Call for Participation in the ICAPS 2026 Shadow Program Committee

[Daniel Gnad]

A new initiative being introduced for the 2026 International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS-26) is the Shadow Program Committee (Shadow PC). The Shadow PC is a training-oriented committee that mirrors the work of the main Program Committee. Its goal is to help students and junior researchers gain first-hand experience with the peer-review and decision-making process for a top academic conference like ICAPS.

Shadow PC members will receive teaching materials regarding the practice of reviewing, review 1-2 papers submitted to ICAPS-26, participate in online discussions about papers, produce an acceptance recommendation, and receive feedback and mentorship on reviewing quality from senior researchers. A full call for participation can be found at https://icaps26.icaps-conference.org/calls/shadow_pc/ . We note that decisions made by the Shadow PC are for training purposes only, and will have no impact on the decisions made for acceptance at the main conference.

The organizers of the Shadow PC now invite applications from motivated students and early-career researchers who wish to be on the Shadow PC. The application form can be found at https://forms.office.com/r/9vggMgzYrC . Please submit your application for the Shadow PC no later than December 31st. The application requires you to submit your name, email, affiliation, a brief description of what stage of your career you are at, and a brief description of your research area and relevant reviewing/publishing experience.

For more information please contact the Shadow PC Chairs.

Important Dates

- Shadow PC application deadline: December 31, 2025

- Paper bidding deadline: January 6, 2026

- Review assignments released: January 9, 2026

- Paper review deadline: early February 2026

- Paper discussions, decisions, and review feedback: early to mid February

Shadow PC Chairs

Patrik Haslum, Australian National University

Gabriele Röger, University of Basel

Rick Valenzano, Toronto Metropolitan University