EWAF 2024 : 3rd European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness

EWAF's goal is to foster the dialogue between researchers working on algorithmic fairness in the context of Europe’s legal and societal framework, especially in light of the EU’s attempts to promote ethical AI. It is thus a space for researchers to discuss fairness in machine learning with an interdisciplinary perspective related to Europe.

EWAF welcomes submissions from multiple disciplines including but not limited to computer science, law, philosophy and social sciences. Interdisciplinary submissions are also much appreciated. Our focus is the theme of European specificity in the debate about algorithmic fairness. General areas of interest are:
- Computer Science (e.g., fairness metrics, methods for qualitative evaluations, bias mitigation techniques, data collection, causality)
- Philosophy (e.g., values embedded in distributive and procedural fairness, foundations of ethical AI, critical studies on AI)
- Social sciences (e.g., AI-based social assessment technologies, historical perspectives on discrimination, impact of algorithms on marginalized groups, perceptions of (un)fairness, AI and labor, digital governance, management and fairness)
- Policy and law (e.g., non-discrimination law, data protection law and data governance, impact assessments, accountability measures, sensitive application areas of AI (e.g., the judiciary, government, law enforcement), global regulatory developments)

A non-exhaustive list of themes follows:
- Industry experiences in developing and implementing fairness interventions, developing standards and practical approaches to introducing fairness in digital innovation governance.
- Empirical and theoretical perspectives from social sciences on fairness and discrimination in Europe (e.g., analysis of labor markets, the concept of class or race, discrimination against minorities in different social contexts).
- Case studies based on concrete European instances of algorithmic design and regulation that machine learning scholars have encountered in their own work (e.g., datasets or audits of automated decision-making systems that are used in Europe).
- An analysis of the implications of the European legislative framework for the debate on fairness in machine learning and AI more broadly (e.g., specificities connected to anti-discrimination and data collection legislation and the emerging regulatory frameworks for platforms and AI).
- Principled arguments for certain fairness concepts and measures in specific contexts.
- Implementing fairness in deployed systems, selecting fairness definitions and designing auditing processes.
- Explorations of the relationship and trade-offs between fairness and transparency in practice.
- Fairness and transparency of black-box models.
- Generative AI and fairness, esp. relating to the job market and the data supply chain.

We also welcome submissions lacking a focus on European specificity or tackling other themes related to algorithmic fairness. Submissions in line with the list of themes above will be prioritized, other things being equal.

## Book Series

This year, we are also requesting author interest about participating in the writing of a volume published by Asser Press and Springer. At submission time, we ask authors to express their interest in participating in this effort. Selected articles submitted at EWAF will then become chapters of the book, after extension. Long submissions (see below) and articles that deal with this year's theme will be prioritized.

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We would also like to highlight that we want to build a community, so we want to encourage everyone to participate actively in EWAF. One way to do this is to submit an extended abstract (this can be work that is under review or recently published work). So if you are planning to join us in Mainz in July, we strongly encourage you to also make a submission.
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## Submission format

We have two types of submissions: short and long submissions. Which type you choose will depend on what you’re hoping to get out of the conference. At least one author of each accepted submission is expected to be at EWAF’24 to present their work.

### Long submission

- When to choose this: If you want to get peer reviews for your paper and have the chance to have it published in the workshop proceedings.
- Length: A full paper of 10-15 pages (plus unlimited pages for references). Papers that do not follow the length requirements may be rejected without review.
- Archival submission: Accepted papers shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication of the workshop proceedings.
- Dual submission policy: It is not permissible to submit work that is under review or has been accepted for publication at another venue. It is also not permissible to submit already published work.
- What you get: Formal peer reviews for your paper, a chance to present if accepted and a citable full paper in the conference proceedings.
- Reviewing expectation: We expect authors to be available to review other submissions in their area (light load).


### Short submission

- When to choose this: If you want to present new results at an early stage or if you want to get feedback from the interdisciplinary audience at the workshop about papers that are already published or under review.
- Length: An extended abstract of up to 4 pages, plus unlimited pages for references.
- Non-archival submission: The extended abstracts shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication in the workshop proceedings.
- Dual submission policy: It is permissible to submit work that is under review or has been accepted for publication at another venue, provided that this is in line with their submission policy. It is also permissible to submit already published work. In this case, the double-blind requirement is dropped and you may insert your name(s) and affiliation(s), including references to the full paper.
- What you get: Succint peer reviews for your paper, a chance to present and get informal feedback if accepted.
- Reviewing expectation: We expect authors to be available to review other submissions in their area (light load).

## Tracks

Like EWAF’22 and EWAF’23, EWAF’24 will have two tracks: the in-depth track and the lightning round track. The in-depth track is intended for longer presentations while the lightning round will consist of shorter presentations. The goal of the lightning round is to get a sense of the work happening in our community and build new connections within the community based on that.


Both short and long submissions will be considered for both the in-depth track and the lightning round track on the basis of fulfilling the overall goals of the conference. In this respect, the quality of the paper is certainly a factor, but selection for the in-depth track results from a plurality of considerations, including achieving a balance between the representation of different views and different disciplinary perspectives.


## Template

Proceedings shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication. Please use EWAF’s version of the CEUR-WS.org template for both long and short submissions. The zip file with the templates contains both a Word and LaTeX template; you can choose either one. Alternatively, you can also use EWAF's Overleaf template - just create a copy of the project by clicking on 'copy project' in the menu when you're logged in and start editing it. Whatever template you choose, please make sure to use the 1-column format. For the initial submission, you only need the PDF formatted according to the template.


## Anonymization

Our peer review process is mutually anonymous, meaning the reviewers do not know the names of the authors and the authors will not know the names of the reviewers. Therefore, we ask you to make sure to anonymize your submission. Non-anonymized papers may be rejected without review. This means the submitted PDF should not contain the authors’ names. References to your own papers should be cited in a way that does not reveal or imply that they were written by you.


##Reviewing process

We are looking for papers of high quality that have the potential to impact the discourse on algorithmic fairness, both within Europe and globally. Moreover, we are particularly excited by papers that discuss questions of European specificity. These are thus the criteria papers will be judged on.


We will have reviewers from different fields that bring the expertise to evaluate the work from all the fields we solicit work from.


## Contact

For questions, contact [email protected].