Call for Nominations: 2026 Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award

The 26th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

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IFAAMAS, the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, is pleased to announce the call for the 2026 Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award.

The award is named after Professor Victor Lesser, a long-standing member of the AAMAS community who has supervised a large number of outstanding PhD students in the area. It is awarded for dissertations written as part of a PhD, defended in the specified period, and nominated by the supervisor (with supporting references), which show originality, significance, and impact, and are supported by high quality publications.

Nominations are invited for the award which is sponsored by IFAAMAS and will be presented at AAMAS 2027. The award includes a certificate and a 1500 EUR payment.

Eligibility: Eligible doctoral dissertations are those defended between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026 (both endpoints included) in the area of Autonomous Agents or Multiagent Systems.

Submission deadline: November 6, 2026 (anywhere on earth)

Website details: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/aamas2027/calls/call-victor-lesser/

Selection procedure:

The selection of the dissertation will be based on the originality, significance, and impact of the work. Evidence of such impact includes publications at highly selective conferences and journals in the field, with due importance given to the AAMAS conference series and JAAMAS. Research output that resulted primarily from the student’s initiative will be considered more favorably.

The selection committee will be the final arbiter in the decision process. The selection committee might also decide to consult external assessors, and reserves the right to not award the prize if the nominations do not meet the expected quality level.

Note: It is the responsibility of the dissertation supervisor to contact the referees and ensure that their letters (max 500 words, signed, and on letterhead) are submitted by the deadline.

Though the nomination is to be submitted by the nominee’s dissertation supervisor, it is required that the nominee has consented that the dissertation be considered for this award and, if selected for the award, commits to attending the AAMAS 2027 conference, where they will receive the award and will give a presentation on the work contained in the dissertation at a special session of the conference. The cost of attending the conference is not covered by the award.

For questions, please contact the chair of the selection committee, Fernando P. Santos, at f********s@uva.nl.