Be part of the revolution!
International Doctoral Workshop
When
Tuesday, November 11th, 2025
Where
University of Malta, Malta
Quick overview
Why to participate?
Enhance your presentation and public speaking skills
Practice your presentation and public speaking skills in an informal session and receive feedback from fellow PhD students and experienced senior scientists active in the I4.0 community.
Learn new technical skills
Join seminars and masterclasses from distinguished professors and professional trainers about popular software tools, useful methodologies and soft skills that are useful for your academic and professional carrier.
Meet the editors and improve your writing skills
Benefit from talks related to manuscript preparation methods and the publication process. At a ‘Meet the editors’ session, journal editors will present their ideas on how to be successful in the publication process.
Enlarge your professional network
Expand your research network, meet new people, make friends and establish good connections for potential visiting periods in other institutions abroad
Get to know business and job opportunities
Non-academic keynote speakers offer a view on the needed skills to work in an Industry 4.0 related non-academic international organisation or company, presenting possible careers opportunities and the selection processes.
Learn while having fun
Enjoy a hands-on, team-based experience during which you will learn concrete academic or business skills while having fun with your fellow PhD students.
Join us at the IDW
How to apply
Step 1 - Submit your application
PhD students interested in attending the IDW should submit their application by October 11th, 2025. An extended abstract of your research project or other research activities where you are involved individually or with other colleagues (max 1000 characters) and a letter of recommendation from your PhD supervisor have to be submitted via the conference submission system. This is not a paper submission: it is the pitch of your research project.
Step 2 - Review of the projects
Applications will be reviewed according to the following criteria: topical fit with ISM, clarity of research purpose (relevance, objectives and research questions), review of relevant literature and thoughtful discussion of research methods. The proposal should have some level of maturity looking for comments. The notification of the acceptance will be emailed by October 14th, 2025.
Step 3 - Finalize your registration
After the acceptance of your project, you should finalize your registration and pay the fee. More information about the fee are given below or in the FAQs. Please visit the ISM 2025 Registration page or contact Dr. Letizia Nicoletti, l.nicoletti@cal-tek.eu, from the ISM Conference Secretariat.
Step 4 - Discussant assignment
Every participant will be both a presenter and a discussant. Each presenter is associated with a peer discussant. The task of the discussant is to prepare (at least) one question for the presenter in order to start the discussion after the presentation and break the ice.
Step 5 - Show time & pitch presentation
The presentations will be held in person on November 11th, 2025. You don’t have to send the slides beforehand. Each presentation is allotted max 10 minutes. Please, be strict with respect to these times.
Step 6 - Enjoy other activities
Seminars, events and masterclasses will be held during the IDW. We recommend you to bring your laptop in order to get the most from the training sessions and group projects.
Registration fee
IDW Registration | 150 €
What is included
- IDW Welcome Kit
- Access to IDW
- Access to ISM Plenary and Parallel Sessions
- Access to ISM Coffee Breaks
What is not included
- Access to ISM luncheons/gala dinner
- Paper publication on Procedia Computer Science
Enjoy all IDW activities
Workshop Agenda
The IDW will include pitch presentations, seminars and masterclasses, and group projects. Program will be soon available!
Awards
Best Presentation Award
Given by the IDW Board to the most outstanding pitch presentation based on the score of the secret voting by all discussants. Student presentations will be judged on criteria relating to the academic content and professional presentation.
Best Group Project Award
Assigned by the IDW Board to the most outstanding group project. IDW participants will be tasked to solve a problem related to research & development and to the conference scope and to deliver the results during the ISM conference.
Previous Award Winners
Best Student Presentation Award
Sustainability and resilience-oriented cyber-physical production systems: a complexity engineering-based approach
Humberto Alejandro Barrero-Arciniegas
Best Group Project Award
Building the Supply chain metaverse: An Optimization Method approach (SMART)
Ane Arregi, Ege Duran, Mehrsa Fatemi,
Viktoria Leutheuser, Chiara Nezzi
Best Student Presentation Award
Exploring Explainable AI: BAPC and Error Amplification for Decision Trees as Base Model
Erika Dudkin
Best Group Project Award
Advancing Production Performance through Inclusive Workstation Design
Balwin Bokor, Pierpaolo Veltri, Alessio Baratta, Luka Janecki
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We emphasize that we expect all submissions to the doctoral workshop to be research proposals and projects, not finalized manuscripts, conference papers or journal articles.
The organizing team
International Doctoral Workshop Board
