Let's start with a little history lesson. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, but it was only in recent years that it has truly exploded onto the scene. From Siri to Alexa to ChatGPT, AI has become ubiquitous in our daily lives. But beyond making our lives easier, AI is also being used to tackle some of the world's most pressing problems and drive social impact. Alongside critical sectors like education, healthcare, and finance, AI is being used to solve problems in fields as diverse as agriculture, energy, and even the criminal justice system.

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.

Harper Lee published her Pulitzer Prize winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960. A couple of years later, Gregory Peck won an Academy for Best Actor in his role as Atticus in the movie adaptation. What many do not realize is Lee was given a grant by friends to take off work for a year and concentrate on writing the book. Her story has fired the imagination of many who would like all of us to find similar friends and get a similar grant. Imagine what wonderful things we could produce.