(21‚àï08/2014) According to the recommendation of the COST Office, and the results of the Management Committee vote, the meeting in Haifa will be relocated to Frankfurt on the same dates. We strongly recommend all participants who have already arranged their travel and stay in Israel to proceed to cancellation as soon as possible. According to the COST Office message on 24 July, "costs, which have incurred so far and which are associated with this meeting in Israel and which cannot be reimbursed from elsewhere, can be covered by the Action Grant Holder. The detailed requirements for this have to be discussed in the nearby future."

Event title: PARSEME 3rd general meeting

Location: Haifa, Israel

Dates: from 8 to 10 September 2014 (Meeting from 8 to 9 September + tour on 10 September with the 10-11 Sept night at your own cost)

Hosting Institution: University of Haifa, Israel

Local Organizer: Shuly Wintner, University of Haifa. Feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions, requests, problems etc.

Program: The event will consist of plenary sessions, partly parallel Working Group sessions, a Management Committee meeting, and a Steering Committee meeting.The list of the admitted posters and the instructions for authors are now available.

Preliminary schedule

OOH = Ofer Observatory Hall (conference hall, 30th floor), see campus map
EB = Education Building (across the street from OOH)

Social program: A sightseeing tour is planned for Wednesday, 10 September 2014. A very preliminary idea of what is planned is listed on this map. Please note that it is very preliminary and many things can still change. The general idea is to leave early in the morning, see several sights in northern Israel that are harder to reach without a car, and return to Haifa late in the evening after a special dinner. The cost is expected to be very low.

Venue: The meeting will take place at the University of Haifa campus on Mount Carmel (map). The campus, which is very beautifully located on the edge of Israel's largest national park, is a little remote from the center of Haifa. It is not walking distance from any of the hotels, but public transportation from the Carmel Center (see below) is frequent and inexpensive (though it can take around 40 minutes during rush hours.) Plenary sessions will take place at the Ofer Observation Gallery conference hall, on the 30th floor of Eshkol Tower; Work Group meetings will take place at the nearby Education Building, across the road from the Eshkol Tower.

Travel: Haifa is the third largest city in Israel. It is about 100 kms north of Tel Aviv, with efficient train connections. Citizens of most European countries do not require visas for short visits to Israel. The main international airport of Israel is Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport (TLV). It is served by over 50 airlines, flying direct to more than one hundred destinations in about 50 countries, including most major European cities. Haifa is about 120 kms away from the airport, and is easily accessible via a direct train. Use 'Ben Gurion Airport' for the Origin and 'Haifa Hof HaKarmel' for the Destination. The train runs two-three times per hour during the day (and once hourly during the night), travel time is about 1:15 hours and the cost is about 8 euro (one-way). Caveat: public transportation in Israel is not operating during the Sabbath, which is defined as Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. This includes the trains from the airport to Haifa (but not local buses in Haifa proper, nor taxis). Those arriving or departing on Saturday will not be able to take the train. Instead, shuttles are running frequently from the airport to Haifa; operating like shared taxis, they do not require advance reservations and depart when they fill up.

Accommodation: The Carmel Center has a cluster of hotels (Crowne Plaza, Dan Carmel, Dan Gardens, Dan Panorama, Nof) with over 800 rooms at various price levels. This is a rather small area with a good selection of restaurants, bars, cafes, shopping and nightlife options, all within a short walking distance. Public transportation from the Carmel Center to the University and to the train station(s) is frequent and inexpensive. Taxis are abundant, and a trip from the Carmel Center to either the University or the Hof HaKarmel train station should be around 10 euro. See a map of the Carmel Center with some (very personal) recommendations of restaurants, cafes, bars, etc., as well as the locations of hotels and bus stops.

To get from the Carmel Center to the University of Haifa, use bus routes 37, 37א or 30. Tickets can be bought on the bus (cash only, around 7 ILS). Shared taxis also operate this route, look for yellow vans with the sign '37' on the front window.

The following hotels provide special rates for participants. Please note that rooms can run out very fast; it is therefore highly recommended that you make your reservation as soon as possible (cancelation policies are noted below). All rates are specified in US$ and include breakfast and taxes. Israelis have to add VAT.

• Crowne Plaza Haifa: USD153 (single standard), USD183 (double standard), USD168 (single deluxe), USD198 (double deluxe). Breakfast and wifi included. Deluxe rooms have a (breathtaking) view of the Haifa bay. Cancelation policy: 72 hours. Personally, I think it's the nicest hotel in the area. To book, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and mention PARSEME and the University of  Haifa special rates. (Reviews)
• Dan Carmel Haifa: USD185 (single), USD225 (double). Cancelation policy: 48 hours. Information on booking. (Reviews)
• Dan Gardens Haifa: USD85 (single), USD100 (double). Cancelation policy: 48 hours. Information on booking. (Reviews)
• Dan Panorama Haifa: USD155 (single), USD190 (double). Cancelation policy: 48 hours. Information on booking. (Reviews)
• Nof Hotel: USD80 (single standard), USD100 (double standard), USD103 (single superior), USD125 (double superior). To book, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., address it to Leeshay, and mention PARSEME and the University of Haifa special rates. (Reviews) No more available rooms.
• Villa Carmel: USD145 (single standard), USD155 (double standard), USD155 (single deluxe), USD180 (double deluxe). Breakfast and wifi included. Cancelation policy: 48 hours. This is small boutique hotel in a residential neighborhood but still close to the Center. Standard rooms tend to be small. To book, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and mention PARSEME and the University of  Haifa special rates. (Reviews)

Reimbursement: In order to apply for the reimbursement for this meeting, please accept the invitation that will be sent to you via e-COST before the meeting. After the meeting, fill in the reimbursement form that will be available online via the COST system and send all relevant signed documents to the Grant Holder, as indicated in the reimbursement form. Please note that since the meeting is planned for two days, at most three nights of accommodation (on 7-10 September) can be covered as per COST regulations. In other words, staying an additional night for the tour will be at your own expense (but will be worth it!).

Registration: Participation is free but registration is mandatory. Please register before July 15, 2014 by filling out this form. Please make sure you reserve your accommodation much earlier!

Sponsorship: The meeting is supported by COST, with generous contributions of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and the The Caesarea Edmond Benjamin de Rothschild Foundation Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science at the University of Haifa.

Call for poster proposals: We welcome poster proposals related to the scientific program of any of the four Working Groups.
Submission format: PDF, up to 2 pages (12pt font, 1in margins), following the EACL 2014 styles is recommended.  Please, include your name and affiliation, the title of the poster, and the Working Group concerned. The submissions should be sent via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
You may refer to results published previously in another venue or journal. Submissions are not anonymous and are open to all researchers and language technology experts from the Action's member countries.

The final acceptance decisions will be made by the PARSEME Steering Committee.

The presentation of the posters based on selected proposals will be twofold:
- a brief presentation (of about 2 minutes) of each poster will be done in a dedicated plenary session,
- posters will be displayed in the meeting rooms and a classical poster sessions will allow for parallel discussions.

Important dates:

• 15 June 2014: poster submission deadline
• 23 June 2014: notifications sent out
• 25 August 2014: the final version of the poster abstract due (see instructions for authors)
• 1 September 2014: the name of the poster presenter and 1 slide (in .pdf) for a 2-minute presentation due
• 8-9 September 2014: poster sessions and WG sessions
• 15 September: posters in A4 resolution due (for the website)

 Related event: ISCOL 2014 (the Israeli Seminar on Computational Linguistics) will be held in Haifa immediately before the PARSEME meeting (on Sunday, 7 September).