ELLIS Research Programs: new call for proposals - Deadline 15th of July 2021!

The ELLIS society (https://ellis.eu) is soliciting proposals for ELLIS Research Programs. The goal of these programs is to increase the level of excellence in European research in Learning and Intelligent Systems by encouraging high-level interaction between the top researchers in a specific field. The program is modelled after the CIFAR research programs and has been launched in close coordination and with the institutional support of CIFAR, in particular the LMB program (https://www.cifar.ca/research/programs/learning-in-machines-brains) which, along with its predecessor NCAP, had a major impact on the field of deep learning. The existing ELLIS fellowship programs can be found here: https://ellis.eu/programs. The deadline is July 15, 2021 and the submission site is on EasyChair https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ellis-programs-2021. Proposals for the creation of ELLIS Research Programs will be reviewed by the Program and Fellow committee, which are composed of an internationally diverse set of ELLIS fellows. Compilation of the evaluation can take several months. For questions please email daniela.diaconu@ellis.eu.

Criteria for program proposals

Successful proposals should address the above goal of encouraging high-level interaction between the top researchers in a cutting-edge research area in learning AI. Specifically, proposals should be written by 2-3 program directors and include a set of around 10-15 outstanding scientists nominated to become ELLIS Fellows and Scholars of their program. The program is expected to organize at least two annual workshops and all Fellows and Scholars should commit to attending at least one workshop every year for the duration of the program (5 years).

The ELLIS Program committee will evaluate the proposals, and subsequently all proposed Fellows and Scholars will be vetted by the ELLIS Fellow committee. Acceptance of a proposal will not automatically guarantee that all nominated scientists will pass the bar, but we expect proposals to contain a credible list of strong Fellows.  

Program Directors should be outstanding senior scientists. Fellows/Scholars will be at least assistant professors (or equivalent) and need to pass a high academic bar. It is possible (but not required) to include a (more junior) Associate Program Director. Please see below additional details on the expected level of excellence for Fellows and Scholars. 

Contribution towards running ELLIS:

• Program Directors, Fellows and Scholars are expected to both (1) drive the development of their program by contributing to the workshops, and (2) to act as ambassadors for ELLIS as well as help guide its strategic development. The program directors’ main responsibility is to run the workshops and ensure high quality. 

• Fellows and Scholars in the Program are expected to commit to reviewing ELLIS proposals for units, programs, Fellows/Scholars, PhD candidates or for other calls organized by the ELLIS Network. This commitment is particularly important for the directors and Fellows in the Program as they are expected to contribute to building ELLIS. 

• ELLIS Programs commit to joint PR and branding with the ELLIS society. Press releases need to be coordinated with the central ELLIS press office. 

Guidelines for proposals

Proposals shall not exceed 5 pages (not including references) on a single column page format with 12 point font. The proposal should contain the following sections: 

• Overview 

  • A free-form description of the envisioned program, including its mission and vision.

  • Please specify how the proposed ELLIS Program adds scientific value to ELLIS and the potential for scientific interactions.

  • Provide convincing evidence for excellence in machine learning-driven fields within the proposed ELLIS program.

• Members of the Program 

  • Planned researchers in the Program with short (no longer than 1/4 page) bios, indicating who is nominated to become a Fellow or a Scholar.

  • For each proposed researcher in the team please include the year of their PhD, number of citations, h-index, link to their Google Scholar page and whether they agreed to be part of your proposal. If the full CV of a proposed Fellow/Scholar can be found online, please include the link as well, otherwise please send their CVs to admin-fellows@ellis.eu.

  • Please also mention who will act as directors of the program. Note that Directors, Fellows and Scholars can only appear on one funded ELLIS program, since the workshops will sometimes be held in parallel. 

  • Optionally, a list of scientists to be invited as guests to some workshops can be included as well.

  • When preparing the team description, please see the criteria for ELLIS Programs and guidelines for evaluating scientific excellence of the program members. 

• Diversity 

  • Please ensure diversity in terms of seniority, geography and underrepresented groups --e.g. gender-- of the researchers in the Program.

  • Among the newly proposed Fellows and Scholars there should be at least 25% women.  

  • Please ensure diversity also among the Program directors (i.e. program directors should not have the same nationality or work in the same country; exceptions are possible if they are at least of different gender). 

• Funding sources 

  • Acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee funding of the workshops by ELLIS.

  • It is expected that each program will fund the workshops from its own funds.

• Organization of events

  • Please indicate the planned activities for the Program and also when and where/how you would want to run your first workshop. 

• Network 

  • Connections with ELLIS, such as joint publications with other ELLIS Fellows/Scholars and Members, collaborations with other units, participation in the ELLIS PhD program, etc.

Guidelines for evaluating scientific excellence for Fellow/Scholar nominations

ELLIS Fellows are outstanding senior researchers who have made significant contributions to science and commit to acting as ambassadors of ELLIS. They are expected to provide strategic advice and leadership not just scientifically, but also in terms of how to build and grow ELLIS.  ELLIS Scholars are outstanding junior scientists, often assistant professors, who do not yet have the seniority of a Fellow but are on a clear trajectory to reach this level. The level of expected excellence would be similar to what ERC grants or prestigious research institutions (both private and public) would look for. Examples include (but are not limited to): regular publications in top-tier venues, research impact (h-index / citations / real-world applications), prestigious awards, honors and grants, editorial board memberships, invitations to serve as AC/PC for top-tier conferences, membership in editorial boards of top-tier journals, and invited talks/tutorials at top-tier conferences. 

As a reference:

• Scholars: Junior scientists with up to 10 years of post-PhD experience. We also consider extensions for maternity or other types of leaves. The h-index of the current group of Scholars is 14 or higher. The median is 19 and scholars reaching 10 years of post-PhD experience have an h-index of 25 on average. 

• Fellows: Senior scientists with typically more than 10 years of post-PhD experience and h-index which typically is higher than 25. The median h-index of the current Fellows is 53.

• Depending on the research areas there may be systematic differences that should be taken into account. Theoretical research may not generate the same amount of impact as computer vision research or other more applied disciplines.

• In general, academic age and eligible career breaks should be taken into consideration, following the ERC criteria described here: https://erc.europa.eu/content/according-conditions-erc-starting-grant-2020-call-what-are-eligible-career-breaks-extension

• Each candidate is evaluated by a number of existing Fellows working in a different country and with a different nationality each providing a score according to the following 6-point scale:  5 - outstanding; 4 - excellent; 3 - very good; 2 - good; 1 - fair; 0 - poor. As a reference, Scholars/Fellows are expected to have a score of at least 4.