Call for PhD Symposium – The Web Conference 2026

The PhD Symposium at The Web Conference 2026 in Dubai, UAE, invites PhD students to submit their ongoing research on topics relevant to the conference. The symposium provides a unique opportunity for doctoral students to present their work to a panel of experts and peers, and to receive feedback and guidance. We encourage submissions from students at all stages of their PhD studies.

The symposium is particularly interested in research that addresses:

• The evolution of the Web and its societal impact
• Innovations in Web-based technologies and applications
• The use of AI and machine learning on the Web
• Agentic AI and its Web Applications
• The Web of Things (WoT) and its future development
• Security, privacy, and trust in the digital world

Important Dates

• Submission: January 5, 2026
• Notification: February 3, 2026
• Camera-Ready: February 11, 2026
• PhD Symposium Date: April 14, 2026

All submission deadlines are end-of-day in the Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time zone.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be a single PDF file of 4 pages, including references, and must adhere to the ACM template. Papers must be in English and submitted through the WWW2026 EasyChair instance (select the PhD Symposium track). All submissions must be single-author, non-anonymous, and focus on the student's doctoral research. The name of the supervisor must be included.

Templates. Please use the official ACM Proceedings Template (LaTeX/Word). An Overleaf version is available here: ACM templates on Overleaf.

The paper should include the following sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction/Motivation
• Problem Statement
• State of the Art
• Proposed Approach
• Methodology
• Preliminary Results
• Conclusions and Future Work

Event Format

The PhD Symposium will be a full-day event held during the main conference week. Accepted students will present their work in a dedicated session, followed by a Q&A session with a panel of mentors. The symposium will also include opportunities for networking and one-on-one discussions with senior researchers and industry professionals.

Each accepted paper requires a distinct conference registration, which must be paid by the camera-ready deadline. All presenters are expected to attend the conference in person.

PhD Symposium Chairs

Salem Lahlou, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, UAE
Fabrizio Silvestri, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Contact: phdsymposium-www2026@acm.org