Call for NetSys 2021 PhD Forum

September 13 till September 16, 2021 – Lübeck, Germany

The PhD Forum at the Networked Systems 2021 follows the tradition and format of similar events at international conferences such as ICNP, PerCom, or UbiComp. The aim is twofold. First, it should provide PhD students in any phase of their career with an opportunity to discuss the hidden secrets behind doing a PhD and general career advice – topics that are rarely openly discussed (e.g., finding research problems, managing your supervisor, …) - during the PhD Forum on Monday. Second, it additionally provides PhD students the option to present their early work as poster and to discuss it with experts to gain general technical feedback during the Early Work Presentation taking place at the main conference. Beyond, attending the PhD Forum is an excellent opportunity for young researchers to start a personal network with other PhD students as well as with already established experts.

What can I Expect?

PhD Forum: The hidden secrets when doing your PhD

This is a dedicated meeting on Monday before the main conference, full of discussions and fun with your direct peers and us. The aim of the PhD Forum is the discussion of meta aspects and experiences regarding a PhD – the hidden secrets when doing your PhD and general career advice. Potential topics will be:

• Deep PhD study in the time of digital distraction
• Having a family + doing a PhD – are you crazy?
• Continuously improving my skills: e.g., speed reading and ultra learning
• Doctoral supervision: being supervised and being a supervisor
• Best paper stories: targeting high and being rejected
• Academic peer review: what are factors that determine paper acceptance / rejection and why are some of them random?
• How dare you to steal my contributions?! Working in teams and writing a PhD thesis
• Working internationally
• Becoming a team leader and how to find good students
• Hints on writing papers and making presentations – please don’t overload

To tailor the discussion of meta aspects to your interest, attendance requires the submission of input in advance (e.g., questions on which we will organize the day) mentioned in the call below.

As done at NetSys 2019, we will also invite keynote speakers who will report about their research journey from a PhD student to a leading expert.

Early Work Poster Presentation:

In addition to the PhD Forum, an early work poster presentation of selected participants will take place during a poster session at the main conference. A brief introduction of the topics (One-Minute-Madness) during the main conference program is used to attract attention of conference participants to this early work poster session.

The PhD Forum + Early Work Poster Presentation are special opportunities to discuss research plans and results face-to-face with professors and senior researchers in individual groups outside the own lab.

What should I submit – One Forum but Two Calls!

Call PhD Forum attendance (always required):

The first call concerns the participation at the PhD Forum on Monday that focuses on discussing meta aspects concerning the PhD process (e.g., research, publication strategies, time management, …). If you plan to attend on Monday, submit to this call (no poster abstract required). If you plan to also submit an Early Work Poster Presentation (see next call), you must also submit to this call in addition.

What to submit: Prospective participants should prepare an application that includes the following information:

• Curriculum Vitae: a brief CV that lists the education and research interests of the PhD student.

• A motivational letter ($$\sim$$ 1 page): the motivational letter should discuss the following aspects in the following order:

  • Motivation: why do you want to attend the PhD Forum and what do you expect from it? (1 paragraph)
  • Your research area and the specific problem that you would think to work on. (1 paragraph)
  • Questions you would like to discuss at the PhD Forum (e.g., how to find a good research problem, how to manage time, how to manage your supervisor, …). We will structure the PhD Forum on Monday around discussing your questions (>3 questions)

Submission should be done electronically as PDF, via EasyChair

Call Early Work Poster Presentation (optional, but expected for more experienced (> 1 year) PhD students):

For more experienced PhD students (> 1 year of their PhD) that want to present their preliminary work during our poster and madness session during the main conference. Note, however, also fresh PhD students can submit an early work proposal.

Student research competition: We will award the best early work poster presentation (i.e., madness presentation and poster).

The early work submissions will be peer reviewed by experts from the main conference.

Submission implies that the PhD student registered for the PhD forum. That is, when submitting an early work poster, you must additionally have submitted to the PhD Forum call for attendance before (see above).

Submission should be done electronically as PDF, via EasyChair

Submission Guidelines for Early Work Poster Presentation

All early work poster presentation submissions must be original, unpublished, and not considered elsewhere for publication.

Early work submissions are limited to 4 pages including figures and tables (at least 10pt font, one-column format) plus 1 page for references. LaTeX and Microsoft Word templates, as well as formatting instructions, are available online here.

Accepted and presented extended abstracts will be published in the conference proceeding. Submission implies that at least one author will register and attend the conference to present the poster.

Important Dates:

Call Early Work Poster submissions

Postponed. To be announced.

Call PhD Forum submissions

Postponed. To be announced.

PhD Forum Chairs

• Andreas Blenk – Technical University of Munich, Germany/University of Vienna, Faculty of Computer Science, Austria
• Oliver Hohlfeld – Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), Germany