Call for Young Researchers’ Symposium Papers

The Young Researchers' Symposium at CODS 2026 invites extended abstract submissions from students who are currently pursuing PhD/ Masters/ Bachelors. This is a unique opportunity for young scholars to network within the research community and receive feedback from peers, faculty and industry researchers on their on-going research.

Submissions to the Young Researchers' Symposium (YRS) should be in the form of a 4-page (max) extended abstract excluding references. We invite submissions on the topics that align with the CFP of the CODS conference main track.

We welcome the following types of submissions:

• Work-in-progress papers
• Completed research work
• Novel perspectives on existing literature/ concepts

All submissions must clearly highlight their unique contributions. We strongly encourage the inclusion of an initial set of experimental results or a proof-of-concept, as well as a brief discussion on how the proposal connects with related work. The first author of the submission must be a current undergraduate or postgraduate student at the time of submission. Papers accepted in this track are eligible to be published in the conference proceedings. Authors may choose to withhold their paper from publication in case they wish to submit a completed version to a conference in future.

Note: At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register and present their work at the conference.

Awards and Grants

Partial travel Grants will be available for all students whose papers are accepted. One paper picked by a jury comprising members from both the external research community and the program committee will be awarded the best technical paper award.

New this year: We have an exciting set of mentorship events and talks exclusively for all student authors of accepted papers in the YRS track. Additionally, authors of top 10 papers would have an opportunity to interact with the keynote speakers and experienced researchers/ faculty over an exclusive invite-only event at the conference.

The Use of Large Language Models (LLMs)

(Adapted from ICLR 2026)

The use of LLMs is allowed as a general-purpose assist tool. If LLMs played a significant role in research ideation and/ or writing to the extent that they could be regarded as a contributor, then authors should describe the precise role of the LLM in a separate section on LLM usage. This section can appear in the appendix, and will not be considered as part of the page limit. Not disclosing significant LLM usage can lead to desk rejection of the paper and disciplinary action against the authors.

Irrespective of the ways that LLMs were used in a given submission, authors should understand that they take full responsibility for the contents written under their name, including content generated by LLMs that could be construed as plagiarism or scientific misconduct (e.g., fabrication of facts). LLMs are not eligible for authorship.

Authors may be asked to provide further details or clarification regarding LLM usage in their submission during the paper evaluation phase.

Important dates

All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE, UTC-1200)

• August 13, 2026: Submission of papers
• October 6, 2026: Final decision notifications (Accept / Reject)
• November 18, 2026: Camera-Ready Due

Submission Link

YRS Chairs

• Rajesh Sharma, Plaksha University
• Sravanti Addepalli, Google DeepMind
• Subhajit Datta, Heritage Institute of Technology

For more details, please reach out to the chairs at cods@acmindia.org