News
Call for Contributions: 2015 E-voting PhD Seminar in Tallinn
In connection with the elections to the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, on 1 March 2015, Tallinn University of Technology, Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance will in cooperation with CASED, TU Darmstadt and E-Voting.CC host a 3.5 day PhD seminar.
The seminar focus will be to exchange and discuss current research of PhD students, in particular governance, organisation and technical set-up of both polling station and Internet-based e-voting. In addition participants have the opportunity to also take part in the election visitor programme organised by the Estonian Central Election Committee which will constitute a unique opportunity to gain real insight in the practicalities of a traditional and electronic election.
This seminar continues the tradition of workshops on e-voting. Since 2006 the PhD seminars have focused on various aspects of e-voting including technical aspects, identity management, verifiability of the vote etc. The seminars have been hosted by organisations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The overall goal of the EVOTE PhD seminar series is to foster understanding and collaboration between PhD students from various disciplines working on e-voting. To this end, the program allows plenty of space for discussion and initiating collaboration based on presentations by attendees.
What makes this seminar series special, is that it is truly interdisciplinary, where PhD students from legal backgrounds are joined by PhD students with computer science and cryptography backgrounds and by social scientists. In addition the organisation of this event close to the Estonian national elections gives it a perfect setting to discuss various practical aspects of implementing Internet voting.
Programme
The programme starts on Thursday 26 February at 16:00 (local time) and will finish on Sunday 1 March when the final tally of the Estonian National Elections is finalised and announced. The seminar will consist of four parts:
• Thursday 26 February: Welcome and introduction to the seminar.
• Friday 27 February: PhD seminar
• Saturday 28 February: Election seminar hosted by the Estonian Central Election Commission (www.vvk.ee)
• Sunday 1 March: Observation of the election process, vote count and the vote counting ceremony hosted by the Estonian Central Election Commission.
Target audience
- PhD students in the field of e-voting (computer scientists, mathematicians, logicians, legal experts, public administration, political science, social scientists, cryptographers, anthropologists etc.);
- PhD students in related areas, where privacy, authentication, integrity and trust play a role, and for whom e-voting constitutes and interesting application domain;
- Master students in e-voting and related areas are welcome to participate. Proposals for presentations will be considered if possible.
Academics and professionals with an interest in the topic of e-voting and who are willing to assist the participating PhD students with their research are welcome to join the seminar.
Contribution
To participate you must submit a research proposal or paper (or alternatively ideas for papers, open problems, or other issues where feedback from colleagues would be helpful etc.) of minimum two pages length (approx. 1000 words) using the conference platform provided at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=tllevotingphd2015. The colloquium chairs will facilitate feedback which will be available ahead of the event in order to improve the submission before presentation.
Venue
The conference will be held at various venues in Tallinn (EE).
The colloquium will begin at 16:00 on Thursday 26 February and last till the end of the vote count and voting observation for the Estonian National Elections on Sunday 1 March 2015. It is recommended that participants only depart Tallinn on Monday 2 March 2015 to ensure full participation.
Key dates
- 23 January 2015 (at 23:59 Central European Time): Deadline for submitting research proposals and papers
- 2 February 2015: Notification of acceptance
- 6 February 2015: Deadline for final registration and payment of fee. NB: All participants MUST submit a copy of the information page of their valid passport for registration with the Estonian Central Election Committee. Passport must be valid for the day of elections i.e. Sunday 1 March 2015.
Costs
The participation is € 150.00. The fee includes lunch and drinks during the colloquium as well as social events specified in the programme.
PhD seminar organisers
- Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, Tallinn University of Technology (EE)
- Angelica Rincón, Tallinn University of Technology (EE)
PhD Seminar Series Steering Committee
- Robert Krimmer, Tallinn University of Technology (EE)
- Melanie Volkamer, Technical University of Darmstadt (DE)
Jointly organized by
- Tallinn University of Technology, Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance
- Technische Universität Darmstadt, CASED
- Gesellschaft für Informatik German Informatics Society, SIG SEC/ECOM
- E-Voting.CC GmbH Competence Center for Electronic Voting and Participation
For information and general enquiries
- Angelica Rincón, Tallinn University of Technology (EE), angelica.rinconme@gmail.com
- Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, Tallinn University of Technology (EE), morten.meyerhoff@gmail.com
