Authors: Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, Elisa Ricci, Silvia Rossi
Dear colleagues and friends,
We would like to begin by sincerely thanking the SIGMM community for the trust you have placed in us. We are honored to serve as Chairs alongside a talented and dedicated team. A special thanks goes to the previous Executive Committee for their outstanding work during challenging times and for laying down a solid foundation for the future.
We are at an exciting juncture. Multimedia is no longer just a field, it is the connective tissue of modern life. From intelligent communication and immersive experiences to AI-generated content and digital twins, multimedia systems are shaping how we learn, work, and connect. Our community is uniquely positioned to lead in this space.
Over the next two years, we want to focus on presence — not only in terms of emerging technologies, but also in how SIGMM can be present for researchers around the world. Together, we will:
- Champion young researchers and amplify their voices.
- Promote open science by supporting the sharing of code, data, and reproducible research.
- Increase industry engagement by creating meaningful bridges between academia and application.
- Strengthen our global presence through active local chapters and outreach.
- Ensure SIGMM remains a space that is inclusive, diverse, and equitable, a community where everyone feels welcome and empowered.
- Position SIGMM conferences and journals as the leading venue for applied AI in multimodal systems and showcasing how sensing, understanding, generation, and interaction converge to solve real-world challenges.
Let us continue to work together and to make an impact, inspired by the richness of multimedia research and united by a shared commitment to excellence and openness.
Abdulmotaleb, Elisa and Silvia
Abdulmotaleb El Saddik is an award-winning technologist and Distinguished Professor whose leadership in Embodied AI, Digital Twins, and Mixed Reality bridges innovation, mentorship, and human impact.
Elisa Ricci is a Professor at University of Trento and Senior researcher at Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy. Her research interests include computer vision and multimedia analysis.
Silvia Rossi is a senior scientist at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in The Netherlands. Her research interests are at the intersection of multimedia systems, artificial intelligence, and user behaviour modelling for immersive and interactive systems.