Theory Announcements

Thursday, March 5, 2026

[DMANET] CfP: IFORS 2026, Metaheuristics area

Sorry for cross-posting

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The 24th Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies

12-17 July 2026, Vienna, Austria

Metaheuristics Area
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We are organising the Metaheuristics area for the 24th Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS 2026) in Vienna, Austria, https://ifors2026.at/home. IFORS is a 60-year-old organisation in operational research, currently composed of 50 national societies. Its origins date back to 1955, and its first event was held in 1957. This year, the conference will take place in Vienna, which is one of the leading meeting (and research) destinations in the world. The University of Vienna will be the main organiser, which is located in the centre of Vienna where the conference will be held.

The Metaheuristics area is one of the areas in operational research which are presented in IFORS and it will comprise everything related to its topic, which includes, among others, the

* applications in bioinformatics, scheduling and timetabling, vehicle routing, strip packing, etc.

* metaheuristics methods such as tabu search, simulated annealing, iterated local search, evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm optimisation, ant colony optimisation, etc.

* hybrid approaches that use machine learning, surrogate-assisted techniques, etc.

* in-depth experimental analysis of metaheuristics

* automated algorithm configuration, design and automated algorithm selection

* large language models for metaheuristics

* multi-objective, time-varying and stochastic problems for metaheuristics

* matheuristics

* theoretical analysis of metaheuristics and their impact on algorithm design.

* .. and a variety of other topics in metaheuristics.

Abstract can be submitted (i) either to the Metaheuristics area or, if suitable, (ii) to any of the special sessions with the associated code:

* Metaheuristics for bioinformatics, Chairs Laetitia Jourdan and Julie Jacques, Code 4eb36aba

* Metaheuristics for Scheduling and Timetabling, Chair Sara Ceschia and Roberto Maria Rosati, Code 25aeaf18

* Large language models in Metaheuristics Research, Chairs Christian Blum and Luca di Gaspero, Code 52f7f52f

* Automated algorithm configuration and selection, Chair Leslie Pérez Cáceres, Code 7ca74e41

* Metaheuristics and experiments, Chair Thomas Stützle, Code af94cbe8

* Metaheuristics and applications, Chair Nysret Musliu, Code 87abcead

* Matheuristics, Chair Vittorio Maniezzo and Guenther Raidl, Code 55018c8a

**** Submission Details ****

Abstract must be submitted via the conference website https://www.euro-online.org/conf/ifors2026. Each abstract is limited to 600 characters (excluding formulas and mathematical notation).

The main authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to present their paper at the conference.

Important Dates:

15 March 2026: Deadline for abstract submissions
25 April 2026: Early bird registration deadline
1 May 2026: Final registration deadline for authors
12-17 July 2026: Conference Date

Metaheuristics organisers

Prof. Thomas Stuetzle, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Prof. Sara Ceschia, Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy
Prof. Leslie Pérez Cáceres Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

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Wednesday, March 4, 2026

[DMANET] [CFP] 10 Days Left: IEEE EAIS 2026 Special Session on Self-Improving Systems (XAI, LLMs, & Evolutionary Strategies)

*Dear Colleagues,*

This is a final reminder that the paper submission deadline for the Special
Session at *IEEE EAIS 2026* is approaching in *10 days.*

*Conference:* 2026 IEEE International Conference on Evolving and Adaptive
Intelligent Systems *Session:* Self-Improving Systems: The Convergence of
Evolutionary Strategies and Machine Intelligence using XAI and LLMs *Dates:*
September 21-23, 2026 *Venue:* University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

*Aim & Scope:* We seek to move beyond static AI models toward the creation
of truly self-improving systems—adaptive, resilient, and transparent
computational entities capable of continuous learning and autonomous
optimization. We encourage interdisciplinary work across:

*Evolutionary & Hybrid Architectures:* ES + DRL, NAS, and
co-evolutionary systems.
-

*LLMs & Generative Models:* Using LLMs for mutation, prompt
optimization, and code generation.
-

*XAI & Trust:* Interpretability as an objective, auditing autonomous
learning cycles, and safety/ethics.
-

*Applications:* Robotics, AutoML, Finance, and Scientific Discovery.

*Submission Guidelines:* Papers must be submitted via the official IEEE
EAIS 2026 portal. Please ensure you select our Special Session title during
the submission process. All accepted and presented papers will be published
in *IEEE Xplore.*

*Important Dates:*

*Submission Deadline:* March 15, 2026
-

*Acceptance Notification:* May 15, 2026
-

*Camera Ready:* June 15, 2026

*For full details, please visit:*
https://sites.google.com/view/siseais2026/inicio
<https://sites.google.com/view/siseais2026/inicio?authuser=1>

We look forward to reviewing your innovative contributions and seeing you
in Pisa!

Best regards,

*The Organizing Committee:*

Dr. Diego Oliva (Universidad de Guadalajara, México)

Dr. Jorge Ramos-Frutos (Tecnológico Nacional de México Jiquilpan, México)

[DMANET] TT Professorship 'Operations Research and AI' at the Technical University of Munich

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) invites applications for the
position of Tenure Track Assistant Professor

in »Operations Research and AI«

to begin as soon as possible. The position is a W2 fixed-term (6 year)
tenure-track professorship with the
possibility for promotion to a tenured W3.

=> Please submit your application by 30 March 2026 via the TUM
recruitment portal: www.recruit.tum.de

Scientific Environment

The professorship will be assigned to the TUM School of Management and
located in Munich. The TUM School
of Management is one of the leading management schools in Germany and
internationally. Our focus in research
and teaching is at the interface of management and technology, where we
aim to make a real impact. Our faculty
members publish regularly in top business, economics, and general
science journals. An interdisciplinary research
environment awaits the successful candidate. The school has close ties
to industry.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities include research and teaching as well as the
promotion of early-career scientists. We seek to
appoint an expert in the research area of Operations Research with a
focus on Artificial Intelligence, especially
data driven optimization and machine learning. Teaching responsibilities
include courses in the university's
bachelor's, master's, and PhD programs, particularly in the Master in
Management and Technology.

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates who have demonstrated initial scientific
achievements and the capacity for
independent research at the highest international level. The ideal
candidate combines strong methodological
expertise in both disciplines and their intersections and should have
the potential to publish in leading academic
journals. A university degree and an outstanding doctoral degree or
equivalent scientific qualification, as well as
pedagogical aptitude, are prerequisites. Substantial research experience
abroad is expected (please see
www.tum.de/en/faculty-recruiting-faq/ for further information).

Our Offer

Based on the best international standards and transparent performance
criteria, TUM offers a merit-based
academic career path for tenure track faculty from Assistant Professor
through a permanent position as Associate
Professor, and on to Full Professor. The regulations of the TUM Faculty
Recruitment and Career System apply.
TUM provides excellent working conditions in a lively scientific
community, embedded in the vibrant research
environment of the Greater Munich Area. The TUM environment is
multicultural, with English serving as a common
interface for scientific interaction. TUM offers attractive salary
conditions and social benefits.
The TUM Munich Dual Career Office (MDCO) provides tailored career
consulting to the partners of newly
appointed professors. The MDCO assists the relocation and integration of
new professors, their partners and
accompanying family members.

Your Application

TUM is an equal opportunity employer and explicitly encourages
applications from women. The position is suitable
for disabled persons. Disabled applicants will be given preference in
case of generally equivalent suitability,
aptitude and professional performance.
Application documents should be submitted in accordance with TUM's
application guidelines for professors.
These guidelines and detailed information about the TUM Faculty
Recruitment and Career System are available
at www.tum.de/faculty-recruiting. Here you will also find TUM's
information on collecting and processing personal
data as part of the application process.
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*
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* addressed to DMANET but to the original sender. The
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* update of the replies received and to communicate it
* via DMANET.
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[DMANET] Postdoc position in Prague: Learning-Augmented Combinatorial Optimization Algorithms for Scheduling and Packing

Offer Description:

The project addresses difficult scheduling and packing problems in the
sense of computational complexity, for which classical exact approaches
are often impractical at realistic scales. The goal is to design new
algorithmic frameworks that combine established tools from Operations
Research with modern Machine Learning methods to produce high-quality
solutions within acceptable computational times. While rooted in OR, the
project requires and will further develop strong competencies in Machine
Learning.

Over the past decade, learning-augmented optimization has emerged as a
promising paradigm. In exact methods, machine learning has been used to
tune solver parameters or guide search in tree-based algorithms for
mathematical programming. In heuristic optimization, learning has
supported diversification strategies, automated selection of algorithms
for specific instances, and even direct construction of solutions. More
recently, reinforcement learning and deep learning techniques have been
used to guide local search procedures, particularly for transportation
and routing problems, demonstrating substantial performance improvements.

