Matheuristics — methods that leverage mathematical programming in heuristic contexts — have emerged as a powerful approach for solving complex optimization problems across a broad range of domains. As learning techniques and optimization models converge, new opportunities arise for approaches that combine solution quality, robustness, and scalability.
This special session brings together researchers and practitioners from operations research, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to discuss advancements, challenges, and applications of matheuristics in the era of data-driven decision-making. We invite contributions that either advance matheuristic methodologies or demonstrate their impact in practical settings, with the aim of bridging mathematical rigor and heuristic flexibility.
Topics of interest include novel hybrid designs, learning-enhanced matheuristics, decomposition and surrogate-based strategies, benchmarking studies and applications in logistics, energy, finance, and other domains.
Types of Submissions
When submitting a paper to LION 20, authors are required to select one of the following three types of papers:
Long paper: original novel and unpublished work (12- 15 pages in LNCS format);
Short paper: an extended abstract of novel work (6-11 pages in LNCS format);
Abstract: for oral presentation only (maximum 1000 words in LNCS format).
You can submit original and unpublished work either as a long paper (12-15 pages, including references) or short paper (6-11 pages, including references). You can choose to add an appendix.
Paper Format
Please prepare your paper in English using the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) template, which is available [ Here ]. Papers must be submitted in PDF.
Submission System
All papers must be submitted using OpenReview (link coming soon)
All abstracts (for presentation only) must be submitted using OpenReview (link coming soon)
Review Process
Please note that the review process for LION 20 is single blind. The special session will be part of the regular conference and submissions are subject to the same peer review as all others.
Important dates
Full (long and short) paper: Feb 1, 2026
Author notification: April 1, 2026
Abstract submission (for presentation only): March 1 - April 8, 2026
Abstract notification: April 15, 2026
Registration opens: March 31, 2026
Early registration deadline: April 23, 2026
Late registration deadline: May 20, 2026
Camera-ready papers: May 15, 2026
Conference at Milan, Italy, June 15–19, 2026
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Vittorio Maniezzo, prof.
Department of Computer Science University of Bologna
vittorio.maniezzo@unibo.it<mailto:vittorio.maniezzo@unibo.it> || via dell'Università n. 50
orcid: 0000-0002-1220-1235 || 47521 Cesena, Italy
https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/vittorio.maniezzo/en
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