Workshop Proposals

General Information

The Workshops Chairs of GECCO 2025 invite domain experts to submit proposals for organizing a workshop at GECCO 2025. The deadline is:

• Proposals for workshops: November 17, 2025 (Anywhere on Earth)
• Acceptance Decision: December 19, 2025 (Anywhere on Earth)

If you submitted a proposal you can view it via the My Info page.

Workshops at GECCO provide the possibility to commonly develop visions and exchange ideas in an informal setting, especially if focused on an emerging research field or interdisciplinary research area. In contrast to regular sessions, workshops can (and should) host interactive sessions (discussions, demonstrations, etc.). Attendance at the workshops will be free to all GECCO attendees.

Workshop organizers are responsible for coordination and publicity. If paper submissions are invited for the workshop (this is not a requirement!), workshop organizers take care of the review process, under the supervision of the GECCO 2025 workshop chairs. If applicable, workshop organizers also provide a list of additional (invited) speakers and titles of talks to be given.

Note that organizers, participants and presenters must register for the conference. We strongly encourage workshops in hybrid mode rather than online only.
If possible, at least one organizer of each workshop should attend the conference in person.

Accepted workshop papers will be published as part of a Companion volume to the conference proceedings in the ACM Digital library.

Workshop Proposal Submission

Workshop Proposals are submitted using the form in the GECCO 2026 web page accessed using the button below. If you are not logged in, instructions on how to login and how to create an account can be found below instead.

Submitters should be prepared to provide the following information:

1. The workshop Title and Acronym(or short title). Please refrain from using special characters in the title.
2. Submission Type. Workshop organizers must choose one of the following options for the types of submissions Organizers must decide and be aware of the implications for authors that participate in their workshop; options are:
   1. Full papers (8 pages + references) - Must cover the ACM Open APC (see below for more information)
   2. Extended Abstracts (4 pages) - Are not eligible for APC, no fee paid by the authors. An Extended Abstract provides a summary of a work-in-progress, typically just enough for readers to understand the idea, scope, and potential impact. Often lacks full methodology, detailed results, or extensive references.
   3. Both types of submissions. Workshop organizers may decide to allow for both types of submissions.
3. A description of scope and content, and whether the workshop is in hybrid mode or online only. Those fields will be displayed on the website as the default description for the workshop if it is accepted.
4. The name, affiliation, email and short bio of the organizer(s). The first organizer will be the default contact person, but more organizers can be designated as contact person.
5. (Optional) A URL with more info about the workshop.
6. The expected number of participants to the workshop.
7. Whether the organizers plan to invite speakers to the workshop.
8. (Optional but highly encouraged) A description of any interactive activity or demo planned within the workshop.
9. The estimated duration (1 to max 4 sessions) and type of sessions, e.g. the expected presentation formats (invited, submitted), interactive elements, etc. One session lasts 110 minutes. A typical workshop takes at most two sessions.
10. (Optional) If this workshop (or a similar event coordinated by the same organizers or a subset of them) has taken place in previous years, either at GECCO or at other events, please include URLs to the event pages.
11. (Optional) Any other relevant information to help evaluate the workshop proposal.

Please log in to submit a proposal

Reviewing of Proposals

Workshop proposals will be reviewed by the Workshop Chairs, General Chair and EiC, and other members of the GECCO 2026 organizing committee, based on GECCO attendees' likely interest, the breadth and the depth of the topic(s), the number of total submissions, and the expertise and credentials of the organizer(s).

ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 1,800 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 70-75%).

Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial or discretionary waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open and review the APC Waivers and Discounts Policy. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. As a consequence of the subsidy, the APC amount for GECCO 2026 is as follows:

• $250 APC for ACM/SIG members
• $350 for non-members

This represents a 65% discount, funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period. This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all ACM conferences scheduled for 2026.

Additionally, SIGEVO will provide an additional subsidy of $125 to papers accepted to GECCO 2026 (and only for 2026) that are subject to APCs. This will make the final amounts to be paid:

• $125 (USD) for SIGEVO members and non-members
• $225 (USD) for non-members

It is IMPORTANT to mention that both forms of subsidy (by ACM and by SIGVO) only apply to GECCO 2026. Moreover, it is still to be determined how the SIGEVO subsidy will be implemented, either directly to the APC or in other forms.

Finally, we note that APC charges apply to accepted Full Papers, but Abstracts (1-2 pages), Extended Abstracts (1-4 pages) and Tutorials ARE NOT APC Eligible; i.e., an APC will not have to be paid for these types of contributions.

More Information and Contact

For questions regarding the workshops at GECCO 2025, please contact the Workshops Chairs:

José Ignacio Hidalgo Pérez
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Email: hidalgo (at) ucm.es

Lee Spector
Amherst College, USA
Email: lspector (at) amherst.edu

If you encounter issues or have questions about the Workshop Proposal submission process on the GECCO website, please contact the Electronic Media Co-Chairs

Hirad Assimi
University of Adelaide, Australia
Email: hirad.assimi (at) adelaide.edu.au

Marcella Scoczynski Ribeiro Martins
Federal University of Technology - Parana UTFPR, Brazil
Email: marcella (at) utfpr.edu.br