HCI + Health Conference: Progress Update
This post presents an overview of the HCI + Health conference, also potentially an upcoming SIGCHI-sponsored conference. Please reach out (see below how) if you are interested in getting involved or learning more.
We are thrilled to announce that planning for a HCI+Health conference is well underway. This dedicated forum will aim to bring together experts from diverse backgrounds to foster advancements in health, wellbeing, and interactive health systems.
The planning stemmed from conversations at the WISH 2023 Symposium, which brought together over 100 HCI and Health researchers for a full day of conversation and presentation during the CHI 2023 conference. Since then, an ad-hoc working group has convened to discuss format and organizational structure. Following an initial proposal to the SIGCHI Executive Committee in February 2024, which was received positively, with some questions about the potential community who would be interested in such a conference. We then launched a community survey in March 2024 (with over 500 responses!) to better understand community interest and thoughts on potential conference structures.
Aims for the proposed conference:
- Share and Explore: A venue to present your latest findings, methodologies, and strategies for developing interactive health and wellbeing systems.
- Advance Research: To engage with leading researchers and shape research agendas critical to healthcare HCI.
- Disseminate Research: To publish your work in a PubMed-indexed journal, ensuring wider visibility within the healthcare community.
- Global Community: To participate in a truly international forum, with conferences planned to alternate between global north and south locations.
Why Partner with SIGCHI?
The SIGCHI community already plays a vital role in advancing HCI research related to health and wellbeing. The Health subcommittee at CHI 2024 alone received over 300 submissions, highlighting the growing interest in this area. Many SIGCHI-sponsored and in-collaboration conferences publish health work, such as CSCW, DIS, UbiComp, and MobileHCI. However, health is a minority focus of these communities, and having a dedicated community will enable richer conversations.
The HCI+Health conference aims to build upon this momentum:
- Focal Point for Health Technology Research: Provide a dedicated space for researchers focused on healthcare technologies within SIGCHI.
- Expanding the HCI and Health Community: Offer an accessible platform for researchers from outside traditional HCI disciplines, such as medical and healthcare, who are increasingly interested in HCI topics.
- Deeper Engagement with ACM: Foster stronger ties between SIGCHI and the broader ACM community by potentially publishing accepted papers in special issues of relevant journals.
What’s next?
Based on an overwhelming response from our recent survey, we’re actively shaping the conference format, timing, and program to best serve the needs of the HCI+Health community.
Here’s a sneak peek at what’s next, and how to keep in touch:
- Town Halls: We recently ran two town halls, with nearly 100 community members in attendance and sharing their thoughts. See hcihealth.org for a bit more information about the events, and the slides from the town hall are available here. We will update the website with some more takeaways from the townhall, as well as some takeaways from the community survey.
- Kickoff Event: Mark your calendars! We plan to hold a kickoff event at CHI 2025, fostering community connections.
- Sign up for our mailing list: for further updates, send an email to listserv@listserv.acm.org with body: subscribe sigchi-health <Your Full Name>
- We need volunteers! In order for such an effort to be successful, we need volunteers to organize aspects of the conference and review the work that comes in. Please consider signing up for volunteer roles here.
On behalf of the HCI+Health Working group.
