Sponsors and Partner Organisations
The ASSETS 2008 Conference would like to acknowledge the following organisations for allowing their faculty and staff to dedicate time and energy to the organisation of this conference:
Sponsors
SIGACCESS
SIGACCESS promotes the interests of professionals working on research and development of computing and information technology to help persons with disabilities. The SIG membership (from both academia and industry) focuses on the application of technologies to serve the needs of persons with vision, motor, hearing, and speech impairments; cognitive limitations, including learning disabilities; and issues of ageing. Topics on advanced technologies, assistive technologies, and design form the core of the research topics. The SIG also strives to educate the public to support careers for disabled persons.
Partner Organisations
The ACM Student Research Competition Sponsored By Microsoft Research
Sponsored by Microsoft Research, the ACM Student Research Competition is an internationally recognised venue for undergraduate and graduate researchers to:
- Share research results
- Exchange ideas and gain new insights
- Meet and talk with academic and industry luminaries
- Understand the possible practical applications of their research
- Perfect their communications skills
Through Microsoft Research sponsorship, ACM is able to provide more opportunities for students to present their research by increasing the number of SRC's hosted by ACM Special Interest Group Conferences.
Doctoral Consortium Supported by The National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defenseā¦" In addition to funding research in the traditional academic areas, the agency also supports "high-risk, high pay-off" ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects that may seem like science fiction today, but which the public will take for granted tomorrow. And in every case, the NSF ensures that research is fully integrated with education so that today's revolutionary work will also be training tomorrow's top scientists and engineers.
Liberated Learning
Founded by IBM Research and Saint Mary's University, the Liberated Learning Consortium is an international research group dedicated to advancing speech recognition technology and techniques to improve information accessibility. With 18 partners from Canada, USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, and Australia, the Consortium runs a diverse project portfolio that includes research and development of transcription and captioning applications. To learn about more about Liberated Learning, visit http://www.liberatedlearning.com
The University of Manchester
The University Of Manchester is Britain's largest single-site university with a proud history of achievement. Many of the advances of the 20th century began at the University, such as the work by Rutherford leading to the splitting of the atom and the developments of the world's first modern computer in 1948. Today, The University Of Manchester is one of the world's top centres for biomedical research, leading the search for new treatments for life-threatening diseases. It is also at the forefront of new discoveries in science and engineering. The University is also applying its expertise and knowledge to solving some of the major social, economic and environmental problems confronting mankind around the globe.
Saint Mary's University
Saint Mary's University was founded in 1802 by Reverend Edmund Burke and is the oldest English-speaking, Roman Catholic initiated university in Canada. The school is best known today for having one of the best football programs in Canada, with SMU's Huskies being the first Atlantic Canadian university team to advance to the world finals in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals.. The university also has strong undergraduate programs, and nationally leading programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies.





