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Call for Papers

The Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Futures (AI4CHIEF)
April 16-17, 2026, Paris, France
https://ai4chief.roc.cnam.fr/  

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Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence have opened unprecedented opportunities for cultural heritage research, enabling scholars, scientists, and communities to study the past, document the present, and envision the future of human societies. Within this broader context, Indigenous cultures worldwide face urgent and intersecting challenges to the continuity of their heritage and the realization of self-determined futures. 
From large-scale digitization of manuscripts and artifacts to the computational analysis of language and oral traditions, AI tools are transforming how we preserve and interpret cultural data. However, access to these powerful AI tools and technologies remain a significant challenge for indigenous communities, who are often marginalized.

AI4CHIEF aims to advance rigorous and reproducible methods, open standards, and community-aligned protocols for documenting, analyzing, and preserving languages, and cultural practices.

** TOPICS **
Scholars are invited to submit original work to one of the thematic tracks listed below:
• AI for Cultural Heritage
• AI for Language Preservation
• AI for Language Revitalization
• AI for Ethical Frameworks and Data Governance
• AI for Community Empowerment and Sovereignty
• AI for Environmental and Climate Challenges of indigenous communities

The symposium encourages interdisciplinary work that bridges artificial intelligence with the humanities, social sciences, and Indigenous studies.

** DOCTORAL SESSION **
Ph.D students are invited to submit a work-in-progress poster or a two-page abstract for the dedicated doctoral session.


** GUIDELINES **
Papers must be prepared using Springer’s LNCS format and submitted in PDF. Authors should consult Springer’s authors’ guidelines and use their proceedings templates, either for LaTeX or for Word, for the preparation of their papers.


** ABSTRACT in native languages ** 
While the main symposium uses English for the communication and the publication with Springer Editor, researchers are encouraged to send additionally an abstract of their work written in indigenous language that will be made available on the symposium website. It is a way to encourage scholars producing research works in their mother tongue and to preserve human culture and heritage.


** SUBMISSIONS **
Submission deadline: January 15, 2026.  
Submissions are to be made via the official submission system: https://edas.info/N34456


** SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS **
The symposium proceedings will be published in Springer Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems (LNCS).
This series is indexed by SCOPUS, EI Compendex, INSPEC, WTI Frankfurt eG, zbMATH, and SCImago.


** ETHICS and PLAGIARISM **
The symposium adheres to the standards, regarding research integrity, plagiarism, and redundant publication and the responsible, transparent use of AI tools under restricted conditions. Submissions that fail to respect these guidelines, or that use AI tools in ways that compromise originality, integrity, or transparency, may be rejected.


** SPECIAL ISSUES **
Selected presented papers will be invited for submission to the Digital Transformation and Society journal (Citation metric: 4.9 CiteScore) (https://www.emerald.com/dts)


** IMPORTANT DATES **
Paper submission deadline:    January 15, 2026 (11:59 p.m. American Samoa time)
Notification to authors  :    Feb. 28, 2026
uthors registration deadline: March 10, 2026
Camera-ready deadline  :      March 15, 2026


** SYMPOSOUM CHAIRS **
General Chairs
Youakim Badr, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Samia Saad-Bouzefrane, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, France

Track Chairs
* AI for Cultural Heritage
   Mark Altaweel, University College London, UK

* AI for Language Preservation
   Luis Chiruzzo,  Universidad de la República, Uruguay

* AI for Language Revitalization
   Moussa Diallo, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal

* AI for Ethical Frameworks and Data Governance
   Roman Altshuler, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

* AI for Community Empowerment and Sovereignty
   Kahente Horn-Miller, Carleton University, Canada

* AI for Environmental and Climate Challenges of Indigenous Communities
   Alexandra Okada, The Open University / UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab, UK

* Doctoral Session: AI for Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Futures
   Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
   Wallace Peaslee, University of Cambridge, UK