Call for Participation

The 2026 AAAI Spring Symposium on AI+HADR aims to bring together members of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) communities in order to share information about research and applications that can help facilitate the utilization of AI in disasters and humanitarian crises. The goal of the symposium is to give the AI research community exposure to the practical challenges of aiding those experiencing crises, thereby informing their research.  By the same token, the HADR community can see the state-of-the-art and state-of-practice in artificial intelligence and how they might adopt it for their critical HADR applications. The ultimate success of this symposium is measured by whether it furthers the effective application of AI to HADR. Because of this, the symposium will showcase work with real-world impact and emphasize discussion and the exchange of ideas between attendees. 

Topics

While the symposium will emphasize work with impact, it has a broad scope in terms of topics within both AI and HADR.  Relevant fields of AI include: Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Robotics, Natural Language Processing, Information Theory, Decision Theory, Game Theory, Causal Modeling, Applied Statistics, and related fields of AI.  Similarly, relevant topics in HADR include: logistical planning, resource allocation, search and rescue, emergency decision support, and other HADR application areas 

Submission Format

There are two tracks for submission:

Track #1: HADR+AI Research:
This track seeks papers that highlight new fundamental or applied research contributions to a HADR application using AI. These papers are to be in the AAAI 25 Format and will be limited to six pages of content, with unlimited space for references. Papers may contain appendices to highlight additional results, figures, proofs, and other supplementary materials, but the main body of the work must be self-contained. All paper submissions must include the application context, discussing how your work relates to concerns in humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations. This application context will have a significant influence on acceptance decisions.  Papers that can clearly articulate real-world impact will have a significant advantage over those that do not. 

Track #2: Retrospectives on AI Deployments for HADR:
This track seeks retrospectives on real-world deployments of AI for HADR operations.  While the research track emphasizes research contributions, retrospective submissions should detail AI + HADR efforts that have seen prototypical or production use in the field, including their points of success, modes of failure, best practices, and lessons learned. Submissions must be self-contained and can be submitted in one of the following formats (all in PDF format):

• Abstract of 250-500 words.

• Slide deck with up to 12 slides (and optionally 3 additional supplement slides).

• A standard AAAI format poster (30in wide x 40in high)

Authors are encouraged, but not required, to take a human-centric approach to their submissions, including practitioner partners or end-users as co-authors of their work where possible.

Accepted papers for either track will be chosen by the symposium committee to be included as a poster, an invited talk/seminar, and/or to be included in AAAI Proceedings.

Paper Review Criteria

Paper submissions will be reviewed along the following criteria:

• Clarity in the explanation of the problem setting, including (a) how it relates to the HADR application themes, and (b) why an AI-based approach is suitable and ethical in this domain. For all papers this should be addressed at minimum in the "Application Context" narrative, see above.

• Technical merit, including methodology, experimental results, and evaluation procedure

• Relevance of the AI components to the work to the intended HADR problem setting(s)

• Demonstrated evidence of or potential for cross-disciplinary takeaways (where applicable)

Each submission will be reviewed by at least one member each from the AI and HADR communities to ensure both technical merit and impact are both considered.

Format of Symposium

This symposium will feature keynote speakers from both academic and operational backgrounds within the AI and HADR communities, talks based on the accepted works, a Socratic seminar on the outcomes of accepted retrospectives, and panel discussions that bring together both AI research and HADR operational perspectives. 

Submission Instructions

Submission portals for papers and retrospectives are forthcoming. Please check back for updated information.

All submissions will undergo double-blind review; Thus, please ensure that your submission is anonymized when submitted, including removing names, affiliations, contact information, and ensuring that references to your own previous work are in the third person.