We are excited to announce the inaugural Digital Forensics Doctoral Symposium (DFDS), organised by DFRWS EU. This symposium provides a unique platform for doctoral students to share their (early-stage) research, engage in discussions with peers, and build connections within the digital forensics community.

By co-locating DFDS with DFRWS EU, participants also gain the opportunity to attend the main conference, interact with leading experts in the field, and benefit from a rich exchange of ideas. We invite doctoral students to join us for this enriching experience.

Conference Location:

Co-located with DFRWS EU 2025, which takes places 1st-4th April 2025. DFDS will take place on the 1st April.

Brno is the former capital city of Moravia and the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region. With over 400,000 residents, it is currently the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. The iconic Špilberk Castle and the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul offer stunning views and a glimpse into the city's storied past. Local folklore thrives in Brno, with tales of the Brno Dragon and the Wheel, adding a mystical allure to this dynamic city known for its cultural festivals and thriving arts scene. A tradition since 1930 has been hosting motorbike and other races on the city's Masaryk Circuit, of which the MotoGP Grand Prix is among the most prestigious races. Brno is also a significant centre of higher education, hosting over 65,000 students across 10 universities, their 30 faculties and numerous research institutes.

The main conference venue will take place at the Faculty of Information Technology campus at Bozetechova 1, partly situated in the historic former Carthusian monastery dating back to 1375. The Welcome Reception will be hosted at the Rectorate of the Brno University of Technology at Antoninska 1 within the grand hall of its newly renovated neo-Baroque building. The Digital Forensics Rodeo and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Pivovarská Starobrno restaurant, part of the Starobrno Brewery at Mendel's Square. This location is adjacent to the Augustinian Monastery where Gregor Johann Mendel, the Austrian-Czech founder of modern genetics, lived and conducted his groundbreaking experiments. On Thursday, you will revisit Mendel's Square to attend the social event at U Královny Elišky (At Queen Eliška's), a charming winery nestled in historic wine cellars that lie deep beneath the streets of Brno. Friday's afternoon social trip will take you to the Technical Museum in Brno, which offers, among other things, an extensive collection of historic computers. Dedicated buses will be scheduled to transport you directly from the FIT campus, Bozetechova 1, to the museum.

April 1, 2025 to April 1, 2025

Participation

Topics of Interest

The Doctoral Symposium is open to fresh insights that challenge the current boundaries of digital forensics. The submissions can cover a broad range of topics related to digital forensics, including, but not limited to:

  • Anti-forensics and anti-anti-forensics
  • AI-assisted digital forensics
  • Case studies and trend reports
  • Cloud and virtualized environment forensics
  • Covert channels (e.g., TOR, VPN)
  • Cryptocurrency investigation
  • Development of digital forensic infrastructures
  • Digital evidence sharing and exchange
  • Digital evidence and the law
  • Digital forensic analysis of AI models
  • Digital forensic preparedness / readiness
  • Digital investigation case management
  • Digital forensic tool validation
  • Digital forensic triage / survey
  • Event reconstruction methods and tools
  • Forensics analysis and visualization of Big Data
  • Forensic analysis of anonymous networks
  • Forensic analysis of databases
  • Implanted medical devices
  • Incident response on malware and targeted attacks
  • Machine learning and data mining for digital evidence extraction/query
  • Memory acquisition and analysis
  • Methodology for digital forensic processes
  • Mobile and embedded device forensics
  • Multimedia (image, audio, video) data analysis
  • Network and distributed system forensics
  • Non-traditional forensic scenarios / contexts
  • SCADA / industrial control systems
  • Smart power grid forensics
  • Steganography and steganalysis
  • Smart building forensics
  • Vehicle forensics (e.g., drones, cars)
  • Visualization methods and tools for forensic analysis

Submission Information

The Doctoral Symposium invites contributions in the form of Short Research Papers. They must be original contributions, must not be under simultaneous publication review elsewhere, the lead author must be a student, and must align with the topics of interest of the symposium. Survey/literature review papers are not suitable for publication at DFDS. The proceedings of DFDS will be published open access in the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS).