This project will focus on scheduling and packing settings, developing
general methodologies rather than problem-specific tricks. Two
complementary research directions will be pursued.

First, machine learning will be used to improve the parameterization of
heuristic algorithms.

Second, learning methods—especially reinforcement learning—will be
employed to guide the exploration of solution spaces. This includes
selecting promising neighborhoods, prioritizing moves in local search,
or constructing solutions incrementally.

The research will build on several successful applications of ML in
combinatorial optimization. These include reinforcement learning–guided
greedy procedures for graph optimization problems, predictive models for
deciding when decomposition techniques should be applied, and
classifiers that identify structural characteristics of high-quality
solutions. Additional directions involve predicting optimal objective
values for complex engineering design problems and developing
reinforcement learning–enhanced metaheuristics, such as iterated local
search for makespan minimization in advanced manufacturing scheduling.

The developed methods will be evaluated on challenging NP-hard
scheduling and packing problems, including both well-studied benchmark
problems with strong existing heuristics and more applied, real-world
problems where current methods remain insufficient. The objective is to
demonstrate that the integration of ML and OR techniques can yield
robust improvements across different problem types.

About the group: The Optimization Group, led by Zdenek Hanzalek, focuses
on scheduling and combinatorial optimization. The group collaborates
strongly with high-tech companies (CEZ – Czech Energy Group, Porsche
Engineering Services, EATON, Skoda Auto, ST Microelectronics,
Volkswagen, DHL, …). Zdenek is the principal investigator of the
Roboprox project and organizer of SchedulingSeminar.com.

[1] Bengio, Y., Lodi, A. Prouvost, A. (2021). Machine Learning for
Combinatorial Optimization: a Methodological Tour d'Horizon, European
Journal of Operational Research, 290:405-421.
[2] Nina Mazyavkina, Sergey Sviridov, Sergei Ivanov, Evgeny Burnaev,
Reinforcement learning for combinatorial optimization: A survey,
Computers & Operations Research, Volume 134, 2021.
[3] Heinz, V.; Hanzálek, Z.; Vilím, P.: Reinforcement Learning for
Search Tree Size Minimization in Constraint Programming: New Results on
Scheduling Benchmarks, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Volume 209,
November 2025, 111413.
[4] Roman Václavík, Antonín Novák, Přemysl Šůcha, Zdeněk Hanzálek,
Accelerating the Branch-and-Price Algorithm Using Machine Learning,
European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 271, Issue 3, 2018,
Pages 1055-1069.
[5] Grus, J.; Hanzalek, Z.: Automated placement of analog integrated
circuits using priority-based constructive heuristic, Computers &
Operations Research, Volume 167, 106643, July 2024.

Contract details and dates
Hours Per Week: 40
Offer Starting Date: April 1, 2026

Application Deadline
Date and Time: March 31, 2026 - 23:45 (Europe/Prague)

Company/Institute:
Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics,
Czech Technical University in Prague,
City: Prague
Postal Code: 160 00
Street: Jugoslávských partyzánů 1580/3

Skills/Qualifications:
Motivation to perform excellent research, become part of the
world's research communities in your field, and publish in first-tier
scientific conferences and journals,
Ph.D. degree or equivalent (awarded or to be completed soon),
Co-author of at least 3 papers published in impact factor journals
or prestigious conferences,
Professional proficiency in spoken/written English (knowledge of
the Czech language is not required).

Specific Requirements: good background in scheduling, combinatorial
optimization and algorithm design/implementation.

Benefits:
An initial appointment for 1 year (with an extension of up to
2 years)
Salary around 70000 CZK gross monthly; check the Numbeo
database for the cost of living in Prague
Full social and health insurance
30 days of paid annual leave
Children's corner, kindergarten, and elementary school
operated by the Czech Technical University in Prague
Additional benefits such as subsidized meals, yearly benefits
supporting recreational and sports activities, as well as health care
programs
An informal and inclusive international working environment at
the Industrial Informatics Department, CIIRC, CTU in Prague.

Selection process:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications at:
https://forms.gle/hj7bMTuKM4ghzPC17 [using Postdoc Position ID:
04-Postdoc-Hanzalek]

The application package should contain:
Motivation letter (up to two pages), stating personal goals and
research interests
Academic curriculum vitae, including a list of publications
highlighting the three most important ones
Contact details for two to three referees who could support your
application,
A copy or a link to your Ph.D. thesis,
Date of your Ph.D. award or the expected date of your Ph.D. thesis
defense.

Euraxess code:
https://www.euraxess.cz/jobs/415421

--
Zdenek Hanzalek
Industrial Informatics Department,
Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics,
Czech Technical University in Prague,
Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
https://rtime.ciirc.cvut.cz/~hanzalek/

[DMANET] Postdoc position in Prague: Solving Large-Scale Scheduling Problems: Hybridization, Parallelism, and Model Diversity in Constraint Programming

Offer Description:

Scheduling problems such as the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling
Problem (RCPSP) remains one of the central challenges in combinatorial
optimization, particularly in large-scale industrial settings. As
instance sizes grow and objective functions become more sophisticated,
classical exact or single-strategy heuristic approaches are no longer
sufficient. Future progress requires carefully designed hybrid and
parallel solution frameworks.
Today, Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) is the dominant heuristic
paradigm in modern constraint programming (CP) scheduling solvers such
as IBM ILOG CP Optimizer, Google OR-Tools, and OptalCP. Compared to
traditional local search, LNS offers improved diversification and a
stronger ability to escape local optima by iteratively destroying and
repairing large fragments of a schedule. In parallel, Failure-Directed
Search (FDS) provides a systematic mechanism for exploring the entire
search space using a fail-first principle to prove infeasibility or
optimality.
While this combination is highly effective for classical objectives such
as makespan minimization, CP solvers become less efficient when handling
more complex criteria, such as cost-aware scheduling, or specific
constraints, such as sequence dependent setup times. In such cases,
purely generic search strategies may struggle to quickly produce
high-quality incumbents, which are crucial for pruning the search space.
A promising research direction is the integration of problem-oriented
heuristics within the CP solving process. Fast constructive or
improvement heuristics tailored to specific RCPSP structures can
generate strong feasible solutions early in the search. These solutions
provide tight upper bounds that can be injected into the CP model as
hard objective constraints, significantly reducing the search space
explored by FDS. The stronger the incumbent, the more aggressively the
complete search can prune suboptimal regions.
Beyond hybridization, large-scale RCPSP strongly benefits from parallel
search architecture. Modern CP solvers, such as OptaCP, support multiple
solver workers running concurrently. Instead of replicating identical
models across workers, we propose exploiting model diversity: each
worker can employ a different CP model formulation, search strategy, or
propagation emphasis. For example, one worker may use a time-indexed
formulation, another a start-time interval-based model, and another a
precedence- or flow-oriented reformulation. Similarly, workers can
differ in symmetry braking, variable ordering, restart policies, or LNS
neighborhood design.
Such heterogeneous parallelism increases robustness and coverage of the
search space. Workers can share global incumbents, objective bounds, and
nogoods during execution. When one worker discovers a high-quality
solution, all others immediately benefit through tighter pruning.
Conversely, proofs of infeasibility or bound improvements obtained by
one model can accelerate convergence across the entire portfolio. This
cooperative, portfolio-based architecture combines intensification
within each worker with diversification across workers.
The proposed research aims to design and analyze these hybrid and
parallel CP frameworks namely for large-scale RCPSP. Emphasis will be
placed on principled model reformulation, effective bound sharing, and
scalable synchronization mechanisms that preserve solver efficiency
while maximizing information exchange.

[PER] L. Perron, P. Shaw, V. Furnon, Propagation guided large
neighborhood search, in: M. Wallace (Ed.), Principles and Practice of
Constraint Programming – CP 2004, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin,
Heidelberg, 2004, pp. 468–481.
[OPT] ScheduleOpt: OptalCP's solver landing page (2023). URL
https://scheduleopt.com/
[VIL ]P. Vilím, P. Laborie, P. Shaw, Failure-directed search for
constraint-based scheduling, in: International Conference on Integration
of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations
Research, Springer, 2015, pp. 437–453.

Contract details and dates
Hours Per Week: 40
Offer Starting Date: April 1, 2026

Application Deadline
Date and Time: March 31, 2026 - 23:45 (Europe/Prague)

Company/Institute:
Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics,
Czech Technical University in Prague,
City: Prague
Postal Code: 160 00
Street: Jugoslávských partyzánů 1580/3

Skills/Qualifications:
Motivation to perform excellent research, become part of the world's
research communities in your field, and publish in first-tier scientific
conferences and journals,
Ph.D. degree or equivalent (awarded or to be completed soon),
Co-author of at least 3 papers published in impact factor journals or
prestigious conferences,
Professional proficiency in spoken/written English (knowledge of the
Czech language is not required).

