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Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are interactive characters that exhibit human-like qualities and 
communicate with humans or with each other using natural human modalities such as facial 
expressions, speech and gesture. They are capable of real-time perception, cognition and action 
that allows them to participate in dynamic social environments.

IVA 2013 is an interdisciplinary annual conference and the main leading scientific forum for 
presenting research on modelling, developing and evaluating intelligent virtual agents with a 
focus on communicative abilities and social behaviour. In addition to presentations on theoretical 
issues, the conference encourages the showcasing of working applications. Researchers from the 
fields of human-human and human-robot interaction are also encouraged to share work with a 
relevance to intelligent virtual agents.

SPECIAL TOPIC: "Virtual Agents and Cognition". In 2013 the IVA conference will have a special 
theme on cognitive modelling in Virtual Agents. This topic will touch on many aspects of 
Intelligent Virtual Agent theory and application. To name a few areas, we will especially 
encourage submissions that deal with IVAs and models of personality; theory of mind; learning 
and adaptation; motivation and goal-management; creativity; social and culturally-specific 
behaviour. Models must be explicitly related to IVAs but need not be implemented as yet. 
Application areas include social and culture training, heritage, entertainment and persuasive 
interaction. Issues include how systems relate to the original theory and how they can be 
evaluated.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

Design, Modelling and Evaluation of IVAs
* design criteria and design methodologies
* evaluation methodologies and user studies
* ethical considerations and social impact
* applicable lessons from other fields (e.g. robotics)
* improvisational or dramatic interaction
* dimensions of intelligence, cognition and behaviour
* models of multimodal perception and action
* models of emotionally communicative behaviour
* models of conversational behaviour
* design of virtual actors
* Other (non cognition-inspired) conceptual frameworks and models for IVAs 

Implementation and Applications of IVAs
* software engineering issues
* real-time integrated systems
* portability and reuse
* standards / measures to support interoperability
* specialized tools, toolkits and tool chains
* specialized modelling and animation technologies
* applications in games, education, art, etc.
* delivery platforms: desktop, single vs. multi-user, virtual or augmented or mixed reality, robots
* future or current experience in various fields, e.g.: Interactive narrative and story-telling, 
computer games, art and entertainment, education and training, simulation and visualization

Special Topic: IVAs and Cognition: Conceptual Frameworks and Models
***Note that papers are expected to relate models discussed SPECIFICALLY to IVAs**
* selecting a 'good' cognitive model for agents 
   (theoretical foundations, formal models for virtual agents and proofs of concept)
* stages of autonomy (from avatars to agents)
* cognitive models for perception and/or ¡behaviour generation
* simulations of groups and crowds 
         (crowd behaviours, action-perception loops in crowds)
* learning and adapting IVAs 
      (learned, evolved or emergent knowledge and/or behaviour)
* long-term management of IVA goals
* drives, motivations, action selection systems for IVAs
* socially and culturally competent IVAs
* personality and emotion models for IVAs
* Theory of Mind models for IVAs
* evaluation approaches for IVAs with embedded cognitive models


SUBMISSION DETAILS
Prospective authors are invited to submit full papers (12 pages), short papers (6 pages), or 
poster papers (1-2 pages) in Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) format. The 
proceedings will be published in the Springer LNCS series.
For details on how to submit your paper, consult the conference web site: 
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/iva2013/

Papers should be identified as within one of four thematic sections: 1.Technologies; 
2. Theory and models; 3. Novel systems and applications; 
4.Evaluation and studies.

Important Dates
* Submission of all papers: April 14th
* Notification of acceptance: May 20th
* Camera-ready copies: June 3rd
* Conference: August 29th-31st 

ORGANIZATION
Conference Chairs
* Ruth Aylett, Heriot-Watt University, UK
* Brigitte Krenn, OFAI, Austria
* Catherine Pelachaud, CNRS, France
* Hiroshi Shimodaira, Edinburgh University, UK

Poster and Demo Chair
* Matthew Aylett, Edinburgh University, UK

Workshop Chair:
* Jonas Beskow, KTH, Sweden

Doctoral Consortium Chair
* Lynne Hall, University of Sunderland, UK


MORE INFORMATION

Please visit the conference web site at: http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/iva2013/