CIKM 2023: Institute WeST Proudly Co-Chaired the Premier International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management

Although the conference was organized as a full in-person event, CIKM 2023 also streamed selected sessions live via an Internet-based virtual platform. This hybrid approach allowed delegates from different time zones to follow the sessions and ensured that the worldwide research community could participate, even if they could not travel to Birmingham.

Altogether, CIKM 2023 attracted more than 2,400 submissions across five paper tracks, of which 629 were accepted, resulting in an acceptance rate of 27%. The program featured full research papers, short papers, applied research, resource papers, and demonstration papers. Beyond the paper tracks, 16 workshops and 9 tutorials offered deep dives into trending fields, and a lively PhD Symposium gave early-career researchers the chance to present their work and connect with senior scholars.

A highlight of the week was the Industry Day, a full-day program with 14 invited talks from practitioners. This track built a vital bridge between academia and industry, showing how fundamental research translates into practical applications.

The conference was further enriched by three world-class keynote talks:

• Professor Yulan He (King’s College London, UK) on Interpretable Natural Language Understanding

• Professor Chirag Shah (University of Washington, USA) on Generative AI and the Future of Information Access

• Professor Steffen Staab (University of Stuttgart, Germany & University of Southampton, UK) on Knowledge Graphs for Knowing More and Knowing for Sure

Hosting CIKM in Birmingham — a city that played a key role in the Industrial Revolution — felt symbolic, as the conference focused on the new data-driven revolution that will shape the future. For our lab, it was an honor to contribute to an event that not only showcased cutting-edge research but also fostered connections across continents.