CALL FOR PAPERS
Philology meets AI (PhilAI 2027): Second Workshop on the Analysis of Rare Scripts
Monday, June 21, 2027
Stockholm, Sweden
Website: https://descrypt-project.github.io/PhilAI
Submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=philai2027
Contact: philai2027@easychair.org
We are pleased to announce the second workshop “Philology Meets AI: Analysis of Rare Scripts”, which will bring together researchers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer vision, philology and historical linguistics. The workshop explores how recent advances in machine learning, image processing, and language modeling can support the identification, transcription, decipherment, and interpretation of rare, ancient, and undeciphered writing systems from around the world. By combining computational methods with humanistic inquiry, the event aims to foster dialogue between experts in digital humanities, epigraphy, philology, and AI research. The first workshop was held at Stockholm University in May 2026:
https://descrypt-project.github.io/PhilAI/assets/pdf/DESCRYPT-workshop.pdf.
Topics of the second workshop include (but are not limited to):
+ Automated detection and segmentation of inscriptions and manuscript images
+ Script classification, character recognition, transcription and transliteration
+ Machine-assisted decipherment and cross-linguistic modeling of rare scripts and languages
+ Multimodal and multilingual approaches to rare writing systems
+ Archaeological, philological and cross-disciplinary approaches to digitally represent, edit, contextualise, and interpret rare scripts
+ Ethical, historical, and preservation aspects of endangered scripts
Researchers, students, and professionals interested in AI-driven approaches to historical and rare scripts are warmly invited to participate. We invite submissions to PhilAI for presentation at the conference, which will be evaluated by the organization committee. Participation in the conference is mandatory for at least one author of each accepted paper.
We particularly encourage early-career researchers (PhDs and postdocs) to submit their research.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
+ Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello: https://daw.philhist.unibas.ch/en/persons/isabelle-marthot-santaniello/
+ Richard Sproat: https://richardsproat.com/
SUBMISSIONS
We invite submissions in three distinct tracks:
+ regular papers up to 10 pages (including appendix and excluding references) on substantial, original, and unpublished research;
+ short papers up to 4 pages (including appendix and excluding references) on smaller, focused contributions, project presentations, system demonstrations, research tools, work in progress, negative results, surveys, tutorials, or opinion pieces;
+ abstract submissions (ca. 300 words).
Presentations of accepted papers or abstracts are either oral, poster, or demo. Authors can make suggestions as to the presentation format; final decisions will be taken by the Organization Committee. Papers accepted for presentation at the conference will be included in the PhilAI 2027 proceedings as Open Access publications. Accepted abstracts will be included in a book of abstracts.
Reviewing of submissions and selection of the conference program will be managed by the PhilAI 2027 Organization Committee. All paper submissions will receive at least two double-blind reviews by experts in the field. Abstract submissions will be reviewed by the Organization Committee.
SCHEDULE
+ Submission opens December 1, 2026
+ Paper submission January 22, 2027
+ Notification of Acceptance March 31, 2027
+ Camera-Ready Manuscripts April 30, 2027
+ Conference on Rare scripts June 21, 2027
+ HistoCrypt Conference June 22 & 23, 2027
SUBMISSION FORMATS
All submissions must follow the PhilAI 2027 style files, which are available on the PhilAI 2027 website:
https://descrypt-project.github.io/PhilAI/instructions.
There are styles for LaTeX (preferred) and MS Word. Submissions shall be anonymous, i.e., not reveal author(s) on the title page or through self-references. Submissions that violate the requirements will be returned without review.
Papers must be submitted digitally, in PDF, and uploaded through EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=philai2027.
The submission opens December 1, 2026 and will close on January 22, 2027 [GMT].
PROCEEDINGS
Papers accepted for presentation at the conference will be included in the PhilAI 2027 proceedings, which will be published as part of the Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) Proceedings Series by DSpace at Tartu University Library, as freely available Gold Open Access:
https://nealt-org.github.io/proceedings/.
ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE
+ Beáta Megyesi, Stockholm University, Sweden (Co-chair)
+ David Osgarby, University of Glasgow, Scotland
+ Wout Sinnaeve, University of Oslo, Norway
+ Michelle Waldispühl, University of Oslo, Norway (Co-chair)
For all practical inquiries, please email:
philai2027@easychair.org
SISTER CONFERENCE
In connection to the PhilAI conference another conference will take place on June 22-23, 2027 at the same venue, with a separate call for papers and program committee: "International Conference on Historical Cryptology (HISTOCRYPT 2027)". For more information, please visit:
www.histocrypt.org.
Welcome to the 2nd PhilAI workshop in Stockholm, Sweden on June 21, 2027!