Panels

Panels are at the heart of the AfriCHI experience. More than a presentation format, they are a gathering, a deliberate space for researchers, practitioners, community builders, and creative thinkers to sit with difficult questions together. At AfriCHI 2027, our theme — People, Place, and Possibilities — calls us to think beyond existing frameworks and imagine what HCI grounded in African contexts, values, and futures can look like. Panels are where that imagination becomes a conversation.
We invite proposals that are bold, honest, and willing to be changed by the audience. Whether you want to challenge a dominant assumption, surface a tension that the field has avoided, or open up a design space that doesn’t yet have a name, this is the venue for that work.
We look forward to a program that is as plural, vibrant, and full of possibility as the continent itself.

Topics

Panel topics should contribute to HCI theory, design, methods, and practices, showcasing Africa’s unique advances, potential, and approaches to challenges. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

• Designing plural African futures with dignity and agency
• HCI across rural, urban, peri-urban, diasporic, and translocal African contexts
• Community-led, participatory, and pluriversal design practices
• HCI and climate change, sustainability, agriculture, and environmental futures
• AI in African hands: people, power, and design
• Power, delegation, and accountability in African agentic AI
• Oral traditions as a design framework for voice-first and ambient AI
• Personalization, identity, and representation in a world of abundant intelligence
• Creative technologies, art, storytelling, games, XR, and speculative design
• Emerging technologies and imagined African futures
• African theories, philosophies, and values and their applications in technology design
• Ethics, consent, and relationality in designing with African communities
• Cultural specificity and plurality in African interaction design
• Technology, governance, and civic life across African places
• Accessible, inclusive, and equitable design with African communities
• Cybersecurity, privacy, and digital safety for African communities
• The future of HCI education in Africa

A strong AfriCHI panel should do more than present a topic; rather, it should create a well-structured conversation that participants will want to join. We encourage panels that pose a clear and timely question relevant to HCI in African contexts; bring together complementary, contrasting, or even conflicting perspectives; engage with African scholarship, local knowledge, design practice, policy, or community experience; and make space for audience participation through discussion, debate, storytelling, critique, or other interactive formats.

Submission

Panel proposals should be no longer than 2,500 words (excluding references), with a title and a 250-word abstract inclusive. Proposals exceeding this length may be desk-rejected. All submissions must use the official ACM conference template and should include:

• The panel topic
• The names and affiliations of 1–3 organizers/moderators and up to 3 additional panelists
• The proposed structure and format of the panel, including how you intend to encourage audience interaction beyond standard Q&A
• A summary of the main topic(s) to be presented, debated, and discussed; lessons or experiences you hope to convey; and contrasting or controversial perspectives
• A position statement by each panelist

Submissions should NOT be anonymous. However, all submissions will be kept confidential during the review process. Submissions should not contain sensitive, private, or proprietary information that cannot be disclosed at publication. All rejected submissions will be kept confidential. Accepted title and author information will be published on the website prior to the conference.

Selection Process

All panel proposals submitted to the AfriCHI 2027 open call will be reviewed by the Panel Co-Chairs, who may bring in outside experts for specialist or borderline submissions. There is no mechanism for author response in the panel review process, and decisions are final.
In some cases, the co-chairs may offer a conditional accept requesting specific changes to panelist composition, session structure, or scope as a condition of acceptance. Authors of accepted panels will receive instructions for preparing camera-ready source files, due on the camera-ready deadline.
We strongly encourage panel authors to limit the number of panelists to foster cohesive and engaging discussions. Fewer panelists allow better audience interaction. We suggest allocating meaningful time for open dialogue and minimising pre-prepared presentations.

Review Criteria

The co-chairs aim to select panels that are engaging, provocative, or original in how they approach people, place, and possibility and that inspire the audience to respond, push back, and elaborate. The review criteria will consider the extent to which the session includes:

• One or more topics likely to evoke a lively, substantive response from AfriCHI attendees
• Panelists who bring genuinely distinct perspectives, lived experiences, or areas of expertise
• A well-organised and feasible session plan with a clear arc from opening provocation to audience participation
• A novel and creative format that goes beyond standard Q&A
• Meaningful contribution to HCI research, practice, or community in African contexts
• Appropriate panelist diversity of ideas and expertise primarily, and also of geography, language, gender, career stage, and institutional background
• Alignment with the AfriCHI 2027 theme: People, Place, and Possibilities
• Likelihood of drawing a broad audience across research and practitioner communities

Publication

Upon acceptance, a camera-ready submission must be uploaded to the conference submission system following ACM ICPS camera-ready standards. Panel abstracts will be included in the official conference proceedings and the ACM Digital Library archive. Panels will be scheduled in dedicated sessions running in parallel with other conference tracks. Panel organizers are strongly advised to hold a preparatory meeting with their panelists before the conference to align on structure, timing, and audience engagement strategy.

Important Dates

Submission deadline: 01 April 2027
Notification: 15 April 2027
Camera-ready deadline: 01 May 2027
Conference dates: 28 June – 02 July 2027, Lagos, Nigeria

Co-chairs Contact Information