Usable Security & Privacy for Connected Healthcare

Overview

Connected healthcare ecosystems increasingly depend on Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, remote monitoring platforms, patient portals, telehealth systems, and AI-enabled clinical tools. These technologies operate in safety-critical contexts and handle sensitive data across complex, multi-stakeholder workflows.

This workshop focuses on the usability, security, and privacy challenges that arise in these settings. We aim to examine how security and privacy mechanisms interact with real-world practices, regulatory constraints, and user needs, while fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration.

The workshop is designed as a collaborative and discussion-oriented venue that encourages community feedback, emerging ideas, and interdisciplinary exchange around connected healthcare, usable security, privacy, AI-enabled systems, and healthcare technologies.

Topics of Interest

• Usable privacy and security in IoMT and remote monitoring
• User mental models, trust, and consent for AI-enabled health tools and chatbots
• Privacy-preserving interaction design for EHRs, telehealth, and patient portals
• Authentication, access control, and delegation in healthcare workflows
• Balancing usability, safety, and regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA-aligned practices)
• Evaluation methods and metrics for usable security and privacy
• Design patterns, anti-patterns, and guidelines for secure healthcare UX
• Deployment experiences, operational challenges, and interdisciplinary healthcare-security collaborations

Call for Proposals

We invite one-page talk proposals related to usable security and privacy challenges in connected healthcare. The workshop intentionally welcomes contributions at multiple stages of development and is designed to encourage constructive discussion, collaboration, and community feedback rather than archival publication.

We particularly encourage proposals describing:

• Early-stage or exploratory research ideas seeking community feedback
• Planned or ongoing projects in ideation or formative phases
• Preliminary findings, pilot studies, or work-in-progress
• Previously published work discussed from the perspective of lessons learned, unresolved challenges, replication concerns, or opportunities for extension
• Practitioner, deployment, or operational experiences from healthcare environments
• Position statements or discussion-oriented perspectives intended to spark broader community conversation

Proposals should be approximately one page in length (excluding optional references). No specific formatting template is required.

Each submission should clearly include:

• Title of the proposed talk
• Author(s) and affiliation(s)
• Identification of the presenting speaker(s)
• Contact email(s)
• A concise description of the proposed topic, motivation, and intended discussion points

Authors may optionally indicate whether they prefer:

• Lightning / Short Talk: approximately 5–7 minutes
• Longer Talk: approximately 12–15 minutes

Proposals will be selected based on relevance to the workshop themes, interdisciplinarity, potential to stimulate discussion, and expected value to the workshop community.

At least one presenter of each accepted proposal is expected to attend the workshop in person.

Submission Link: https://forms.gle/q5LQAKkUBmQA7NcM8

If you have questions regarding submissions or workshop participation, please contact Muhammad Hassan or Ramazan Yener.

Workshop Format

The workshop will include short and longer talk presentations, guided breakout discussions around thematic areas such as IoMT deployments, AI-enabled health tools, healthcare workflows, and broader plenary discussions to identify open problems, future research directions, and collaboration opportunities.

Accepted proposals may be shared with participants before the workshop to encourage informed and productive discussion.

Organizers

• Masooda Bashir, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Muhammad Hassan, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Ramazan Yener, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Program Committee

• Tamara Bonaci, Northeastern University
• Amna Batool, University of Notre Dame
• Rebecca Panskus, Ruhr University Bochum
• Taha Khan, Carnegie Mellon University
• Weijia He, University of Southampton

Frequently Asked Questions

Do accepted proposals appear in formal proceedings?

No, as per SOUPS organizers the workshop will not publish formal proceedings. Therefore, you can submit a 1-page proposal summarizing research at any stage. The goal is to support discussion, early feedback, and interdisciplinary exchange.

Can I submit previously published work?

Yes. We welcome proposals discussing previously published work, especially presentations focused on lessons learned, open challenges, limitations, replication concerns, or opportunities for future extension.

Can I submit early-stage or incomplete work?

Absolutely. Early-stage ideas, pilot studies, formative research, and exploratory directions are strongly encouraged.

Is a full paper required?

No. Only a one-page proposal is required, and no specific formatting template is necessary.

How will proposals be selected?

Proposals will be evaluated based on relevance, discussion potential, interdisciplinarity, and expected value to the workshop community rather than solely on research maturity.

Contact

For questions regarding submissions, participation, or workshop logistics, please contact:

Muhammad Hassan (mhassa42@illinois.edu)
Ramazan Yener (ryener2@illinois.edu)