Specific Requirements: good background in scheduling, combinatorial
optimization and algorithm design/implementation.

Benefits:
An initial appointment for 1 year (with an extension of up to 2 years)
Salary around 70000 CZK gross monthly; check the Numbeo database for
the cost of living in Prague
Full social and health insurance
30 days of paid annual leave
Children's corner, kindergarten, and elementary school operated by the
Czech Technical University in Prague
Additional benefits such as subsidized meals, yearly benefits
supporting recreational and sports activities, as well as health care
programs
An informal and inclusive international working environment at the
Industrial Informatics Department, CIIRC, CTU in Prague.

Selection process:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications at:
https://forms.gle/hj7bMTuKM4ghzPC17 [using Postdoc Position ID:
03-Postdoc-Hanzalek]

Euraxess code:
https://www.euraxess.cz/jobs/415419

[DMANET] GoldbergFest 2026 (20th June 2026 @ Oxford)

GoldbergFest 2026, a day of talks celebrating Leslie Goldberg's 60th birthday, will take place on Saturday 20th June 2026 in Oxford's Department of Computer Science. Please email the organisers (Andreas Galanis, Paul Goldberg, Standa Zivny) if you'd like to attend (so we know rough numbers).

More information here: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/standa.zivny/goldbergfest.html

[DMANET] Call for Papers - Springer Optimization and Its Applications edited book titled ‘Handbook of General Systems of Nonlinear Equations’ - Deadline May 1, 2026

Dear All,

This is the second Call for Chapters in the forthcoming Springer Optimization and Its Applications edited book titled 'Handbook of General Systems of Nonlinear Equations'. The book will be edited by Michael J. Hirsch, Alexander Semenov, and Panos M. Pardalos.

Please reply to this email and let us know if you are interested in or plan to submit a contribution.

Important Dates:

May 1, 2026 – deadline to submit initial draft to editors

July 1, 2026 – referee reports sent back to authors with acceptance decision

September 30, 2026 – final versions of accepted chapters due to editors

December 30, 2026 – final version of book submitted to Springer

Early 2027 – final version of book released by Springer

Each chapter on average should be between 20 – 40 pages in length. Chapter templates can be found at the following link (use the "LaTeX template for contributed works"): https://www.springernature.com/gp/authors/publish-a-book/manuscript-guidelines

Chapter submissions and any questions should be sent to Michael J. Hirsch at mhirsch@iseatek.com.

Please share this announcement with interested colleagues.

With best regards,
Michael
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Michael J. Hirsch, Ph.D.
ISEA TEK, LLC
620 N. Wymore Rd., Suite 260
Maitland, FL 32751
mhirsch@iseatek.com www.iseatek.com
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[DMANET] SPIRE 2026

33rd International Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval

October 13-16, Hamilton, Canada

First call for papers

The International Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval
(SPIRE 2026) will be held at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Canada.
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/spire-2026/

# SCOPE

SPIRE 2026 covers research in all aspects of string processing,
information retrieval, computational biology, and related
applications. Typical topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

- String Processing: String pattern matching, text indexing, data
structures for string processing, text compression, compressed data
structures, compressed string processing, text mining, 2D pattern
matching, automata-based string processing, combinatorics on words.
- Computational Biology: Algorithms for DNA sequencing, assembly,
alignments, read error correction, metagenomics, transcriptomics,
gene and regulatory element recognition, motif finding, pangenomics,
variants discovery, phylogenetics, genome rearrangements.
- Information Retrieval: Retrieval models and ranking, theoretical models
and foundations of IR, efficiency and scalability topics in IR, knowledge
acquisition in IR, machine learning and natural language processing for
IR, knowledge representation and reasoning for IR, user-centric aspects
of IR, IR evaluation, fairness, accountability, transparency in IR,
domain-specific IR applications, web search.

# SUBMISSIONS

SPIRE 2026 invites submissions in two categories:
- Long papers: Up to 12 pages, excluding references and optional appendices.
- Short papers: Up to 6 pages, excluding references and optional appendices.

Papers should be submitted electronically via EasyChair via the following link:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=spire2026

As in past editions, the proceedings of SPIRE 2026 will be published
by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The
use of LNCS templates is mandatory. Suitable templates are available at
the Springer Website and on Overleaf. Use the LNCS style file as given:
do not change the margin size or the font; do not make a separate title
page, etc. Simultaneous submissions to other conferences with published
proceedings is not permitted. At least one author per accepted paper
is expected to register for the conference and present the paper. The
conference will be in-person, with online presentations only in
exceptional cases (e.g., authors with travel difficulties).

# AWARDS

The SPIRE 2026 Conference will present both a Best Paper Award and a Best Student Paper Award, each sponsored by Springer Nature for 500 euros, to recognize outstanding research contributions.

# IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadlines:

- Abstract Deadline: June 18, 2026 AoE
- Full paper deadline: June 25, 2026 AoE (firm deadline)

Notifications: August 6, 2026

Camera-ready version: August 20, 2026

Events:
- SPIRE: October 13 to 15, 2026
- Workshop on Compression, Text, and Algorithms (WCTA): October 16, 2026

# GENERAL CHAIRS

Neerja Mhaskar, McMaster University, Canada
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & University of Chile

# PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Neerja Mhaskar, McMaster University, Canada
Solon P. Pissis, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Netherlands

[DMANET] BCCA 2026: The 8th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications, Barcelona, Spain

*The 8th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications
(BCCA 2026)*

16-20 November 2026 | Barcelona, Spain

*Hybrid Conference*

*https://bcca-conference.org/*

Blockchain is a revolutionary technology in decentralized systems that
enables secure decentralized transaction processing while ensuring data
privacy and authenticity. It plays a significant role across several areas,
including the Internet of Things, supply chain management, manufacturing,
cyber-physical systems, and healthcare systems. Unlike centralized
transaction processing solutions, blockchain uses a distributed ledger to
record transactions across multiple devices; this prevents data breaches,
identity theft, and a range of cyber-related attacks, thereby enhancing
data privacy and security. This conference aims to attract the work of both
researchers and practitioners in cybersecurity to share and exchange
experiences and research in both academia and industry in the field of
blockchain.

*BCCA 2026 SYMPOSIA*

Authors are encouraged to submit their work to one of the following 20
specialized symposiums, each targeting a key research frontier:

1. Blockchain for LLMs and Decentralized AI
2. Blockchain for Agentic and Autonomous AI
3. Blockchain-Enabled Generative and Multimodal AI
4. AI and Machine Learning for Blockchain Optimization
5. Blockchain Security and Zero-Trust Web3
6. Blockchain-Enhanced Cybersecurity and Privacy
7. Post-Quantum Blockchain and Cryptography
8. Blockchain for Trustworthy and Ethical AI
9. Blockchain for Digital Identity and Governance
10. Blockchain Interoperability and Web3 Infrastructure
11. Blockchain for IoT and Cyber-Physical Systems
12. Blockchain for Digital Twins and the Metaverse
13. Blockchain for Autonomous Transportation and Smart Mobility
14. Blockchain for Big Data and Decision Intelligence
15. Blockchain Applications in Finance, Healthcare, and Government
16. Token Engineering and Decentralized Governance (DAOs)
17. Quantum Computing for AI and Blockchain
18. Green Computing and Sustainable Blockchain
19. Blockchain for Robotics and Autonomous Systems
20. Neuromorphic and Bio-Inspired Computing with Blockchain

*Important Dates:*

- Papers due: April 15, 2026
- Acceptance notification: June 30, 2026
- Registration: July 30, 2026
- Camera-ready paper: July 30, 2026
- Workshop/Tutorial Proposal Submission: April 15, 2026
- Workshop/Tutorial Proposal Acceptance: June 30, 2026

*Main track Submission Guidelines:*

There are three categories of submission (Overlength charges will be
applied!):

- *Long papers:* (7-8 pages)
- *Short papers: *(5-6 pages)
- *Systemization of Knowledge (SoK): *(10-15 pages)
- *Poster papers: *(1-2 pages)

*Submission Link: *https://conferences.sparcly.ai/SP/BCCA2026

*Organizing Committee*
*Honorary Chair*

- Jaime Lloret Mauri, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
- Jose Luis Muñoz-Tapia, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain

*General Co-Chairs*

- Christiancarmine Esposito, University of Salerno, Italy
- Attila Kertesz, University of Szeged, Hungary
- Vlado Stankovski, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

*Program Co-Chairs*

- Sandra Sendra, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
- Ismaeel Al Ridhawi, KCST, Kuwait

