NeurIPS Newsletter – September 2023

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Welcome to the September edition of the monthly NeurIPS Newsletter! This newsletter was sent out by email to all subscribers on September 20, 2023, but we reposting on our blog as a monthly digest. To receive this newsletter in your email inbox directly, subscribe at: https://neurips.cc/Profile/subscribe. For more information on email preferences, visit: https://neurips.cc/FAQ/EmailPreferences

The NeurIPS Newsletter aims to provide an easy way to keep up to date with NeurIPS events and planning progress, respond to requests for feedback and participation, and find information about new initiatives. Notably, this newsletter will focus on NeurIPS 2023, which will return to New Orleans from Sunday, December 10th – Saturday, December 16th, 2023.

Newsletter includes:

  1. Registration and Visa Guidance
  2. Upcoming Calls for Participation
  3. Event Week – Schedule at a Glance
  4. Program and Dataset & Benchmarks Updates
  5. Affinity Workshops
  6. Tutorials
  7. Workshops
  8. Competitions
  9. Ethics Review
  10. Outreach
  11. Call to Register for Childcare
  12. Support to Attend NeurIPS

1. Registration & Visa Guidance

Registration is open! https://neurips.cc/Register/

This year NeurIPS opened registration April 11th to provide early access to visa materials (https://neurips.cc/Conferences/2023/Visa) in section five of the registration process. The Cancellation Policy (https://neurips.cc/FAQ/CancellationPolicy) contains considerations for visa denials, and the conference will grant a full refund before November 14th, 2023.

NeurIPS recognizes that this step may not solve all visa-related issues, but we hope it makes the process smoother for a significant number of attendees.

2. Upcoming Calls for Participation

NeurIPS is welcoming a second round of proposals for socials, due October 18th 2023 AoE (Anywhere on Earth). Socials are events focused on the social aspects of the conference, rather than the technical ones, creating space to meet up, discuss, or celebrate around a common interest. For more information on how to submit a proposal, read: https://neurips.cc/Conferences/2023/CallforSocials

NeurIPS is soliciting applications for the EXPO from Diamond & Platinum exhibitors. The NeurIPS EXPO is a one day (Sunday December 10th 2023), multitrack, interdisciplinary section of the conference focused on ideas being developed in an industrial context. Deadline for expos is October 13th 2023 AoE. For more details, read: https://neurips.cc/Expo/CallForTalksPanels

3. Event Week – Schedule at a Glance

Curious how the conference week will look? See the daily events:

  • Sunday December 10th
  • NeurIPS Expo 
  • Monday December 11th
  • Affinity Workshops
  • Tutorials 
  • Opening Remarks, First Keynote, and Reception
  • Tuesday December 12th and Wednesday December 13th
  • Main Conference: Keynotes, Posters, and Oral Sessions
  • Socials (Evening)
  • Thursday December 14th
  • Main Conference: Keynotes, Posters, and Oral Sessions
  • Townhall 
  • Closing Reception
  • Friday December 15th
  • Workshops
  • Socials (Evening)
  • Saturday December 16th
  • Workshops

4. Program and Datasets & Benchmarks Updates

Reviews are underway and nearing an end! Poster, Oral and Spotlight decisions will be announced for both the Main Program and Datasets & Benchmarks tracks September 21st at 9:00 PM EDT. Reviewing at scale presents many challenges. This year, we received 13,330 submissions, coordinated over 13,500 reviewers, 1,100 Area Chairs, and 100 Senior Area Chairs across both tracks. On behalf of the Program Chairs and Datasets & Benchmarks Chairs we thank our reviewers, ACs, and SACs for making this possible.

5. Affinity Workshops

At NeurIPS, affinity groups play a crucial role in advocating for and amplifying the ideas and voices of marginalized communities. This year, we’re excited to host eight Affinity Workshops on Monday. Many Affinity Workshops have released calls for contributions, and they welcome your work:

Read our blog post “Announcing the NeurIPS 2023 Affinity Workshops” for details: https://blog.neurips.cc/2023/07/18/announcing-the-neurips-2023-affinity-workshops/

6. Tutorials

Tutorials are self-contained events covering emerging ML & AI topics, led by a small number of speakers with panels to broaden discussion. This year, we’re excited to announce a total of 14 tutorials – stay tuned for an upcoming blog post next month with the full list of accepted tutorials. 

7. Workshops

NeurIPS Workshops provide a structured means of bringing together attendees with shared interests to form communities. This year, we’re excited to host 58 workshops that will take place on December 15th & 16th. Many of these workshops will have a submission deadline near September 29th, 2023 AoE (Anywhere on Earth), so mark your calendar!

For planning and more details, including the list of accepted workshops, see: https://neurips.cc/virtual/2023/events/workshop 

In addition, read our blog post, “Announcing the NeurIPS 2023 Workshops”:
https://blog.neurips.cc/2023/07/13/announcing-the-neurips-2023-workshops.

Lastly, new this year, we are releasing our guidance on how to organize an accepted workshop, as a means to improve transparency about the process. Read our blog post:
Your NeurIPS Workshop was Accepted – Now What? – NeurIPS Blog

8. Competitions

NeurIPS Competitions promote innovative research and foster collaboration across different scientific disciplines by providing an opportunity to showcase research and compete with other leading researchers. We’re excited to host 20 competitions in this year’s Competition Track on Friday Dec 15th and Saturday Dec 16th 2023.

Read more about this year’s competitions and how you can participate in this blog announcement, “Announcing the NeurIPS 2023 Competitions”: https://blog.neurips.cc/2023/06/14/announcing-the-neurips-2023-competitions/

9. Ethics Review

This year saw 502 papers (3.77% of all submissions) flagged for ethics review, up in absolute number from last year (474), but down in relative terms (4.37%). We thank our 396 ethics reviewers and especially the 76 who also volunteered as emergency reviewers. Please watch for our detailed report on the ethics review process, coming soon!

10. Outreach

At NeurIPS, we’re always looking for ways to grow our community, with focus on demographics underrepresented in ML/AI. This year in NeurIPS Outreach, we are planning to invite undergraduate and graduate students from local colleges and universities including HBCUs. Stay tuned to hear more about the details in the coming newsletters!

11. Call to Register for Childcare

NeurIPS is proud to be providing free on-site child care at the conference this year. Registration deadline for child care is November 30th 2023, and is on a first-come first-serve basis. For more information on how to register, please read:
https://neurips.cc/Conferences/2023/ChildCare

12. Support to Attend NeurIPS

Applications for financial assistance and volunteering will be open soon after the conference paper decision notification date. We are aiming for a rapid turnaround, especially on applications from authors of accepted conference papers, to give attendees sufficient time to organize travel. Keep an eye on the conference homepage for further updates this month!

Thanks and looking forward to seeing you at the conference,

Alice Oh & Tristan Naumann

NeurIPS 2023 General Chairs