Nominations are invited for the 2008 Artificial Intelligence Dissertation Award sponsored by ECCAI, the European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence.

This Award includes a certificate signed by the ECCAI Chair and 1.500 Euros (which includes the travel grant for the Award ceremony). Nominations are due to Toby.Walsh@nicta.com.au by January 31st 2009.

Eligible doctoral dissertations are those defended after December 1, 2007 in the general area of Artificial Intelligence. The dissertation must have been defended at an European university and the author must be a personal member of an ECCAI member society.  Multiple submissions of the same doctoral dissertation to other dissertation award activities of other societies are excluded.

To be considered, a dissertation must be nominated by the thesis supervisor, who must submit the following items:

• a link to the final version of the thesis (preferred) or 5 hard copies,
• a link to an extended abstract of 3 to 5 pages (preferred) or 5 hard copies in English,
• if the thesis was not written in English the nomination must include an English paper describing the core ideas of the thesis that has been submitted for publication in an international journal or a prestigious conference. The nominee must be the first author of this paper.
• nomination letters from two referees selected by the dissertation supervisor, supporting the submission and stating their assessment of why the thesis should win the award.

The selection of the most meritorious research PhD thesis is based on the originality, impact, and written quality of the work. Work that has been submitted to and/or accepted at workshops, conferences, or journals will be considered more favourably. Work that is primarily attributed to the student's own initiative will be considered more favourably.

Finally, the quality of the written document in terms of its organization, polish, and use of language will be considered.

Submissions will be judged by the Peer Reviewing Procedure, coordinated by a representative of the ECCAI Board, on the basis of the following criteria:

• Relevance to Artificial Intelligence
• Breakthrough idea
• Meticulous, well-written work
• Entrepreneurial student
• Relevance and transferability to other countries
• Scientific soundness
• Innovation (new knowledge)

The deadline for receipt of submissions is January 31, 2009.

The Award will be presented during ACAI 2009 in Belfast, Northern Ireland (August 23-29, 2009).

Winners of Dissertation Awards:

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• 1999
• 1998