SIGKDD News

SIGKDD is announcing a funding opportunity through its newly established KDD Impact Program. The SIGKDD community has expanded its reach dramatically over the past few years and the KDD conference has grown into a major event. SIGKDD would like to direct its success towards a broader positive societal impact.

The goal of the program is to support projects that promote data science, increase its impact on society, and help the data science community. Project duration is one year with the possibility of being extended. Funded projects will be required to present mid-project results of their work and outcomes at the KDD 2018 conference in London in August 2018.

The total amount of funding provided by the KDD Impact Program this year is $250k with a proposed range of $10k-$100k available for each project. Funding will be given as unrestricted gifts (which usually means that minimal institutional overheads will be applied).

Selection Criteria

The KDD Impact Program is looking to fund projects that have the potential for maximum impact on the society and expand outreach of data science thereby strengthening the community. Sample topics include but are not limited to:

• Enhance data science community engagement;
• Expand outreach of data science;
• Increase diversity and participation in data science;
• Increase societal impact of data science;
• Influence public policy through data science.

The KDD Impact Program is NOT a research program. It focuses on projects that benefit the community and the society. Pure research projects will not be funded. The call is open to every country, participant must be affiliated to an institution with reputable standing. Funds are to be used for not-for-profit activities, and this program will not fund activities for which alternative funding is readily available.

Submission Guidelines

Project proposals are limited to 4 pages, single-spaced, using 12-point font and 1-inch margins, inclusive of illustrations and references. Pages beyond the page limit will not be read. Each proposal should include:

• An overview of the proposed project emphasizing its impact on the society, the data science community and any unique aspects;
• A description of concrete project plan and the expected outcomes;
• A brief description of the PI and key personnel and institutions (who is involved) and their responsibilities;
• A description of project tracking metrics (how would you measure progress)
• The plan for continuation post the grant-period if relevant
• A brief justification of the need for the KDD support (what you will be able to do and why you are not able to do otherwise);
• An estimated budget broken down by major areas, such as personnel, travel, equipment, consumable supplies, etc.
• A list/description of dependencies (e.g., availability of data, infrastructure, support, etc.)
• Proposals can also include letters of support from other individuals or organizations. These letters will not be counted under the 4 page limit.

Selection Committee

• Jure Leskovec
• Rayid Ghani
• Jingrui He
• Jian Pei
• Claudia Perlich
• Mohammed Zaki

Submission website

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=kddig18

Timeline and Funding Summary

• Submission deadline: December 1, 2017
• Announcement of awards: January 8, 2018
• Project update presentations: August 21-23, 2018, KDD 2018, London

Project duration: 1 year

Total amount of funding: $250k

Per project funding: $10-$100k