EVENT REPORT

Report on the SIGIR 2023 Session
on Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity
Suzan Verberne

Hussein Suleman

Luca Soldaini

Leiden UniversityNetherlands

University of Cape Town
South Africa

Allen Institute for AI
USAs.verberne@liacs.leidenuniv.nl

hussein@cs.uct.ac.za

lucas@allenai.org

Avijit Ghosh
AdeptID and Northeastern UniversityUSA
ghosh.a@northeastern.edu

Abstract
For SIGIR 2023, DEI was approached from 3 perspectives: engagement with organizers on
DEI aspects; DEI grants; and a DEI session at the conference. The DEI session took place on
July 25 in Taipei, Taiwan and was attended by around 100 participants, mostly in-person.
This year’s session form was a round-table discussion in groups. This document provides
a summary of the topics discussed and recommendations made; and reflects on conference
organization and grant activities.
Date: 25 July 2023.
Website: https://sigir.org/sigir2023/.

1

DEI Session

The session was opened by Suzan with a short introduction about DEI activities in the SIGIR
community: the DEI checklist for conferences and other events (2020)1 , recommendations for more
inclusive conference presentations (2021)2 , and DEI grants for people from low-income countries
or with care responsibilities.
This was followed by a discussion in breakout groups (around 15 tables). The groups wereasked to discuss the following topics: (1) Is diversity, equity and inclusivity important in yourinstitution/company/country/region? (2) In your opinion, are SIGIR conferences diverse andinclusive? (3) What can SIGIR do to make everyone feel like they belong to the community? One
person at each table took notes. One group had the discussion on-line at a timeslot that wassuitable for the Americas and Europe. This session was led by Luca and Avijit.
1
2

http://sigir.org/conferences/diversity-and-inclusion/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TCY2F-C60CXMfTrXo7ldDx2NqLw476b/view?usp=sharing

ACM SIGIR Forum

1Vol. 57 No. 2 – December 2023

Chairs of 11 tables sent us a written report of the discussion in their group. We summarized
the most frequently mentioned topics and recommendations as follows.3
 Visa issues and accessibility: Participants suggested providing more support for navigating visa-related issues, earlier notification dates (or starting visa applications before thenotification) to enable this, and choosing conference locations with accessibility in mind.
 Financial support and travel grants: The need for increased financial support and travel
grants was emphasized, not only for attendees from low-income countries, but also for students who have a paper in the conference but limited funding to travel.
 Language and linguistic diversity for inclusivity: Ideas included translation services, closedcaptioning, multilingual support for presentations, and the use of bilingual session chairs.
 New DEI initiatives: The importance of DEI initiatives was acknowledged. Suggestions for
new activities included mentorship and networking opportunities.

Additional issues (Discussed at fewer tables): Representation in leadership and faculty: The low diversity in higher-level academic positions
and conference participation was noted, impacting the overall inclusivity of the community.
 Hybrid conferences: While hybrid models were seen as more inclusive, concerns were raised
about reduced interaction compared to in-person events.
 Inclusive program tracks: Participants suggested diversifying the conference program tocover topics such as non-English and low-resource IR, socio-technical implications of IRsystems, and applications relevant to marginalized communities.
 Different cultural norms: Cultural differences affecting participation and engagement werenoted, particularly for Asian students. Smaller discussion settings were suggested to easeparticipation. The SIGIR Virtual Forum might also facilitate this.
 Cost of registration: Concerns were raised about high conference registration fees, particularly for students and attendees from economically disadvantaged regions.

Additionally, in the online DEI session, Shiri Dori-Hacohen introduced the Disabled in Computing4 initiative, pointing attention to the presence of invisible disabilities.

2Reflections and Conclusions

As SIGIR DEI chairs, Hussein and Suzan will discuss the most important outcomes of the discussion session and conference organization with the SIGIR executive committee. This includes
feedback about DEI issues at the conference itself, in particular the lack of inclusivity in foodand drinks (sufficient non-alcoholic drinks, non-pork meals, and vegetarian food). One of themain issues for the coming years is the degree to which on-line participation will be possible inworldwide conferences, and how hybrid conferences can be realized successfully. Finally, while
SIGIR has actively supported DEI grants, this has had limited impact, but it has become clearthat there are dire funding needs of many participants, especially students.
3

We used ChatGPT to propose an aggregation of the main points from the written reports, then rewrote it inour own words, checking the faithfulness of each point.
4
https://twitter.com/DisabledInCS

ACM SIGIR Forum

2Vol. 57 No. 2 – December 2023