VK25 | SHOWCASE OPEN CALL

Join the Showcase!

Submit your work!

Are you a design student with a love for visualisations and pattern-finding, a student-scientist with an eye for the visual, or a journalist-to-be with a talent for data-driven stories? Are you ready to share your work with the world?

As in previous years, the VK 2025 conference features a showcase of inspiring student works in the field of information design and data visualisation. Open to your interpretation, and with the guidance of our suggested subtopics, this year’s theme is Resilience. How can we visualise systems or processes that are in constant flux? What can we learn from humanity’s capacity to bounce back and adapt to change? And how can information design help us see clearer?

We are now inviting you to discuss and attempt to answer these questions by entering your work to the VK25 student showcase! The selected works will be displayed during Visualising Knowledge 2025, 6th June onwards at Aalto University in Finland, and will feature alongside works by invited speakers and industry professionals.

Submit your work before April 4th for a chance to have your work showcased and to attend the conference free of charge as a selected entrant.

[SUBTOPICS]

Complexity

Getting meaning from data plays a vital part in understanding the world around us. How can we use data storytelling and scrollytelling to explore and explain complexities and uncertainties? How do we visualize and communicate resilience in the face of natural disasters or societal upheaval? We welcome a wide range of approaches to knowledge visualisation and representation of data.

Keywords: resilience, scrollytelling, data humanism, data journalism, accessibility, data art

Law & Policy

Law and policy exist as complex, diverse and deeply layered systems that span the entire world. Heavily involving geopolitics, science, health, industry and every subject imaginable, it is a fabric that permeates every level of our lives, and it is resilient by design. Can this complex system be visualised? How can we use data visualization to both better use and understand legal frameworks and their limitations? What role does resilience play in governance, human rights, and policy-making?

Keywords: law, legal data, ethics, data journalism, maps/borders, geopolitics, geospatial data, investigative journalism, regulation, democracy, governance

AI for Humanity

It is important, now more than ever, to discuss the current and future role of AI in our lives. The growing presence of AI tools for automation opens up new avenues of possibility and potential, and therefore may enhance our resilience in a number of ways, but is there a cost? What is our role in approaching and embracing this change responsibly? In envisioning an AI future where humanity is centred, how do we address the biases, ethical concerns and the social implications? What does an equitable and sustainable AI future look like?

Keywords: AI tools, human-centred, ethics, biases, responsible data, decision-making, algorithmic transparency, sustainability

Nature

We are constantly in search of a deeper understanding of our natural world. Considering recent developments in science, medicine, exploration of space and the depths of the ocean, we are pushing at the final frontiers of nature, and understanding its capacity for resilience -- as well as its limits -- is of vital importance. How can data visualisation contribute to greater understanding on these topics? Can it support decision making at the individual and state-level, and grant us the ability to make better decisions for our future?

We welcome interdisciplinary and wide-ranging approaches to visualisation of topics related to nature, science, health, and the environment.

Keywords: geopolitics, environment, decision-making, climate change, policy-making, open access, science, medicine, sustainability, conservation, ecosystem services, multi-species

[TIMELINE]

20th DEC 2024Registration Opens.

4th APR 2025Submission Deadline for entries

Mid-APRIL 2025Notification of Selected Entrants

12th MAY 2025Final deadline for print, video or audio files for those selected entries that are set up by Visualising Knowledge.

2nd JUN 2025Set up of works in the showcase space.

[REQUIREMENTS]

SUBMISSION • The showcase call opens for submissions on 20th December 2025.

• The final deadline for entries is 4th April 2025 at 11:59 pm GMT+2.

• Entries can be submitted by individuals or as part of a group.

• All entries must be submitted (one form per entry) through: here

• Entries can be in the form of a PDF and/or URLs to project- websites and videos.
The maximum file size is 1 GB.

• There is no entry fee. Entrants will be rewarded with the opportunity to present their work at the showcase and attend the conference for Free.

• They will be featured on our website.

If you have any questions or trouble with uploading your work please contact: vizknowledge@aalto.fi

SELECTION • The selection of entries will take place in April 2025 at Aalto University, Finland.

• The jury will comprise practitioners and academics in the field of information design and data visualisation as well as a student representative.

• No member of the jury will be allowed to evaluate their own entries or entries created in their course.

• Entries are selected based on the use of data, conceptual strength, aesthetic quality and innovation in interaction and use of media.

• The jury will also take into account the balanced representation of the entrants’ colleges/universities.

• Depending on the types and amount of entries, a total of 10 to 15 entries will be selected.

NOTIFICATION • Participants with selected entries will be notified in mid-April.

• We will contact entrants individually to discuss the terms of showcasing their work (i.e. set-up, format, display, etc).

FINAL ENTRIES • The final files for entries that will be printed out and/or set up by Visualising Knowledge must be submitted by 12th May.

• The set-up of the showcase is Thursday, 5th June

• The showcase will be exhibited at the Visualising Knowledge 2025 conference 6th June onwards.

• Selected entrants will have the opportunity to attend the conference for free.

[ELIGIBILITY & CONTACT]

Eligibility:

Entries must be from the field of information design or data visualization. Entries must be the original work of entrants.

Legal:

Each entrant has the responsibility to ensure that they have the right to submit their entry and that no contracts are infringed upon by the submission of that entry. Copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all entries submitted for this speaker call remain with the respective owner. However, each entrant grants Visualizing Knowledge/Aalto University the right to feature any of the submitted entries on social media channels, websites and publications. Entrants will not receive remittance or notification for such publication, though each work will be credited adequately.