ACM CoNEXT 2026, to be held in-person in Utrecht, The Netherlands, is soliciting proposals for half-day and full-day workshops to be co-located with the main conference.

We invite you to submit workshop proposals on any topic related to the broad set of research and application areas covered by the ACM CoNEXT conference. We welcome workshops on topics in network research, practice, and education. Topics that represent new research areas and directions are particularly welcome.

If the workshop is accepted, the proposers agree to recruit a Program Committee for selecting papers, recruit invited speakers if applicable, and advertise the workshop in order to attract papers and attendees. The workshop chairs reserve the right to cancel workshops that do not receive a sufficient number of submissions from their open call. Furthermore, it is expected that the majority of accepted papers will originate from authors who are not members of the workshop's Technical Program Committee (TPC) and will be submitted in response to the open call. While invited papers may be included in the final program, they should constitute a minority of the accepted submissions. As an integral part of the conference, the workshops will be fully incorporated into CoNEXT's logistical and budget planning process. Workshop papers - unless opted-out - will be published in the same set of proceedings as the conference's short papers, and will be available on the ACM Digital Library. Workshop papers will not appear as part of the new journal-based proceedings (PACMNET).

Workshop proposals sent in response to this open call should include the following material:

• A brief statement of interest including a motivation and rationale for the workshop topic and its relevance to the CoNEXT community, as well as a comparison with existing workshops on related topics, if applicable.
• A draft Call for Papers (CfP), as complete as possible.
• Names and affiliations of workshop chairs and a tentative list of the committees. Please indicate whether prospective TPC members have been contacted, and whether they have accepted the invitation.
• Workshop format, including Half/Full day, expected number of presented papers, invited talks, panels, demonstrations, etc.
• Suggestions about possible keynote speakers and/or panel members.
• The planned workshop deadlines, both internal and external (see below).
• An expected number of submissions, accepted papers, and attendees (if unknown, please provide your best estimates).
• Prior history of this workshop, if any, including number of submissions, number of accepted papers, and attendee count. If the workshop was co-located with another conference, please include details and a brief description why CoNEXT is a more appropriate venue.
• A list of people whom you have solicited (or plan to solicit), outside of the list of committee members and prospective TPC members, for possible participation in the workshop.
• If the workshop is interdisciplinary, please provide details about your plans to advertise to other communities and how you intend to encourage participation at the workshop.
• If appropriate, the financial support the workshop intends to receive from a third-party.
• Any additional requirements specific to the workshop, e.g., additional room space or additional equipment, for a demonstration, poster session, hackathon or similar, should be listed in the Workshop proposal.

The workshop organisers should also take into consideration the following practical considerations:

• As listed below, all workshops for CoNEXT 2026 will have the same deadlines (submission deadline, camera-ready date), to facilitate coordination with other aspects of the conference organisation. Deadline extensions should be coordinated with the Workshop Co-chairs and Publications Chair(s). The notification and camera ready dates will be shared with organisers of selected workshops in due time.
• Individual workshop organisers will be expected to be responsible for managing their workshop and coordination with the local arrangement chairs of CoNEXT 2026 for facilities and with the publication chairs for camera-ready papers.
• Individual workshop organisers will be responsible for setting up the paper submission site and review process for the selected workshops and their web page design in coordination with the CoNEXT 2026 web chair (hosted on the common conference website).

If you have questions about your workshop proposal, do not hesitate to contact the workshop chairs.

Where to Submit a Workshop Proposal

Please submit your workshop proposal in a single PDF file by sending it to the Workshop Chairs over email at workshopchairs_conext2026@auckland.ac.nz. with the subject “CoNEXT 2026 Workshop Proposal: xxxx” (where xxxx is the acronym of your proposed workshop) by May 19, 2026. Please follow the deadlines below.

Important dates (in reverse chronological order)

• Workshop paper submission: July 14th, 2026
• Workshop paper abstract registration: July 7th, 2026
• Announcement of CFPs: Before June 15th, 2026
• Announcement of selected workshops: June 8th, 2026
• Submission of workshop proposals: May 19th, 2026

Note that the time between the notification of acceptance of the workshop and the announcement of the CFP is limited. Thus, we reiterate that you should contact your workshop's potential TPC members and secure the participation of most of them before submitting your proposal.

Preliminary Information for Workshop Planning

All deadlines will be common across workshops.

• Paper submissions deadline: July 14th, 2026
• Paper acceptance notification: Before end of August, 2026
• Camera ready due: Before end of September, 2026
• Program available online: Before mid-October, 2026
• List of organisation details: Before mid-October, 2026

In order for the workshops to be synchronised with preparations for the main conference and with travel grants, the dates above must be strictly followed by all workshops. Please contact the CoNEXT 2026 Workshop co-chairs Chris Visser and Ulrich Speidel with any questions.