The 16th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference will be held from March 31st to April 3rd, 2025 in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Young African Researcher Travel Awards

The ACM Multimedia Systems Conference 2025 is pleased to announce travel awards specifically designed to support young African researchers in attending the conference and its co-located workshops in Stellenbosch, South Africa. These awards aim to foster diversity, promote knowledge exchange, and strengthen the multimedia systems research community across Africa.

Award Details

  • Award Amount: Up to 1,500 USD per recipient
  • Coverage: International/domestic travel expenses and accommodation
  • Number of Awards: Multiple awards available

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must meet ALL of the following criteria:
  1. Be actively engaged in multimedia systems research or related fields
  2. Be affiliated with an African institution
  3. Meet ONE of the following conditions:
    • Be currently enrolled as a PhD student at an African institute of higher learning
    • Be a researcher or faculty member who completed their PhD within the last 5 years
While SIGMM membership is not mandatory for applying, successful awardees must become SIGMM members prior to receiving their reimbursement.

Application Process

Required Documents
  1. Completed Application Form
  2. Current CV (maximum 2 pages)
  3. Research Statement (maximum 2 pages) describing:
    • Your current research focus and achievements
    • Relevance of your work to the MMSys community
    • How attending MMSys 2025 will benefit your research
  4. Letter of Recommendation from your supervisor or department head
  5. Proof of Student Status or PhD completion date
Submission Details
  • Deadline: February 21st, 2025, 23:59:00 UTC
  • Submission Method: All documents must be submitted through the online application form combined into one PDF file.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on:
  1. Research Profile: including quality and impact of current research, publications and academic achievements, and future research potential
  2. Relevance to MMSys: including alignment with conference themes, potential for meaningful contribution to the community, and opportunities for collaboration
  3. Need-based Factors: including travel distance and associated costs, access to alternative funding sources, and geographic representation

Award Reimbursement Process

  1. Pre-Conference:
    • Selected candidates will receive an official award letter
    • Winners must confirm acceptance within one week
    • Winners must register for the conference
  2. During Conference:
    • Mandatory attendance at conference
    • Collection of all necessary receipts and documentation
  3. Post-Conference Reimbursement:
    • Submit all original receipts and boarding passes
    • Complete the ACM reimbursement form
    • Submit a brief report about your conference experience

Important Dates

  • Application Deadline: February 21st, 2025
  • Notification of Results: March 1st, 2025
  • Conference Dates: March 31st - April 3rd, 2025

Contact Information

For questions, please contact the Awards Chair, Wei Tsang Ooi, by sending an email to ooiwt [at] comp.nus.edu.sg

Sponsors

The travel awards are supported by SIGMM EU Chapter

The ACM Special Interest Group on Multimedia provides a forum for researchers, engineers, and practitioners in all aspects of multimedia computing, communication, storage, and applications. SIGMM sponsors the conference series and ad hoc workshops on emerging areas of multimedia, including the flagship ACM Multimedia Conference (MM), ACM Multimedia Systems Conference (MMSys), and ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval (ICMR). In addition, SIGMM supports the journal ACM Transactions on Multimedia, Applications, and Computing. All SIGMM publications are available through the ACM Digital Library. More information about SIGMM and membership benefits can be found here.

Deadlines

Open Source
January 17th, 2025

Demos & Industry
January 17th, 2025

NOSSDAV
January 17th, 2025

MMVE
January 17th, 2025
Sponsors
ACM logo SIGMM logo