--Regards,

[DMANET] CFP: IEEE SmartSys 2026 @ SMARTCOMP - June 2026, Italy

[Apologies for cross-posting]

Eleventh IEEE Workshop on Smart Service Systems (SmartSys)

• Co-located with the IEEE International Conference on
Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP 2026)

• 22nd June 2026

• Messina, Italy

Name of the Organizers:

Workshop Co-Chairs

• Nirmalya Roy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

• Carlo Vallati, University of Pisa

• Gurdip Singh, George Mason University

TPC Co-Chairs

• Mohamed Nafea, Missouri University of Science &
Technology, US

• Marco Pettorali, University of Pisa, Italy

Publicity chair

• Jacopo Sabatino, University of Florence, Italy

• Avijoy Chakma, Bowie State University, US

Scope (Call for Papers)

Technology succeeds when it provides benefits to the society either
directly or indirectly. Understanding the societal and economic impact and
human-centered aspects of a smart system or technology in advance and
designing the system a-priori with potential value-added services help spur
the discoveries of new tools, methodologies and innovative services. Smart
service systems span across a variety of socio-technical facets comprising
of devices, people, organizations, environments and technologies to sense,
actuate, control and assess the physical, cyber and societal artifacts of
the human service systems. Besides the systems being self-adaptive and
fault-tolerant, need to be designed in such a way that it can continuously
increase the quality and productivity, the compliance and sustainability of
the smart services it offers. While human-centered perspective and
cognitive learning help create multi-facet value added services and
catalyze the sustained economic growth of smart service systems,
understanding the multi-modal sensing, control, heterogeneity and
interdependency between different physical, virtual and logical components
of such a complex system will enable the realization of new transformative
smarter service systems. If successful, this can help improve the
quality-of-experience of the customers, quality-of-life of the citizens and
quality-of returns of the stakeholders and investors.

Nurturing the development of smart service systems seeks for inter- and
trans-disciplinary crosscutting research threads spanning systems and
operations engineering spanning systems and operations engineering from
system and operational engineering, computer science and information
systems, social and behavioral science, computational modeling and
industrial engineering etc. The goal of this workshop is to bring together
practitioners and researchers from both academia and industry in order to
provide have a forum for discussion and technical presentations on the
foundational theories, models, and design on the fundamental knowledge and
principles of smart service systems that enable the value co-creation in
sensing, actuating, data analytics, learning, cognition, and control of for
human centric cyber-physical-social systems and future of work.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Innovative tools, methodologies and solutions for
smart service systems; example includes personalized healthcare, smart
energy, smart cities, smart manufacturing, intelligent transportation,
education, precision medicine and agriculture, national security etc.

• Information extraction and interpretation from
sensors, actuators, smart phones, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches),
and humans

• Context and situational awareness of smart service
systems

• Design of people-centric services and technologies for
providing better services such as food, transportation and places to live

• Novel architectures and interoperable solutions for
Internet of Things

• Models and methodologies for designing systems of
systems

• Big data analytics approaches for providing better
customer services, and innovating new types of sustainable services

• Edge AI and federated learning approaches enabling
real-time, privacy-preserving intelligence in distributed smart service
systems.

• Modeling, analysis, co-production, and co-evolution of
human activity, behavior and interaction for the effective adaptation and
percolation of longitudinal smart service systems

• Role of machine learning, artificial intelligence,
robotics, pervasive computing, blockchain, control theory, information and
communications technologies

• Role of formal methods in computer networks,
cyber-physical systems, Internet-of-Things and machine learning

• Design and developments of intelligent systems,
intelligent enterprises and cyber-physical-social-systems

• Design of inter-dependent complex global systems such
as healthcare, smart grid, computer networks, logistics and supply-chains,
financial markets etc.

• Smart infrastructure and testbed to support the
integration of autonomous systems and innovative applications

• Digital twins for modeling, monitoring, and optimizing
human-centric cyber-physical-social smart services.

• Design and implementation of analytical methods,
simulation software and experimental testbeds to evaluate the key
performance indicators of smart services

• Design of approaches for trustworthiness of
human-centered smart systems and algorithms

• Design and implementation of persuasive smart systems
and smart systems for behavior change support

• Fairness and Bias Mitigation in AI algorithms for
pervasive systems

• Fair, explainable, interpretable, trustworthy, and
private, AI systems with social/societal impact in areas of interest.

• Leveraging Human-in-the-Loop Feedback for Enhanced
Context-Awareness in pervasive systems

Submission instructions

Authors are invited to submit regular (full) papers for presentation at the
workshop, describing original, previously unpublished work, which is not
currently under review by another workshop, conference, or journal. Regular
papers should present novel perspectives within the general scope of the
workshop.

Papers may be no more than 6 pages in length. Papers in excess of page
limits shall not be considered for review or publication. All papers must
be typeset in double-column IEEE format using 10pt fonts on US letter
paper, with all fonts embedded. The IEEE LaTeX and Microsoft Word
templates, as well as related information, can be found at the IEEE
Computer Society website. Submissions must be made via EDAS.

Each accepted paper will require a full SMARTCOM registration (no
registration is available for workshops only).

Submission link: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=34470

Important dates

Manuscript submission: March 9, 2026

Paper acceptance notification: April 29, 2026

Camera-ready paper submission: TBA

Workshop date: June 22, 2026

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

[DMANET] Call for Papers: IEEE SMARTCOMP 2026 Workshops

IEEE SMARTCOMP 2026 Workshops - Submission Deadline: March 9th, 2026

Don't miss the opportunity to submit your work to one of the IEEE SMARTCOMP 2026 Workshops!

IEEE SMARTCOMP 2026 hosts a rich program of international workshops addressing cutting-edge research in smart computing and smart systems, including:

* DM-SmartHealth - Digital & Mobile Smart Health Systems
* LIFESEC - Whole-Lifecycle Security for Smart Systems
* QCNS - Quantum Computing & Networking for Smart Systems
* SmartAIDa - Smart AI Models & Data Sharing & Monetisation
* SmartAgr - Smart Agriculture for Environmental Sustainability
* SmartSys - Smart Service Systems
* SSC - Sensors & Smart Cities
* SMVG - Smart Moving & Intelligent Mobility

These workshops provide a focused venue for discussing emerging topics, interdisciplinary approaches, and innovative applications in smart computing ecosystems.
Full details and workshop links: https://smartcomp2026.unime.it/workshops/

Thanks & Regards,
Debasree Das

----

Debasree Das
Research Assistant
Chair of Mobile Systems
University of Bamberg
Webpage: https://debasree08.github.io/debasree/
An der Webrei 5
96047 Bamberg
Room: WE5/05.131

[DMANET] Numeration 2026, Nancy, June 1 - June 5, 2026 Second announcement - Registration is OPEN !

==================================================

Numeration 2026, Nancy, June 1 - June 5, 2026

==================================================

Numeration 2026 is the 2026 edition of a series of events around
numeration systems and substitution systems. The central themes of this
conference include (but are not limited to): number theory, diophantine
approximation, fractal geometry, substitutions, combinatorics on words,
ergodic theory, dynamical systems, and theoretical computer science.

-- Conference website --

https://numeration2026.sciencesconf.org/

The conference begins on Monday, June 1 at around 9 a.m., and the
scientific program ends on Friday, June 5 at around 12:30 p.m. (12:30-2
p.m. lunch break, 2 p.m. official closing of the conference).

-- Invited speakers (confirmed) --

Michael Baake, Bielefeld University, Germany
Ayreena Bakhtawar, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Colin Faverjon, University of Picardy Jules Verne, Amiens, France
Lukas Spiegelhofer, Technical University of Leoben, Austria
Manon Stipulanti, University of Liège, Belgium

-- Submission guidelines for contributed talks / posters --

* Authors are invited to submit an extended abstract (or a short
abstract containing a link to a preprint). Abstracts must be uploaded to
the website of the conference.
* If an abstract is not accepted for a contributed talk, the scientific
committee will decide whether it can be presented in the poster session.
* There are no proceedings and there is no special journal issue for
this conference, extended abstracts may cover work that has already been
published.

-- Registration is OPEN now !

Registration fees :

Early Bird : 88€ Student / 132€ Regular
Standard : 110€ Student / 165€ Regular

The registration fee includes conference fee, 5 lunches (Monday-Friday),
all coffee breaks, the gala dinner and the touristic afternoon.

