Call for Student Volunteers:

Seeking Conference Session Facilitators

The ISTAS 2021 Conference Committee is seeking student volunteers from any post-secondary institution to work as Session Facilitators during the virtual conference co-hosted by the University of Waterloo and University of Guelph. Undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines are welcome.The 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS21) is an annual conference sponsored by an engineering organization but one that emphasizes interdisciplinary perspectives and encourages engagement from scholars and practitioners in the humanities, social sciences and related technical fields.

The theme of this year’s conference program is “Technological Stewardship and Responsible Innovation,” and includes keynotes by Safiya Noble (UCLA), Shannon Vallor (University of Edinburgh) and special sessions on topics like “Critical Design Methods,” “Technology, Equity, and Social Justice,” “AI Literacy,” “Open-Access Educational Materials” (and more!) that should be of great interest to many graduate students.

The time commitment for Session Facilitators is approximately 5 hours, and the position entails:

  • Participating in a 1-hour training session in early October (Dates TBD);
  • Attending 2-3 paper sessions at ISTAS21 (90-minutes each) to:
    • Monitor the Zoom chat and conference platform message board;
    • Connect participants and attendees with the platform’s tech support serviced, as needed.

Volunteers will be able to select the sessions they wish to facilitate (sign-up is on a first-come, first-served basis), and will receive:

  • Guaranteed free registration for the conference (a value of $50 USD);
  • First access to sign up for Student Mentoring Sessions with leading scholars in issues of tech, ethics, and equity.

This is a great opportunity for students to get involved in an interdisciplinary community and gain experience with virtual conference management and logistics!

If you are interested in volunteering, please email Alexi Orchard (ISTAS21 Student-Volunteer Coordinator) at istas.21@uwaterloo.ca with the subject heading “ISTAS21 Volunteer”, and we will provide you with a Google Form for more information on scheduling and other logistical details.

Any general conference-related questions can be directed to Dr. Heather Love (heather.love@uwaterloo.ca), ISTAS21 Conference Co-Chair.