SMASH 2026

About

Call for Papers

We invite researchers to submit 4 page extended abstracts under the research areas defined below.

ML Safety, Privacy, Model Accountability and Alignment:

• Safety, robustness and alignment of ML systems
• ML systems and software traceability
• Applications of privacy enhancing technologies (PETs): differential privacy, federated learning, etc.
• ML performance and benchmarking methods
• Mechanisms for ML provenance tracking and watermarking
• Safety use cases for advanced AI systems

Interdisciplinary Submissions from Law and Social Sciences:

• Acceptance of ML technologies by clinicians, patients, and administrators
• ML risk assessments and disclosures
• Ethical considerations when deploying ML systems
• Regulation of ML technology

Contributions to SMASH that are of an applied nature are also welcome, such as case studies deploying ML with sensitive data.

Healthcare Applications:

• Applications of AI in healthcare (administration, precision medicine, patient care, diagnostics)
• Using patient data in ML research
• Healthcare ML metrics, monitoring and benchmarking

Methods for ML Sustainability:

• ML emissions accounting metrics
• Case studies and applications of sustainability in ML
• Sustainable computing and system design
• Environmental accounting methods for ML

Sustainability, Healthcare and Safety, that’s a bit of an odd mix - what’s the deal?

You’re not wrong. But that’s kind of the point! We’re firm believers that creating spaces that cut across academic boundaries yields compelling insights.

This event explores how AI in Sustainability and Healthcare are on parallel regulatory and operational trajectories and that they might benefit from a mutual exchange of ideas, governance and tooling.

Key Dates

• Jul 1, 2026: Submission opens
• Aug 31, 2026: Paper submission deadline
• Sep 25, 2026: Announcement of decisions shared with Committee members
• Oct 15, 2026: Camera-ready submissions deadline

How to Submit

Please click on the following to access the OpenReview Submission Portal:

OpenReview Submission.

All authors must complete a form to confirm their OpenReview profile is complete and any qualified author may be assigned to review.

Submission Details

Submissions should consist of a summary, and an extended abstract of between one and four pages (including figures and references). We invite you to use a single column LaTeX or RTF template and recommend the ICLR 2025 OpenReview Conference Submission template.

All submissions will be evaluated in terms of relevance, impact, community interest, technical quality, and clarity. There will be no rebuttal period. Exceptional abstracts will be selected for oral presentations and all accepted submissions will be invited to contribute a poster presentation.

Submissions are single blind, so author names should appear on submitted PDFs.

Best Paper Awards

The SMASH 2026 Best Paper Awards recognize outstanding research contributions presented at the Symposium on Model Accountability, Sustainability and Healthcare (SMASH).

One Best Paper Award will be presented in each of the conference’s five tracks:

• ML Safety, Privacy, Model Accountability and Alignment
• Interdisciplinary Submissions from Law and Social Sciences
• Healthcare Applications
• Methods for ML Sustainability
• Sustainability, Healthcare and Safety

These awards celebrate research that advances the responsible development, evaluation, governance, and deployment of AI systems.

Eligibility

All accepted papers that are registered and presented at SMASH 2026 are automatically eligible for consideration within their respective track.

For gift distribution, at least one author of the awarded paper must be studying at a Canadian university.

Selection and Evaluation

Best Paper Awards are selected by members of the SMASH Program Committee. Eligible papers are evaluated based on reviewer assessments, the quality of the written submission, and the conference presentation.

Awards are granted to papers that demonstrate exceptional quality, originality, technical rigor, significance, and potential impact. The selection committee considers scientific merit, innovation, clarity, and the potential contribution of the work to advancing responsible AI research, policy, and practice.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of SMASH, particular consideration may be given to contributions that foster meaningful connections across technical, healthcare, sustainability, legal, policy, and social science perspectives.

The Program Committee reserves the right not to confer an award in a track if no submission is deemed to meet the required standard of excellence.

Announcement

Award recipients will be announced during the closing session of SMASH 2026.

Recognition

Award recipients will receive:

• Official recognition as a SMASH 2026 Best Paper Award recipient
• A certificate for all authors

Guiding Principles

• Partnership over competition
• Common ground over differences
• Practicality over hyperbole
• Questions over answers
• Nuance over platitudes

Accepted Papers

Click here to view last year’s accepted papers and posters.

Whitepaper

Click here to view the 2025 whitepaper.