CogSci Affinity & Discussion Groups

The Cognitive Science Society considers an affinity group to be one that cultivates cohort and community building in cognitive science. Previous affinity groups at CogSci conferences included amongst others Women in Cognitive Science, SPARK, Queer in AI, and CogSci in Primarily Undergraduate Institutions. We welcome all proposals for affinity groups, including those not represented earlier.

CogSci 2025 also welcomes discussion groups. A discussion group is primarily organized around a technical issue in cognitive science. Previous successful discussion groups have included How to Apply for Grants, Neural Network Models of Cognition, and International Cognitive Science Group,  for example.

Submitting a proposal:

Proposals may be for an organized program of content and/or for a virtual space for free-form meeting and discussion. The Society will recognize each affinity group whose proposal is accepted, provide a time on the conference program, and work with the group to facilitate outreach.

Proposals should provide a group name, a list of individuals involved in the proposal, a designated point-of-contact, and a draft description of the group’s intended composition along with any planned activities. If there are any preferences regarding dates and times on the conference program, we will do our best to accommodate. .

The Cognitive Science Society intends to function as a pro-actively anti-racist scholarly society and reserves the right to reject proposals inconsistent with these principles. All conference participants are expected to adhere to the Society’s Code of Conduct.

Implementation

Evaluation Criteria