For the second edition of the flagship event — VizChitra 2026, we are excited to open up the call for proposals. There will be talks and dialogues on the conference day (4th July, 2026), and workshops on the workshop day (3rd July, 2026)
We invite you to share how you think, play, and build through data visualization.
Proposal Deadline: 15 Feb 2026
PROPOSAL FORMATS
You can propose one or more of the following formats. If you are unsure which one fits best, choose the closest option and explain your thinking in the proposal.
Talks
10–20 mins Deep dives into projects, case studies, or bodies of work.
- Share your own or your team's unique experience doing DataViz
- Reflect on your process, choices, trade-offs, and learnings
- Offer ideas, frameworks, or tools that others can reuse or adapt
Dialogues
45 mins Shared questions, challenges, or themes to understand together.
- Facilitate peer learning and exchange
- Frame around a theme, domain, challenge, or provocation
- Design simple structures or prompts so people can participate
Workshops
3 hours Practice-oriented, hands-on, skill-building sessions.
- Teach a specific skill, approach, or tool
- Guide participants through exercises or mini-projects
- Ensure people leave with something they can apply
THEMES for 2026
This year’s conference focuses on four key themes. The examples under each are prompts, not limits – feel free to stretch and reinterpret them.
Visualizations for Community
How can data visualization support communities, public interest work, and social change?
- Make socio-economic data more accessible in public conversations, or engage marginalized groups through participatory approaches
- Support nonprofits, NGOs, civic-tech groups, advocacy organizations, environmental justice initiatives, or public interest journalism
- Practice ethical and inclusive data visualization, including accessibility, representation and cultural sensitivity
Visualizations as Craft
How do you design, refine, and craft a visualization from first sketch to final story?
- Explore visual design principles: color, layout, typography in data visualization
- Shape storytelling and narrative design for data-informed stories
- Design interactions for dashboards, exploratory tools, and interactive stories
- Share critiques, reflections, and case studies on what makes visualizations effective, confusing, or misleading
Visualizations at Work
How does visualization work inside your domains to inform real-world decisions and practice?
- Showcase industrial applications where visualization played a central role in decision-making workflows, or working with sensitive data under regulatory constraints
- Share case studies where data was communicated with domain experts, stakeholders, or business leaders through visualizations
Visualizations and Tools
What tools, systems, and workflows power the visualizations we create and use?
- Author tools, libraries, frameworks, and platforms for creating data visualizations
- Build systems for scalable data exploration, analysis, and interaction
- Design pipelines, workflows, and integrations that bring visualization into existing data, design, or product processes
- Create collaborative and conversational interfaces for working with data (including AI-augmented tools)
Who should submit?
Analysts, artists, designers, researchers, scientists, practitioners, journalists, educators, students, and anyone working with data visualization across disciplines.
Anyone using data to tell stories, ask questions, or serve communities.
How to shape your proposal
Use these prompts as a mini-outline while drafting your submission.
Who is the audience for your session? — Think about their backgrounds, roles, and questions. Are they students, early-career practitioners, domain experts, or cross-disciplinary collaborators?
What problem or question are you centering? — Describe the pain point, curiosity, or gap you want to address. This helps participants understand why your session matters.
What is the scope of your session? — Outline the main ideas, themes, or steps you plan to cover. It is okay if your work is still evolving – give us a clear sense of direction.
What will participants take away? — Share the practical outcomes: skills, mental models, checklists, workflows, or new ways of seeing a familiar problem.
Which format best supports your aims? — Consider whether your idea works best as a talk, group discussion, or hands-on workshop.
What makes a strong VizChitra session?
The most successful sessions tend to:
- Start from real, lived challenges or questions.
- Make the process visible, not just the polished final chart.
- Offer concrete, reusable insights or tools.
- Create room for reflection, conversation, or play.
Proposal Deadline: 15 Feb 2026