifications and experience
• Names of potential program committee (PC) members – if a PC is required (any workshop involving written papers should have a PC)
• Selection process for participants and/or presenters
• Expected target audience and how the workshop will be advertised to reach them
• Related workshops (if applicable): if previously held at SIGIR or another conference, organizers should briefly describe past attendance, outcomes, and the need for another workshop

Workshop proposals should be prepared in the current ACM two-column conference format. Suitable LaTeX, Word, and Overleaf templates are available from the ACM Website (use the sigconf proceedings template). For LaTeX, the following should be used:

documentclass[sigconf,natbib=true,anonymous=true]{acmart}

Proposals will be reviewed based on quality, complementarity to SIGIR 2025 conference topics, likelihood of attracting enough participants, and venue hosting capacity. Submissions will be reviewed by a program committee selected for this purpose, with final decisions made at the SIGIR Program Committee meeting.

Proposals should be submitted in PDF through the EasyChair system:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sigir2025

by selecting the “SIGIR 2025 Workshops” track.

Organizers of accepted workshops will be invited to submit a camera-ready summary for inclusion in the SIGIR 2025 conference proceedings.

Workshop Chairs

Surya Kallumadi,  Coursera, USA

Zhaochun Ren,  Leiden University, The Netherlands