Important note to authors about the new ACM open access publishing model

ACM has introduced a new open access publishing model for the International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS). Authors based at institutions that are not yet part of the ACM Open program and do not qualify for a waiver will be required to pay an article processing charge (APC) to publish their ICPS article in the ACM Digital Library. To determine whether or not an APC will be applicable to your article, please follow the detailed guidance here: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/author-guidance.

Further information may be found on the ACM website, as follows:

Full details of the new ICPS publishing model: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/faq
Full details of the ACM Open program: https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess

Please direct all questions about the new model to icps-info@acm.org.

Papers must be written in English, blinded, and must not exceed 6 single-spaced, two-column pages using the ACM template. This page limit does NOT include references and appendices, although references and appendices should be limited to one page each to the most extent possible (max 8 pages in total). Papers must be submitted as PDF files. Higher resolution graphics are required (vector graphics or >300 DPI). Authors can prepare their submission using the LaTeX template or the Microsoft Word template. In addition, an Overleaf template is available. Authors using LaTeX must use the “sigconf” call when using the ACM LaTeX Authoring template:

\documentclass[sigconf, screen, review]{acmart}

All submissions undergo an initial screening by the TPC Chair(s) ensuring relevance to the event and compliance with the submission criteria. Once approved, submissions will undergo a “double-blind” review process, therefore, the version submitted for review must not contain the names or affiliations of the authors and should anonymise content that readily identifies them. Please note that the Doctoral Symposium submissions will undergo a separate review process (and be published in a separate proceedings) compared to the full papers of the main DFRWS EU conference.

At least one full DFRWS EU registration per paper is required before submitting the camera-ready version, i.e., before the camera-ready submission deadline. Please note, this DFRWS EU registration is separate to any ACM ICPS publishing charge (should it apply). Authors MUST present their work in person at the symposium.

All contributions must be submitted to the Digital Forensics Doctoral Symposium track through the EasyChair site at https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=dfrwseu2025 

For questions related to the doctoral symposium, please send an email to: katerina (at) dfrws (dot) org

Click Here For Proposal Requirements

Deadlines

DateEvent
November 4, 2024 Paper submission via EasyChair
December 9, 2024 Notification of Acceptance
January 10, 2025 Camera Ready Submission

Committees

Organizing Committee

Symposium Chair

Aikaterini Kanta, Ph.D. (University of Portsmouth)

Symposium Co-Chair

Frank Breitinger, Ph.D (University of Lausanne)

Program Chair

Mark Scanlon, Ph.D. (University College Dublin)

Technical Program Committee

Frank Adelstein, Ph.D.

NFA Digital, LLC

Irfan Ahmed, Ph.D.

Virginia Commonwealth University

Stefan Axelsson, Ph.D.

Stockholm University

Edita Bajramovic, Ph.D.

Siemens Energy

Frank Breitinger, Ph.D.

University of Lausanne

Milan Čermák, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Felix Freiling, Ph.D.

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Jan Gruber, Ph.D.

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Chris Hargreaves, Ph.D.

University of Oxford

Martin Lambertz

Fraunhofer FKIE

Sean McKeown, Ph.D.

Edinburgh Napier University

Jan-Niclas Hilgert

Fraunhofer FKIE

Aikaterini Kanta, Ph.D.

University of Portsmouth

Jan Pluskal, Ph.D.

Brno University of Technology

Ricardo J. Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Universidad de Zaragoza

Jens-Petter Sandvik

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Mark Scanlon, Ph.D.

University College Dublin

Janine Schneider, Ph.D.

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

John Sheppard, Ph.D.

South East Technological University

Harm Van Beek, Ph.D.

Netherlands Forensic Institute

Wietse Venema, Ph.D.

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