-- Important dates --

** Submission deadline: 2 March 2026
** Acceptance notification: 30 March 2026
* Early Bird registration : before 7 April 2026
* Standard registration : after 7 April 2026
* Registration deadline : 4 May 2026
* Conference dates : 1-5 June 2026

-- Scientific Committee --

- Shigeki Akiyama, University of Tsukuba, Japan
- Valérie Berthé, IRIF, France
- Charlene Kalle, University of Leiden, Netherlands
- Lingmin Liao, University of Wuhan, China
- Edita Pelantová, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic
- Michel Rigo, University of Liège, Belgium
- Wolfgang Steiner, IRIF, France
- Cathy Swaenepoel, University of Paris Cité, France
- Jörg Thuswaldner, Technical University of Leoben, Austria

-- Organizing Committee (Contact : thomas.stoll@univ-lorraine.fr) --

- Cécile Dartyge (IECL, University of Lorraine, France)
- Damien Jamet (LORIA, University of Lorraine, France)
- Manfred Madritsch (Technical University of Leoben, Austria)
- Thomas Stoll (IECL, University of Lorraine, France)

-- Past editions --

The previous "Numeration" conferences have been in:

- Tsukuba (2025)
- Utrecht (2024)
- Liège (2023, 2011)
- Vienna (2019)
- Paris (2018)
- Rome (2017)
- Prague (2016, 2008)
- Nancy (2015)
- Debrecen (2014)
- Kyoto (2012)
- Leiden (2010)
- Marseille (2009)
- Graz (2007)
- Grenoble (2005)

[DMANET] CASC 2026 - Call for Papers

############################################################

The 28th International Workshop in
Computer Algebra in Scientific Computing
CASC 2026

Bath, UK
31 August - 4 September 2026

http://www.casc-conference.org

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
############################################################

The tools of Scientific Computing play an important role in the natural sciences and engineering. Computer Algebra Systems and the underlying algorithms for Symbolic Computation play an increasingly important role within Scientific Computation. The CASC workshop series has been running for two and a half decades to explore the interaction of these topics, their implementation, and their application.

The 28th CASC workshop will be held in Bath, UK from 31st August - 4th September 2026. There will be three invited talks, along with a program of contributed talks for which we now invite submissions.

#####################################
SCOPE
#####################################

The topics addressed in the workshop cover the following.

(1) The theory of symbolic computation and its implementation in computer algebra systems.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- new methods in exact computation;
- symbolic algorithms and their complexity;
- automated reasoning in algebra and geometry;
- parallel symbolic / symbolic-numeric computation;
- symbolic / symbolic-numeric methods for differential, differential-algebraic and difference equations;
- symbolic / symbolic-numeric methods for polynomial equations and inequalities; and
- the embedding of computer algebra technology within different software and hardware environments.

(2) All other areas of scientific computing in regards to their benefit from or use of computer algebra methods and software.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- the use of computer algebra in approximate computation;
- computer algebra methods in big data analytics; and
- computer algebra methods for simulation and modelling.

(3) Applications of the above throughout the natural sciences and engineering.

We welcome papers on both fundamental research and implementation issues. We also accept survey papers but these MUST BE CLEARLY LABELLED as such in the title.

#####################################
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION OPTIONS
#####################################

We encourage wide participation at the workshop. In light of this, and that the conference scope spans computer science and mathematics (with their different publication traditions), we offer a variety of participation options.

1. Participation with an accompanying paper in LNCS:

CASC has a long running relationship with the Springer book series Lecture Notes in Computer Science to publish conference proceedings. Work submitted here should contain an original research result. Submissions should be prepared in the LNCS style and not exceed 20 pages. Survey papers may have up to 25 pages.

2. Participation with abstract only:

Participants may opt to submit an extended abstract instead. These should have at least 2 and at most 4 pages in the LNCS style. They must contain the main results of the talk (without proofs). They will be lightly reviewed and distributed locally at the conference. We see three main audiences for this option:
- Those who wish to talk on previously published work (in which case that work should be clearly cited in the abstract).
- Those whose work is not yet ready for publication, but wish to receive feedback.
- Those who plan to submit a journal paper on the work shortly.
For the second group, there will be a subsequent journal special issue call after the conference (see below).

#####################################
SUBMISSION LINK
#####################################

All submissions should be done via easychair:

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=casc2026

Submissions must be prepared in the LNCS style and within the declared page count.

#####################################
IMPORTANT DATES
#####################################

Paper submission deadline: April 24th, 2026

Notification to Authors: May 29th, 2026

Submission of Final Version: June 5th, 2026

Conference: August 31 – September 4, 2026

#####################################
ACCOMPANYING SPECIAL ISSUE OF MATHEMATICS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
#####################################

CASC has formed a relationship with the Springer Birkhäuser journal Mathematics in Computer Science (MCS) for an ongoing series of special issues on topics presented at CASC. Work submitted here must be of journal quality and will be reviewed to the usual standards of MCS. Submission will be opened after the conference for authors of extended abstracts presented at that year's conference. There is no a priori page limit, but the length must be justified by the contents of the paper. At notification authors may be asked to revise their paper for a secondary deadline.

Deadline for MCS Special Issue submission: Autumn 2026

MCS submission is only open if an extended abstract is presented at the conference - eligible authors will be sent a separate submission link for this after the conference.

#####################################
INVITED TALKS
#####################################

Carsten Schneider, Director of Research Institute for Symbolic Computation, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

Joseph Tooby-Smith, University of Bath, UK

Thi Xuan Vu - Université de Lille, France

#####################################
COMMITTEES
#####################################

Program Committee Chairs

Ali Kemal Uncu - University of Bath, UK
Chenqi Mou - Beihang University, China

Program Committee

Francois Boulier - Université de Lille, France
Florent Bréhard – Laboratoire CRIStAL, France
Changbo Chen - Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Victor F. Edneral - Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Matthew England - Coventry University, UK
Jonathan Hauenstein - University of Notre Dame, USA
Rui-Juan Jing - Jinagsu University, China
François Lemaire – Laboratoire CRIStAL, France
Fatemeh Mohammadi – KU Leuven, Belgium
Michael Monagan - Simon Fraser University, Canada
Marc Moreno Maza - University of Western Ontario, Canada
Chenqi Mou - Beihang University, China
Katsusuke Nabeshima - Tokyo University of Science, Japan
Sonia Perez-Diaz - Universidad de Alcala, Spain
Daniel Robertz - RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Timur Sadykov - Plekhanov Russian University, Russia
Éric Schost - University of Waterloo, Canada
Thomas Sturm - CNRS, France
Sergue Vinitsky - Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia
Victor Selivanov - A.P. Ershov Institute of Informatics Systems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
Svetlana Selivanova - KAIST, South Korea
Akira Terui - University of Tsukuba, Japan
Ali Kemal Uncu - University of Bath, UK

General Chairs

François Boulier – University of Lille, France
Timur Sadykov - Plekhanov Russian University, Russia

Publicity Chairs

Dmitry Lyakhov - KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Thi Xuan Vu - Université de Lille, France

Advisory Board

Wolfram Koepf - University of Kassel, Germany
Ernst W. Mayr - Technical University of Munich, Germany
Werner M. Seiler - University of Kassel, Germany
Evgenii V. Vorozhtsov - Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Russia

Local Organisation

James Davenport - University of Bath, UK
Ali Kemal Uncu - University of Bath, UK

[DMANET] FLoC 2026 Mentoring Workshop: Call for Scholarship Applications

Call for Scholarship Applications

FLoC 2026 Mentoring Workshop (FLoC'26 MW)
https://www.floc26.org/mentoring-workshop
19 July and 25 July 2026
Lisbon, Portugal

Registration at https://www.floc26.org/registration
– Early registration deadline for conferences: 15 May
– Early registration deadline for workshops: 1 June

We warmly invite students to apply for travel scholarships to attend the Mentoring Workshop and FLoC.
– Application deadline: 13 April
– Notification: 20 April
– Application form: https://forms.gle/89q9AaNfZV3fkMzD7
– Further details below

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The purpose of the FLoC 2026 Mentoring Workshop (FLoC'26 MW) is to provide mentoring and career advice to senior undergraduate and junior researchers at all stages, to attract them to pursue research careers in various logic-related areas. The workshop will particularly encourage the participation of women and underrepresented minorities.

There will be two workshop days, one for each FLoC conference block, to target more specifically students attending the first or second conference week, and allow every student to be mentored before attending the conferences. The workshop program will include several talks and interactive sessions. Following the tradition of mentoring workshops, the talks will introduce several soft skills essential to the PhD and post-doc years, as well as brief introductions to the varied topics highlighted at FLoC. Each workshop day will feature an interactive panel where students can ask questions of academics with a variety of seniority levels.

BUDDY PROGRAMME

Is this the first conference you will attend in person? We have all been there. You might not feel comfortable if you don't know anyone. We will have a Buddy Programme, where we will help you to get in touch with another mentoring-workshop attendee. Every newcomer will be assigned either a more experienced peer or another newcomer, so you are not alone. For those who are not attending a conference for the first time, being a buddy is a way for you to help the community to grow and introduce less experienced students to the field. If you are interested, please sign up for the Buddy Programme via the following form: https://forms.gle/Gjy4jejM9GinP2897.

TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS

Students (undergrad, master's, and PhD alike) can apply to have their costs (some or all) covered by our sponsors, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Jane Street.

Deadline for applications: 13 April (applications are accepted after that date if funds allow)
Apply at: https://forms.gle/89q9AaNfZV3fkMzD7
Notification: 20 April

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: To be announced in a further call for participation

CONTACT

In case of questions, please contact the Mentoring Workshop co-chairs:
Steffen van Bergerem <steffen.van.bergerem@hu-berlin.de>
João F. Ferreira <joao@joaoff.com>
Anastasia Isychev <anastasia.isychev@tuwien.ac.at>
Marie Kerjean <marie.kerjean@cnrs.fr>

[DMANET] Lecturers in Computer Science at Aalto University

Hi all,

The Department of Computer Science at Aalto University is looking for new Lecturers in Computer Science. The positions in the lecturer career track are full-time and permanent, and open in the following areas:

- Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and health data science
- General computer science: programming, algorithms, and theory
- Software engineering

Applicants must be able to teach in Finnish and in English. The call closes on 16 March 2026. More information and instructions available at:
https://www.aalto.fi/en/open-positions/lecturers-in-computer-science-three-positions

Kind regards,
Jukka Suomela

Monday, March 2, 2026

[DMANET] Call for Workshop proposals - NCA 2026

Call for Workshop Proposals
The 24th IEEE International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications (NCA 2026)

Date and Location: November 10-13, 2026, Ortigia-Syracuse (Sicily), Italy

Website: https://www.nca-ieee.org/2026/

The IEEE International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications (NCA) is a key venue for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss novel ideas in the fields of network computing and applications. Following the success of previous editions, NCA 2026 will continue to feature a vibrant workshops program, offering a forum to explore specialized topics, emerging trends, and specific challenges within the broader scope of the main symposium.

We invite proposals for full-day or half-day workshops to be held in conjunction with NCA 2026. Workshops should aim to foster interactive discussions, bring together communities around focused themes, and provide a platform for presenting preliminary work and novel ideas.

Topics of Interest

Workshops are expected to cover topics related to network computing and applications, aligning with the main symposium's interests. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

* Network Architectures, Switching, and Routing

* Cloud Computing, Fog/Edge Computing, and Data Centers

* Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

* Network Security, Privacy, and Trust

* Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems

* Mobile and Wireless Networks (5G/6G, WLAN, Sensor Networks)

* Network Performance, Evaluation, and Modeling

* Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

* Big Data Analytics for Networks

* Network Management and Reliability

* Social Networks and Computing

* Green and Sustainable Networking

* Blockchain and Decentralized Applications

* Machine Learning and AI for Networks

Submission Guidelines for Workshop Proposals

Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF document via email to the NCA 2026 Workshop Chairs and should include the following information:

1. Workshop Title: A concise and descriptive title.

2. Workshop Organizers: Names, affiliations, and contact information of the main organizers (indicating a primary contact). Include a short bio (max 200 words each) highlighting their expertise and relevant experience.

3. Scope and Rationale: A clear description of the workshop's topic, its relevance to the NCA community, and why it would be of interest at NCA 2026 (max 1 page). Explain what makes the topic timely and how it differs from or complements the main symposium's scope.

4. Format and Activities: Proposed workshop format (e.g., half-day, full-day). Describe the planned activities, such as paper presentations, invited talks, panel discussions, or demo sessions, to encourage active participation.

5. Anticipated Audience: Target audience and expected number of participants.

6. Dissemination Plan: A statement indicating that accepted workshop papers will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, as part of the NCA 2026 proceedings, subject to IEEE's publication requirements. Mention the planned review process (e.g., each paper will receive at least 2-3 reviews).

7. Call for Papers (Draft): A preliminary Call for Papers for the workshop, including the list of topics, important dates (see tentative schedule below), submission instructions, and the names of the proposed Program Committee (if any).

8. Previous Editions (if applicable): For workshops held previously at NCA or other conferences, provide a brief history, including attendance numbers and number of submissions.

Important Dates (Tentative)

* Workshop Proposal Submission Deadline: March 20, 2026

* Workshop Acceptance Notification: March 27, 2026

* Workshop Paper Submission Deadline: July 24, 2026

* Workshop Paper Acceptance Notification: September 11, 2026

Workshop Organizers' Responsibilities

Accepted workshop organizers are expected to:

* Publicize the workshop to attract submissions and attendees.

* Manage the workshop's website and paper submission/review process (using a system like EasyChair).

* Ensure a high-quality review process for submitted papers.

* Adhere to the agreed-upon schedule and deadlines, particularly for camera-ready submissions to IEEE.

* Prepare the final workshop program and coordinate with the NCA 2026 Workshop Chairs and Local Organization Committee.

We look forward to receiving your innovative proposals and creating an exciting workshops program for NCA 2026!

NCA 2026 Workshop Chairs

* Marco Scarpa, University of Messina, Italy - mscarpa@unime.it<mailto:mscarpa@unime.it>

* Vidhyashree Nagaraju, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach (FL), USA - Vidhyashree.Nagaraju@erau.edu<mailto:Vidhyashree.Nagaraju@erau.edu>

[DMANET] iMETA 2026: The 4th International Conference on Intelligent Metaverse Technologies & Applications, Barcelona, Spain

*The 4th International Conference on Intelligent Metaverse Technologies &
Applications (iMETA 2026)*

16-20 November 2026 | Barcelona, Spain

*Hybrid Conference*

*Technically sponsored by IEEE Spain section*

*https://imeta-conference.org/*

Over the years, technology has advanced significantly, and the creation of
virtual environments (i.e., the metaverse) is one of the latest innovations
revolutionizing how we interact, process, and connect our real lives to
other lives. With the metaverse, we are presented with a new realm that
blurs the lines between the physical and digital world, providing a new
space for communication, commerce, services, and entertainment.

The International Conference on Intelligent Metaverse Technologies &
Applications (iMETA) aims to bring together leading researchers, academics,
and industry experts to explore the various aspects of the distributed
metaverse, including its technologies, applications, and implications
across industries. Attendees can expect to participate in exciting keynote
speeches, panel discussions, and presentations on cutting-edge research
fields. Throughout the conference, there will be ample opportunities for
attendees to network, share their knowledge, and collaborate on future
initiatives that will drive the metaverse's development. We are confident
that the iMETA conference will inspire new ideas, foster innovation, and
spark collaborations that will push the boundaries of the metaverse and its
potential to change the world as we know it.

Overall, the iMETA conference aims to provide attendees with a
comprehensive understanding of the communication, computing, and system
requirements of the metaverse. Through keynote speeches, panel discussions,
and presentations, attendees will have the opportunity to engage with
leading experts and learn about the latest developments and future trends
in the field. The conference will also offer ample opportunities to
network, share knowledge, and collaborate with others in the metaverse
community.

*iMETA 2026 Symposia*

Authors are encouraged to submit their work to one of the following 20
specialized symposiums, each targeting a key research frontier:

1. LLMs and Intelligent Agents for the Metaverse

2. Autonomous and Multi-Agent AI Systems

3. Immersive XR and Spatial Computing

4. Metaverse Networking and 6G/7G Communications

5. Scalable Metaverse Platforms and Architectures

6. Security, Privacy, and Trust in the Metaverse

7. Digital Twins and Real-Time Simulation

8. Web3, Blockchain, and Virtual Governance

9. Virtual Economies and Tokenized Marketplaces

10. Generative AI for 3D and Immersive Media

11. Computer Vision and Multimodal Sensing

12. HCI, Social Presence, and Metaverse Psychology

13. Metaverse Applications in Education and Industry

14. Haptics and Human Augmentation Technologies

15. Edge–Cloud Computing for the Metaverse

16. Green and Sustainable Metaverse Infrastructure

17. Digital Rights, Ethics, and Virtual Governance

18. Quantum and Neuromorphic Metaverse Computing

19. Spatial Audio and Next-Gen Interactive Media

20. Metaverse Gaming and Interactive Entertainment

*Publication*

*IEEE is a technical sponsor of iMETA 2026*. All accepted papers in iMETA
2026 and the workshops co-located with it will be submitted to IEEEXplore,
dblp and Scopus for inclusion.

