Technical and Social Programs

STAIRS was a stand-alone conference but was affiliated with the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI-2002), which took place at the same venue. It was the first international congress, with edited and published proceedings, specifically aimed at Ph.D students and recent Ph.D holders in all areas of AI. It offered them, on the one hand, a first experience in submitting and presenting a paper in an international forum with a broad scope and thorough selection process and, on the other hand, the opportunity to exchange ideas related not only to their research problems and approaches but also to their future scientific career. The format of the conference included paper presentations in thematic sessions, a poster session, two invited talks, and a panel session. The program was set up by an international program committee consisting of confirmed junior researchers, covering all domains of AI, and the organization committee, also made up of young scientists, took care of the logistics and social aspects, in close collaboration with the ECAI Organization Committee.