Theme of the Workshop:

Higher Education for All: International Workshop on Social, Semantic, Adaptive and Gamification techniques and technologies for Distance Learning

Economic development depends on highly skilled, educated individuals. Lower education level is linked to low income, poverty. In the UK, Higher Education is available to many high school graduates (~50% in 2011-12; The Guardian). In Brazil, numbers are much lower (< 20%; OECD). Pioneering efforts from academia & companies (incl. proposers) to support pupils from impoverished, underprivileged backgrounds to enter universities (to pass the intensive public exam ' ENEM'), are e-learning solutions. Still, initial data show typical distance learning problems: isolation, lack of customisation. The workshop invites UK, Brazil & international researchers towards solving the urgent, timely problem of access for children from impoverished backgrounds, via new, seamless personalisation, gamification, semantic & social interaction techniques for specific needs of the millions of candidates, based on (big) data analysis, user analytics, scalability. It dedicatedly promotes equal opportunities.

The workshop's main aim is to bring together researchers, practitioners, other stakeholders working or interested in the fields of educational technology, semantic web, Web 2.0, adaptivity, big data, learner analytics, NLP. We expect to discuss the merger of research and application directions, see their implementations and evaluations, encourage the transition towards concrete, large scale applications - such as in the Brazilian entrance to higher education field. Participants are expected to leave with a better knowledge of current research, to have fruitful brainstorming sessions, generate new ideas and new paths. Discussions results will be posted after the workshop on-line, as in previous workshops, and a special issue in a quality journal will be proposed.

We expect to see emerging cross-oceanic collaborations as a result of this workshop, both between senior as well as between junior researchers, in terms of joint research with concrete outcomes, such as papers in internationally renowned venues. We also expect to see a faster impact of research results into commerce and/or practice, with long term benefit for the Brazilian educational landscape and economy, a rise in experts in vital domains, and in particular progress in supporting pupils from low income backgrounds to access higher education. We expect to see further proposals for collaboration & funding emerging as a result, and follow-up international workshops.

What is Researcher Link (RL)?

Researcher Links is designed to provide financial support to bring together a UK and Brazilian cohort of early career researchers to take part in a workshop focusing on building links for future collaboration and enhancing the researchers’ career opportunities. The workshop will be coordinated by two leading researchers one from a UK institution, plus one working in a Brazilian institution.

Can take part of the Workshop:

• Two (2) workshop coordinators: one from the UK and one from Brazil;
• Four (4) mentors: two from the UK and two from Brazil;
• Maximum of thirty four (34) early career researchers: 17 from the UK and 17 from Brazil, to be selected by the Workshop coordinators by means of an open call. Early career researchers must have a PhD, obtained less than 10 years prior to the workshop - All of the selected young researchers will be sponsored by the workshop organisation.

The Workshops will be held in English, which means that all the participants must be fluent in English.

The full application below must be completed and submitted until November 4th (or November 30th - UK only).

• Applications must be submitted using the Researcher Links application form
• Application must be submitted before the above deadline
• Participants must be early career researchers: Early Career Researchers are defined as holding a PhD for less than 10 years on the starting date of the workshop.
• Participants must be affiliated to UK and Brazil higher education or research institutions at the time of the application.

• Experience and relevance of the applicant’s research area to the workshop
• Motivation and contribution to the aims of the workshop
• Description of the long term impact expected through the participation in the workshop
• Ability to disseminate workshop’s outcomes

• Eligibility check
• Quality assessment
• CV review

Applicants will be notified by email.

The British Council is committed to equal opportunities and diversity in all its activities and this includes the avoidance of any bias in the assessment of applications due to gender, disability, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religious belief. Participants’ selection undertaken by workshop organizers must not contravene this policy. Extra support to enable participation of early career researchers with special needs will be given.