*Important Dates:*

*Submission Guidelines:*

There are three categories of submission (Overlength charges will be
applied!):

- *Long papers:* (7-8 pages)
- *Short papers: *(5-6 pages)
- *Systemization of Knowledge (SoK): *(10-15 pages)
- *Poster papers: *(1-2 pages)

*Submission Link: **https://conferences.sparcly.ai/SP/iMETA2026*

*Organizing Committee*
Steering Committee

- Albert Zomaya, University of Sydney, Australia
- Giancarlo Fortino, University of Calabria, Italy
- Ian F. Akyildiz, Truva Inc., USA
- Merouane Debbah, TII, UAE
- Nirwan Ansari, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
- Salil Kanhere, UNSW Sydney, Australia
- Walid Saad, Virginia Tech, USA
- Moayad Aloqaily, MBZUAI, UAE

Honorary Chairs

- Jaime Lloret Mauri, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
- Jose Luis Muñoz-Tapia, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain

General Co-Chairs

- Christiancarmine Esposito, University of Salerno, Italy
- Attila Kertész, University of Szeged, Hungary
- Vlado Stankovski, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Program Co-Chairs

§ Ammar Abasi, PolyAD, UAE

§ Venkatraman Balasubramanian, Arizona State University, USA

--Regards,

[DMANET] Call for papers - IEEE CAMAD 2026

* Please accept our apologies if you received multiple copies.*
------------------------------------------------------------------
*Call for papers*
*IEEE CAMAD 2026*

31st IEEE International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and
Design of Communication Links and Networks

*Nicosia, Cyprus*
*7-9 September, 2026*

Dear colleagues,

The 31st IEEE International Workshop on Computer‑Aided Modeling and Design
of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD 2026)
<https://camad2026.ieee-camad.org/> is open for submissions. This workshop
will be held *7–9 September 2026 in Nicosia, Cyprus* and will provide a
forum on modeling, analysis, and design approaches for communication
systems.

*Topics of interest*

IEEE CAMAD 2026, is soliciting papers including (but not limited to) the
following areas:

- Technologies towards Beyond-5G and 6G networks
- Millimeter-wave, sub-THz, and THz communications and channel modeling
- Digital Twin–driven networks. Data-driven modeling, validation, and
real-time control
- AI-native and data-driven networking.
- Federated learning, distributed learning, and networked edge
intelligence
- Zero-touch network & system management, orchestration, and autonomous
operations
- Network slicing, multi-tenant networks, and end-to-end service
orchestration
- e-Health / WBAN / IoT/Industry 5.0 connectivity modeling
- Green management of communication networks
- Optical Communications & Fiber Optics for B5G and 6G networks
- Multimedia QoS/QoE
- Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces and smart radio environments
- Non-terrestrial networks SDN/NFV architectures, softwarization,
programmability, and cloud/edge-native networking
- QoS/QoE modeling, traffic engineering, and multimedia/service
performance management
- Energy efficiency, sustainability, and green networking
- Τrust, security, privacy, and resilience by design
- Quantum communications and post-quantum security considerations for
future networks
- Testbeds, experiments, prototype implementations, and validation of
simulation models with measurements
- Smart Grids: Communication, Modeling and Design

More information regarding the call for papers can be found here
<https://camad2026.ieee-camad.org/authors/call-papers>.

*Committees*
*General Chair*

Constandinos Mavromoustakis
<https://www.unic.ac.cy/mavromoustakis-constandinos/>, University of
Nicosia, Cyprus

*General Co-Chairs*

Houbing Herbert Song
<https://informationsystems.umbc.edu/home/faculty-and-staff/new-faculty-spotlights/houbing-herbert-song/>,
University
of Maryland, USA

Schahram Dustdar <https://dsg.tuwien.ac.at/team/sd/>, Vienna University of
Technology, Austria

Minho Jo <https://scholar.korea.ac.kr/researcher-profile?ep=186>, Korea
University, South Korea

*Organizing Committee Members*

https://camad2026.ieee-camad.org/committees

*Steering Committee*

Fabrizio Granelli
<https://webapps.unitn.it/du/en/Persona/PER0003067/Curriculum>, University
of Trento, Italy

Christos Verikoukis
<https://www.isi.gr/people/assoc-prof-christos-verikoukis>, University of
Patras

Burak Kantarci
<https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-engineering/school-electrical-engineering-computer-science/directory/burak-kantarci>,
University of Ottawa

Stefano Giordano
<https://www.unipi.it/ateneo/organizzazione/persone/stefano-giordano-3848/>,
University of Pisa

*Important dates regarding paper submission*

*Paper Submission Deadline:* 24 April, 2026

*Notification of Acceptance: *5 June, 2026

*Camera-Ready Papers Due: *10 July, 2026

For more information, please refer to the conference website:

https://camad2026.ieee-camad.org/

We hope to see you in Cyprus.

Best regards,

Michail Vazaios (IEEE CAMAD 2026 Publicity Co-Chair)

[DMANET] Call for Participation - School on the Practice and Theory of Distributed Computing 2026

School on the Practice and Theory of Distributed Computing
(SPTDC 2026)
Call for Participation

April 27 - 30, 2026
Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
https://sptdc2026.ics.forth.gr

The School on the Practice and Theory of Distributed Computing (SPTDC) is a premier international forum on distributed computing, bringing together researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals interested in the theoretical foundations and practical design of modern concurrent systems. Since its inaugural edition in 2017, followed by highly successful editions in 2019, 2020, and 2023, SPTDC has established itself as a vibrant meeting point for the community. The school has consistently attracted distinguished researchers and pioneers in the field, including foundational contributors, recipients of the Turing Award, the Dijkstra Prize, and the Gödel Prize, as well as leading experts from industry.
We are pleased to announce SPTDC 2026, which aspires to continue this tradition of excellence. The 2026 edition will provide an inspiring forum for students, engineers, and researchers from academia and industry to exchange ideas and explore frontier topics shaping concurrent and distributed computation, including formal methods for blockchain, distributed learning, distributed graph processing, cybersecurity, and many more.
Confirmed Speakers
We are proud to announce the following confirmed speakers:

*
Giuliano Losa, Stellar Development Foundation, USA
*
Nirupam Gupta, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Sonia Ben Mokhtar, INSA Lyon, France
*
Naama Ben-David, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
*
Sara Tucci Piergiovanni, University of Paris-Saclay, France

Additional speakers and program details will be announced soon.
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of our sponsors:

*
Stellar Development Foundation
*
Mysten Labs
*
FORTH ICS
*
MCBS
*
Neurolingo

Registration
Participation is free of charge, but registration is mandatory. All interested attendees are kindly requested to register via the event website by April 20, 2026.

Venue
The event will take place at the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), one of Greece's leading research institutions. Established in 1983 and headquartered in Heraklion, Cete, FORTH is internationally recognized for excellence in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, and the humanities. Its Institute of Computer Science, FORTH (ICS) is particularly renowned for pioneering contributions to distributed systems, networking, and information technologies. The premises of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion offer a modern and well-equipped environment, featuring state-of-the-art lecture halls, fully equipped conference rooms, and advanced audiovisual infrastructure.
Crete is the biggest and one of the most beautiful islands in Greece, providing an exciting experience. Crete is a multicolored mosaic of mythology, history, culture, friendly and proud people, rough mountains, gorges, the always bright Cretan sun and the deep sea that surrounds the island. In addition to the facilities offered by its big cities, one can really enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the mountains. Attractions include the remains of the Minoan civilization at Knossos, as well as a wide collection of other archeological sites of interest, the astonishing Archaeological Museum in Iraklio, well-known gorgeous gorges including the spectacular Europe's longest Samaria Gorge, picturesque villages spread all around the island, the well-known traditional Cretan food, and the wonderful beaches on the southern side of Crete.

