Call for Birds-of-a-Feather and Affinity Group Events

Applicants should fill out the BoF/Affinity Group Meetings application form before May 25, 2025 11:59pm (AoE). Please read the information carefully to help you fill in the form.

Introduction

Following the success of similar initiatives in several *ACL conferences, ACL 2025 is excited to invite applications for the organization of Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions and Affinity Group meetings. The goal of BoF sessions/Affinity Group meetings is to foster additional networking opportunities among ACL 2025 participants.

An affinity group is a collective of researchers formed around a shared interest or common goal. In our community, affinity groups promote and support the ideas and voices of underrepresented groups, and raise awareness of issues that affect their members. Previously, affinity groups like Queer in AI, Black in AI, Masakhane, LatinX in AI, and North Africans in NLP have organized socials and workshops in *CL conferences.

A BoF is an informal discussion group to explore a specific topic of interest, including but not limited to research areas, career development, etc.

Please apply for BoF session/Affinity Group meeting organization before May 25, 2025 11:59pm (AoE).

Expressions of Interest

The application includes the following information:

  • Name of your BoF/Affinity Group
  • Brief description of the session or meeting (we may post this in the conference handbook and/or conference app to gather participants’ interests.)
  • Expected number of participants
  • In-person or hybrid format
  • Preferred day and time

Arrangement

We will try our best to arrange resources (room(s) and timeslot(s)) for your application. However, due to space limitations, we may have to merge your application with another application of similar topic. If that happens, we will put you in contact with the other applicant(s) so that you can work together to organize the merged session.

Most events will be scheduled in 90-minute time slots during oral/poster sessions on the main conference days (July 28-30, 2025). If applying for a longer event (e.g., all-day, non-archival affinity group workshops), please note that space is limited and not guaranteed. If you’re interested in planning a longer event, please submit your application as soon as possible to provide ample time for coordination.

Application and Notification Deadlines

All deadlines are 11:59 pm UTC -12h (“Anywhere on Earth”, AoE).

Application Deadline: May 25, 2025, 11:59pm (AoE)

Notification Deadline: June 3, 2025, 11:59pm (AoE)

Notification of acceptance

Applicants will be notified on (or before) June 3, 2025, 11:59pm (AoE), which is with time enough to complete early registration for the conference. We aim to send all the notifications by the deadline above. Please be patient and wait for our email as we will notify you as soon as we can, and no matter what the response is.

Contact

ACL 2025 Diversity and Inclusion team: acl2025diversity@googlegroups.com

  • Hwaran Lee, NAVER
  • Senja Pollak, Jožef Stefan Institute
  • Maria Ryskina, MIT
  • Shane Storks, University of Michigan