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Joint Call for Papers

Social Context (SoCon) and Integrating NLP and Psychology to Study

Social Interactions (NLPSI)

Co-located with LREC 2026, Palma, Mallorca (Spain)

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Workshop day: May 12, 2026

Deadline for paper submission: February 16, 2026 February 23, 2026

Website: https://socon-nlpsi.github.io

Contact: socon-nlpsi-workshop-organizers.nlproc@uni-bamberg.de

OVERVIEW

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Natural Language Processing has evolved significantly, enabling the

modeling of high-level aspects of human communication. Relevant topics

include pragmatics, social dynamics, and the integration of social

context to better understand communicative intent. The SoCon and NLPSI

workshops share a focus on the social dimensions of communication, while

addressing distinct challenges.

The Social Context Workshop explores how context shapes language use,

seeking interdisciplinary collaboration across NLP, Pragmatics,

Sociolinguistics, and Sociology. It aims to develop shared terminology

and promote community-centered approaches as alternatives to traditional

crowdsourcing.

The NLPSI Workshop focuses on psychological processes shaping human

communication, including how individuals perceive, process, and produce

language. It welcomes interdisciplinary work from NLP, Social

Psychology, and Affective Computing, with an emphasis on large-scale

studies.

TOPICS

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This joint Call for Papers contains two tracks, SoCon and NLPSI. Authors

should choose the track that best matches their contribution.

SoCon Track

"Towards Responsibly Infusing NLP with Social Context, Community

Meanings, and Pragmatics Through Interdisciplinary NLP Efforts."

Topics include, but are not limited to:

* Interdisciplinary methods for modeling context, integrating NLP with

pragmatics and social sciences

* Studying social communities and how to engage with communities of

practice and speech communities

* Ethical challenges in resource creation, including participatory

design involving relevant communities

* Explaining behaviors in social interactions through models of social

attitudes shaped by backgrounds, contexts, and triggering events

NLPSI Track

"Bridging the gap between NLP and psychological insights to foster a

deeper understanding of social interactions."

Topics include, but are not limited to:

*Psychological constructs (beliefs, motives, feelings, affect, personality)

*Psychological studies, especially those focused on interaction

*Communication patterns such as empathy, persuasion, and conflict resolution

*The role of emotions in interpersonal communication, such as emotion

contagion and interpersonal emotion regulation

SUBMISSION TYPES

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* Long papers (up to 8 pages) presenting original research, from

preliminary to established contributions

* Short papers (up to 4 pages) presenting emerging ideas or early-stage

research

* Extended abstracts(non-archival, up to 2 pages): a new format designed

to be inclusive of researchers from fields where conference papers are

not standard (e.g., Social Sciences). Extended abstracts are not

included in conference proceedings.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

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Submissions will be double-blind reviewed.

Papers must follow the LREC templates (LaTeX, Word, Open Office, Overleaf).

Page limits apply only to the main content; limitations, ethics,

acknowledgements, references, and appendices do not count.

Submission via Softconf: https://softconf.com/lrec2026/SoConNLPSI/

Authors must indicate resources used or created (data, tools,

technologies, evaluation kits). ELRA encourages sharing of language

resources to support reuse and replicability. Authors must follow

ethical AI research policies and include an ethics statement.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

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The workshop follows LREC’s attendance policy.

It will be a full-day hybrid event with keynotes and paper presentations

(oral and lightning talks).

IMPORTANT DATES

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Paper submission deadline: February 16, 2026 February 23, 2026

Notification of acceptance: March 23, 2026

Camera-ready deadline: March 30, 2026

Workshop day: May 12, 2026

ORGANIZERS

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SoCon

Marco Antonio Stranisci, University of Turin

Soda Marem Lo, University of Turin

Sabine Weber, Bamberg University

Rossana Damiano, University of Turin

Simona Frenda, Heriot-Watt University

Roman Klinger, University of Bamberg

Viviana Patti, University of Turin

Marteen Sap, Carnegie Mellon University

Seid Muhie Yimam, University of Hamburg

NLPSI

Aswathy Velutharambath, University of Bamberg

Sofie Labat, Ghent University

Neele Falk, University of Stuttgart

Flor Miriam Plaza-del-Arco, Bocconi University

Roman Klinger, University of Bamberg

Véronique Hoste, Ghent University

Bennett Kleinberg, Tilburg University

Marco https://marcostranisci.github.io/

- How happy were you with the shot selection the PhD even though they came back? - Happy? - Reasonable - Happy is not a word that we think about in the game the PhD. Think of something different. Happy, I don't know how to judge 'happy'. (Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl_I9s1cN3Q)