The ACM SIGMM European Chapter (https://sites.google.com/view/sigmm-eu-chapter/) aims to serve as a vital regional hub, bridging the gap between the global multimedia community and the diverse research landscape within Europe. Its primary aim is to foster a more connected and inclusive environment by supporting the consolidation of local multimedia groups and their collaborations. The scope of the chapter is inherently interdisciplinary, seeking to strengthen exchanges between multimedia researchers and experts in domains such as Healthcare, Geospatial Science, Robotics, and Social Media. By coordinating European-wide events, thematic summer schools, and collaborative workshops, the chapter aims to promote technical innovation and facilitate a robust dialogue between academic research and industrial application across the continent in the multimedia field.
The official kick-off of the ACM SIGMM European Chapter took place on October 28, 2025, during the 33rd ACM International Conference on Multimedia (ACM MM) in Dublin, Ireland. Organized by prominent community members including Xavier Alameda-Pineda (https://xavirema.eu/), Elisa Ricci (https://eliricci.eu/), and Pablo Cesar (https://www.pablocesar.me/) who co-founded the Chapter, the meeting marked a significant milestone in establishing a structured regional presence for multimedia researchers across Europe. The event featured three keynote talks: From Individual Immersion to Shared Experiences in Social XR by Silvia Rossi (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), Lifelogging: from POV images to multi-perspective videos by Alice Tran (Dublin City University) and Bridging Multimodal Representation Learning and Generation through Masked Modeling by Samir Sadok (Inria @ Univ. Grenoble Alpes), setting a tone of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration. See the pictures of these keynotes below. The primary mission discussed during the meeting was to bridge the gap between global SIGMM activities and the specific needs of the European landscape, focusing on networking, supporting local multimedia groups, and fostering stronger ties between academia and industry.
What is an ACM Chapter?
An ACM chapter is a local or regional group within the ACM that brings people together around computing topics to network, share knowledge, and collaborate. Our Chapter is related to the European area and linked to the specialized group of interest SIGMM, focusing on the area of multimedia in Europe. It is run by volunteers and acts as a local hub where members organize events, discussions, and collaborations, making the global ACM community more interactive and accessible on a particular topic and area.
Current chairs
During the kick-off meeting the brand new chapter bylaws were also approved and the new chapter officers were elected. They are:
- Valérie Gouet-Brunet (Chair), is a Research Director at the French mapping agency (IGN) and is affiliated with University Gustave Eiffel within the LaSTIG laboratory in France. With a distinguished career in computer science, her research focuses on image retrieval, multimedia information retrieval, computer vision, and the structuring of large-scale iconographic heritage. She has a founding role in the SUMAC workshop series at ACM Multimedia. Her leadership in the chapter aims to promote inclusivity and support the growth of multimedia research initiatives throughout the diverse European regions.
- Irene Viola (Vice-Chair) is a senior researcher at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands, specifically within the Distributed and Interactive Systems (DIS) group. Her expertise lies at the intersection of multimedia compression, transmission, and the evaluation of Quality of Experience (QoE) for immersive systems. Dr. Viola’s work is particularly focused on volumetric video and social XR, exploring how users interact within virtual environments and how to optimize the delivery of these complex media types.
- Xavier Alameda-Pineda (Treasurer) is a Director of Research at Inria Grenoble in France, where he leads research in machine learning for computer vision and multi-modal fusion. His work often bridges the gap between multimedia perception and robotics, particularly in analyzing human behavior and scene understanding. Dr. Alameda-Pineda brings extensive experience in organizing high-level scientific events and managing international research collaborations to the chapter’s executive committee.
Current activities
The chapter endorses several activities in the European landscape. The SoRAIM Winter School (Social Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Multimedia, https://project.inria.fr/soraim/) stands as a flagship educational initiative of the chapter. The school has evolved into a recurring forum supported by ACM SIGMM and Inria, dedicated to the next generation of researchers in robotics and human-centric multi-modal AI. Its most recent edition, held in February 2026 in the French Alps (Autrans), epitomizes the school’s multidisciplinary spirit. By bridging the gap between signal processing, robotics, and social sciences, SoRAIM provides PhD students with a unique blend of high-level lectures and hands-on experience. This approach ensures that participants are not only technically proficient in multi-modal fusion and multi-person dialogue management but are also deeply attuned to the ethical and psychological dimensions of deploying AI and robotics in real-world social environments.
A second prominent activity endorsed by the chapter is the Spring School on Social XR, ACM Europe School (https://www.dis.cwi.nl/spring-school/), which pivots toward the cutting edge of immersive technologies and interpersonal communication. Hosted at CWI in Amsterdam, the school explores the technical and psychological dimensions of Social Extended Reality (XR). Participants engage with topics ranging from point cloud compression and low-latency transmission to the evaluation of user experience in shared virtual spaces. This program is particularly vital for the chapter’s mission, as it bridges the gap between traditional multimedia signal processing and the emerging field of social interactive systems, emphasizing hands-on tutorials and collaborative project work.
In addition to these educational activities, the chapter is currently laying the groundwork for a dedicated Symposium co-located with the ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval (ICMR). Although still in the early stages of scheduling and organization, this symposium is envisioned as a strategic forum for European researchers to present “work-in-progress” and foster networking ahead of the larger global conferences. By aligning with ICMR, the chapter aims to provide a localized platform for the European multimedia retrieval community to synchronize their efforts, discuss regional funding opportunities, and strengthen the ties between academic labs and European industrial partners.
How to contribute to the Chapter?
There are several concrete ways for people to contribute, collaborate, and shape activities:
- Sharing opportunities through the mailing list is one of the core lifelines of the community. Keeping it active makes a big difference.
- Proposing events & activities, that can be partially funded by ACM SIGMM
- Workshops, tutorials, or special sessions at conferences
- Local meetups or regional symposiums
- Supporting early-career researchers
- Summer schools, PhD training events, doctoral symposiums
- Job opportunities, internships, and mobility programs