[CFP] UCNC 2026 - Extended Deadline - March 27, 2026

[Luca Manzoni]

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UCNC 2026 - UPDATED CALL FOR PAPERS, deadlines extended

UNCONVENTIONAL COMPUTATION AND NATURAL COMPUTATION 2026

June 22-26, 2026
Trieste, Italy

Website: https://ucnc2026.units.it

* Regular and Short Papers
Submission deadline                 March 27, 2026
Notification of acceptance          May 8, 2026
Final version for proceedings       May 15, 2026

* Posters and Late-Breaking Abstracts
Submission deadline for poster       May 15, 2026
Notification of acceptance           May 29, 2026

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# Keynote Speakers

Already Confirmed:
- Carina Curto, Brown University, USA
- Cristian Micheletti, International School of Advanced Studies, Italy
  "Quantum computing for polymer physics"
- Hiroki Sayama, Binghamton University, USA
  "Swarm systems as a platform for open-ended evolutionary dynamics"
- The winner of the G. Rozenberg Natural Computing Award

# Tutorials Speakers

Already Confirmed:
- Eric Goles Chacc, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Chile
  "Fungal Automata: dynamics and complexity"
- Eric Medvet, University of Trieste, Italy
  "Evolutionary Modular Robotics"


# Workshops Speakers

Already Confirmed:
- Paolo Bottoni, University of Rome "Sapienza", Italy
  "Nature vs. Nurture: When environment matters"
- Linda Brodo, University of Sassari, Italy
  "When Reactions meet Processes: a flexible compositional framework."
- Mika Hirvensalo, Turku University, Finland
  "Multiple Ways to Quantum Future"
- Daniel Santavicca, University of North Florida, USA
  "Superconducting Electronics for Classical, Quantum, and Neuromorphic Computing"

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BACKGROUND
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The International Conference Series on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation (UCNC) provides a forum bringing together scientists from many different backgrounds who are interested in novel forms of computation, human-designed computation inspired by nature, and computational aspects of natural processes.

The 23rd International Conference on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation (UCNC 2026) will be held at the University of Trieste in Trieste, Italy, from June 22, 2026 to June 26, 2026. It will continue the tradition of focusing on current important theoretical, applied and experimental developments and their critical evaluation.


AUTHORS GUIDELINES
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Accepted papers will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series (LNCS) as post-proceedings.
Authors are invited to submit original research papers through the EasyChair submission system: https://ucnc2026.units.it/submissions.html .
Regular papers should not exceed 16 pages, while short papers should not exceed 8 pages.
Papers must be submitted in Portable Document Format (PDF) and must be formatted in the LNCS style: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines .

Papers must not be under simultaneous consideration by any other conference with published proceedings.
All accepted papers, late-breaking abstracts, and posters must be presented at the conference by at least one registered author.

Please note that these guidelines apply only to the main conference track; satellite workshops have their own submission procedures and publication arrangements.

Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions for publication in a special issue of "Natural Computing", an international journal by Springer-Verlag.

WORKSHOPS
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* Reaction Systems
* Quantum Computing
* Cellular Automata and Boolean Automata Networks

UCNC Topics of interest
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The topics of interests of UCNC 2026 include (but are not restricted to):
* Molecular computing
* Quantum computing
* Neural computation
* Evolutionary computation
* Robotics
* Optical computing
* Chaos computing
* Collision-based computing
* Self-assembling and self-organizing systems
* Super-Turing computation
* Cellular automata
* Boolean automata networks
* Discrete dynamical systems and symbolic dynamics
* Reaction systems
* Swarm intelligence
* Ant algorithms
* Artificial immune systems
* Artificial life
* Membrane computing
* Amorphous computing
* Physarium computing
* Computational systems biology
* Computational neuroscience
* Synthetic biology
* Cellular (in-vivo) computing

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Luca Manzoni (co-Chair), University of Trieste, Italy
Enrico Formenti (co-Chair), Université Côte d'Azur, France

For further information contact lman...@units.it
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