[DMANET] Fully Funded PhD Position in Computational Social Choice – Université Paris Dauphine - PSL

Dear all,
The LAMSADE <https://www.lamsade.dauphine.fr/en.html> laboratory at Université
Paris Dauphine <https://dauphine.psl.eu/en/> - PSL <https://psl.eu/en> is
offering a fully funded three-year PhD position in the field of
computational social choice. The PhD will be supervised by Lucie Galand and
Julien Lesca.
The research topic focuses on extending Gale–Shapley procedures, which are
used to compute stable matchings and are widely applied in
student–university admission systems. The objective of this PhD is to
develop extensions of these algorithms in settings where preferences
(students' preferences over universities and universities' preferences over
students) are not fully revealed upfront. These preferences may be inferred
through an interactive elicitation process (preference elicitation) and/or
learned from historical data containing preferences revealed by past
applicants (recommender systems).
*Keywords:* computational social choice, artificial intelligence,
preference elicitation, recommender systems
*Details on the subject:*
https://www.lamsade.dauphine.fr/fileadmin/mediatheque/lamsade/documents/proposition_sujet_theses_2026/PhD_proposal_Galand_Lesca.pdf
*Candidate Profile:*
We are looking for candidates holding (or about to complete) a Master's
degree in Computer Science or Applied Mathematics, with a specialization in
artificial intelligence and/or operations research.
The PhD will take place at LAMSADE, the Decision Aid, Modeling, and
Analysis Laboratory at Université Paris Dauphine - PSL. LAMSADE is one of
the leading French research laboratories in artificial intelligence,
operations research, and computational social choice, with strong expertise
in decision-making, algorithms, and preference modeling.
The PhD is funded by a doctoral fellowship from the French government.
Additionally, the selected candidate may have the opportunity to supplement
their income by teaching in the Department of Mathematics and Computer
Science at Université Paris Dauphine - PSL.
*Application Process:*
To apply, please send a detailed CV and your academic transcripts,
including the grades obtained during your studies (at least for the final
year of your Master's degree). Applications should be sent to
lucie.galand@dauphine.fr and julien.lesca@dauphine.fr.
The deadline for applications is April 1, 2026.
Feel free to contact us if you need further information or have any
questions regarding the PhD topic.
Best regards,
Lucie Galand and Julien Lesca

[DMANET] Call for papers: The 3rd Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Networked Drone and Sensor Applications

*** Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this CFP
***
*The 3rd Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Networked Drone and Sensor
Applications (DroneSense-AI 2026), to be held in conjunction with IEEE
WoWMoM 2026.*
*Theme: Advancing AI for the Low-Altitude Economy and Satellite-Augmented
Drone Networks*
*Website: **https://sites.google.com/view/dronesense-ai2026/home-2026*
The Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Networked Drone and Sensor
Applications (DroneSense-AI) aims to bring together researchers,
practitioners, and industry experts to explore the integration of machine
learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with networked drones and
intelligent sensor systems. This convergence continues to reshape sectors
such as agriculture, environmental monitoring, disaster response, critical
infrastructure, and public safety. Within the context of the emerging
*Low-Altitude
Economy (LAE),* the demand for AI driven coordination, perception, and
decision making is growing rapidly.
ML/AI enabled drone and sensor systems can process large volumes of
heterogeneous, real-time data to enable autonomous behavior, dynamic
coordination, and mission aware optimization. To support these operations
at scale, particularly for missions operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight
(BVLOS), the integration of *Satellite augmented connectivity* is emerging
as a critical infrastructure layer alongside terrestrial networks.
However, challenges such as processing latency, data integration,
communication constraints, energy efficiency, and the lack of standardized
architectures remain major barriers to widespread adoption. Promising
avenues for overcoming these limitations are emerging, particularly in the
form of quantum processing and secure communication. This workshop will
address the technical challenges, emerging solutions, and application
scenarios of ML/AI integration in distributed drone and sensor networks. It
will provide a timely platform to present novel algorithms, deployment
strategies, and scalability insights with an emphasis on real world impact
and cross-disciplinary innovation.
The timeliness of this workshop is underscored by growing academic and
industrial investment in ML driven autonomous systems, along with the rapid
expansion of drone-enabled services. As such, this workshop provides a
timely forum for researchers, developers, and practitioners to exchange
ideas, share methodologies, and identify future directions in ML enhanced
Internet of Drone (IoD) and Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
*Topics of Interest*
We invite original contributions on the following topics :
*ML & AI Integration*

- Architectures for ML deployment in UAV/sensor networks
- Edge and distributed learning for drones and IoT
- Communication-efficient AI models for UAV swarms
- AI-based anomaly detection and pattern recognition

*Drone Operations & Autonomy*

- UAV navigation and real-time trajectory optimisation
- Multi-agent coordination and swarm intelligence
- AI for dynamic flight control and formation
- Safety-aware autonomous drone systems

*Environmental & Agricultural Applications*

- AI for crop health monitoring and yield prediction
- Biodiversity tracking and habitat surveillance
- UAV-enabled smart farming and remote sensing
- Forest fire and disaster detection using AI

*Infrastructure, Industry & Logistics*

- AI-powered infrastructure inspection and asset monitoring
- Predictive maintenance using UAV-collected data
- Autonomous delivery and drone-based logistics
- Industry 4.0 integration with UAV and IoT platforms

*Security, Surveillance & Public Safety*

- ML for real-time object/person detection
- AI-based threat assessment and crowd monitoring
- Privacy-preserving AI in surveillance drones
- UAVs for law enforcement and emergency response

*Healthcare & Emergency Services*

- UAV-based delivery of medical supplies
- Real-time patient monitoring and telemedicine via drones
- AI for emergency triage and disaster relief coordination

*Connectivity & Networks*

- UAV-enabled IoT and wireless data collection
- AI-optimised drone-assisted cellular network coverage
- Communication protocols for dense UAV-sensor networks
- *Satellite-Augmented Drone Systems:*
- AI for seamless handovers between terrestrial (5G/6G) and LEO
satellite links
- Satellite-backhauled edge computing for remote drone operations
- Distributed AI for space-air-ground integrated sensing
- Resilient navigation and positioning in GNSS-denied environments

*Emerging Paradigms*

- Quantum-enhanced communication and processing for UAVs
- Quantum and mmWave sensing
- Ethical and regulatory considerations in AI-based drone systems
- Simulation environments and benchmarking for drone-AI research

*Workshop Chairs: *

- Associate Professor Jahan Hassan (Central Queensland University,
Australia)
- Associate Professor Biplob Ray (Central Queensland University,
Australia)
- Associate Professor Jaime Galán-Jiménez (University of Extremadura,
Spain)
- Dr Shuvashis Dey (North Dakota State University, USA)

📅* Important Dates*

- Paper submission deadline: 22 March, 2026
- Paper acceptance notification: 12 April,2026
- Camera-ready version due: 26 April, 2026
- Workshop Date: 16 - 19, June 2026

*Submission & Contact*

- Submission Link via EDAS: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=35067
- Workshop Website:
*https://sites.google.com/view/dronesense-ai2026/home-2026*
- Contact Email: *j.hassan@cqu.edu.au*;
b.ray@cqu.edu.au

*****Journal Special Issue Invitation*****
Selected authors will be invited to submit an extended version of their
workshop papers to the Elsevier Ad Hoc Networks (Q1) Special Issue titled
"Intelligent and Resilient Networking for the Low-Altitude Economy: From
Autonomous Systems to Scalable Services." *Please note that submissions
must represent a substantial extension of the original workshop paper. This
may include new theoretical analysis, enhanced or redesigned
algorithms/models, and significantly expanded experimental validation
(e.g., new datasets, additional baselines, new evaluation metrics, and
deeper performance analysis). All submissions will undergo the journal's
standard peer-review process.*
Special Issue website: https://tinyurl.com/89t4abwb

Theory Announcements

Thursday, March 5, 2026

[DMANET] CfP: IFORS 2026, Metaheuristics area

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

[DMANET] [CFP] 10 Days Left: IEEE EAIS 2026 Special Session on Self-Improving Systems (XAI, LLMs, & Evolutionary Strategies)

[DMANET] TT Professorship 'Operations Research and AI' at the Technical University of Munich

[DMANET] Postdoc position in Prague: Learning-Augmented Combinatorial Optimization Algorithms for Scheduling and Packing

[DMANET] Postdoc position in Prague: Solving Large-Scale Scheduling Problems: Hybridization, Parallelism, and Model Diversity in Constraint Programming

[DMANET] GoldbergFest 2026 (20th June 2026 @ Oxford)

[DMANET] Call for Papers - Springer Optimization and Its Applications edited book titled ‘Handbook of General Systems of Nonlinear Equations’ - Deadline May 1, 2026

[DMANET] SPIRE 2026

[DMANET] BCCA 2026: The 8th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications, Barcelona, Spain

[DMANET] CFP: IEEE SmartSys 2026 @ SMARTCOMP - June 2026, Italy

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

[DMANET] Call for Papers: IEEE SMARTCOMP 2026 Workshops

[DMANET] Numeration 2026, Nancy, June 1 - June 5, 2026 Second announcement - Registration is OPEN !

[DMANET] CASC 2026 - Call for Papers

[DMANET] FLoC 2026 Mentoring Workshop: Call for Scholarship Applications

[DMANET] Lecturers in Computer Science at Aalto University

Monday, March 2, 2026

[DMANET] Call for Workshop proposals - NCA 2026

[DMANET] iMETA 2026: The 4th International Conference on Intelligent Metaverse Technologies & Applications, Barcelona, Spain

[DMANET] Call for papers - IEEE CAMAD 2026

[DMANET] Call for Participation - School on the Practice and Theory of Distributed Computing 2026

[DMANET] Fully Funded PhD Position in Computational Social Choice – Université Paris Dauphine - PSL

[DMANET] Call for papers: The 3rd Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Networked Drone and Sensor Applications

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