We cordially invite scholars and industry practitioners to contribute to a special session on "Deciphering China in the Post-Pandemic Era through a Computational Lens" at the upcoming 11th International Conference on Behavioral and Social Computing (BESC 2024), taking place this summer in Harbin, China. This session is dedicated to exploring the dynamic and ongoing transformations within Chinese society, economy, and culture as we navigate through the post-pandemic era. Alongside this, we extend our call for a diverse spectrum of computational social science research that delves into a multitude of themes extending well beyond the confines of the pandemic's immediate effects. Our aim is to foster a comprehensive discourse that encapsulates both the direct and indirect repercussions of the pandemic while also embracing the broader, multifaceted research areas that are shaping modern China.

We welcome paper submissions that include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Big data insights into China's economic resurgence in the wake of the pandemic
  • Evolving social behaviors and patterns in the context of COVID-19
  • Cultural dynamics and digital era shifts within post-pandemic China
  • Data-driven public health strategies and policymaking
  • Technological innovation as a cornerstone of societal resilience
  • Educational reforms and labor market adaptations in the new normal
  • Post-pandemic urban development and smart city concepts
  • Utilizing AI and machine learning to decode complex societal transformations

We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers that use a range of computational methods, including machine learning, data mining, natural language processing, and network analysis. We encourage submissions from interdisciplinary researchers, including social psychologists, computer scientists, and data scientists. Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts in both social psychology and computational methods.

We look forward to your submissions and to an engaging and informative conference that advances our understanding of the intersection between social behavior and computation.

Important Dates

  • Special Session Papers Submission: 01 May 2024
  • Acceptance Notification: 01 June 2024
  • Camera-Ready Submission: 15 June 2024
  • Author Registration: 18 June 2024
  • Conference Date: 16-18 August 2024

Paper submission instruction

Paper submission system is available at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=besc2024.

  • Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, summarizing the scope, methodology, and potential impact of the research.
  • Full papers should be formatted according to the BESC 2024 submission guidelines, which can be found on the conference website.
  • Submissions will be peer-reviewed, and acceptance will be based on quality, relevance to BESC 2024, originality, significance and clarity.

All papers will be reviewed by the Program Committee on the basis of technical quality, relevance to BESC 2024, originality, significance and clarity.

Please note:

  • All submissions should use IEEE two-column style. Templates are available from here.
  • All papers must be submitted electronically through the paper submission system in PDF format only. BESC 2024 accepts special session papers (6 pages). The page count includes the references.
  • Paper review will be double-blind, and submissions not properly anonymized will be desk-rejected without review.
  • Submitted papers must not substantially overlap with papers that have been published or that are simultaneously submitted to a journal or a conference with proceedings.
  • Papers must be clearly submitted in English and will be selected based on their originality, timeliness, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentation.
  • Submission of a paper should be regarded as a commitment that, should the paper be accepted, at least one of the authors will register and attend the conference to present the work.
  • Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements and indexed by EI. Top quality papers after presented in the conference will be selected for extension and publication in several special issues of international journals, e.g., World Wide Web Journal (Springer), Web Intelligence (IOS Press), Social Network Analysis and Mining (Springer), Human-Centric Intelligent Systems (Springer), Natural Language Processing (Elsevier), etc.
  • The use of artificial intelligence (AI)–generated text in an article shall be disclosed in the acknowledgements section of any paper submitted to an IEEE Conference or Periodical. The sections of the paper that use AI-generated text shall have a citation to the AI system used to generate the text.

Organizing Committee

Special Session Chairs
Hao Chen, Department of Social Psychology, Nankai University, China (hull1919[at]gmail.com)
Xiaopeng Ren, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China