CMSC 2026 – Call for Contributions (second round)
Alice Raffaele
(Apologies for cross-posting)
Dear all,
We are pleased to invite you to submit your work to the 8th edition of the international conference Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication, which will be held in Padova, Italy, from October 12 to October 15, 2026.
The CMSC conference series, initiated in 2013, aims to explore new ways of communicating the rich mathematical ideas fundamental to computer science. There’s a need and an appetite among mathematicians and computer scientists for outreach and engagement at all levels. Bringing together researchers, educators, and communicators, the conference aims to explore new approaches to mathematical and computational thinking and lay the groundwork for innovative teaching and research engagement methods at all educational levels.
The organizers of CMSC believe that engaging in mathematical science goes in two directions. Certain areas of research, such as algorithms and combinatorics, are accessible even to elementary-age children, while conversely, interaction with non-specialists, including young learners, can spark new research questions. Creating opportunities for broad, inclusive engagement in the mathematical sciences not only enriches researchers but also brings lasting benefits to society as a whole.
Therefore, we invite both researchers (working in areas such as mathematics, computer science, engineering, and education) and teachers (working at any level) to contribute and attend the conference. Any participant who submits a contribution (i.e., a standard paper or a poster) that passes the reviewing process will have the opportunity to present their work during the conference. At the bottom, you'll find the full Call for Contributions.
DEADLINES FOR STANDARD PAPER SUBMISSIONS (ROUND 2):
As with other computer science conferences, a submission consists of two parts. In the first one, the corresponding author must create a new submission on the platform and indicate the title and abstract. Then, in the second part, the full version of the paper must be uploaded in PDF. Submissions containing only the title and abstract will be considered incomplete and desk-rejected.
- Title and abstract of the paper: May 29th, 2026
- PDF of the full paper: June 5th, 2026
- Notification of acceptance: July 12th, 2026
DEADLINES FOR POSTER SUBMISSIONS:
- Poster submission: August 14th, 2026
- Notification of acceptance for posters: September 04th, 2026
We are also very glad to announce the CMSC 2026 speakers. In particular:
PLENARY SPEAKERS:
- Timothy C. Bell, University of Canterbury
- Vanesa Guerrero Lozano, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Neeldhara Misra, Indian Institute of Technology
TEACHERS’ DAY SPEAKERS:
- Centro Montessori SPES Padova, Italy
- Maria Francesca Carfora, National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Applied Mathematics “Mauro Picone”
- Lorella Carimali, Liceo Scientifico Vittorio Veneto, Milan
- Frances Rosamond, University of Bergen
- TBA
OTHER EVENTS
On Friday, October 16th, 2026, interested participants of CMSC will be welcome to join an informal algorithms colloquium focusing on geometric parameterized complexity, hosted on the same campus. More details will follow on the website.
If you would like to know more or have questions, you can write to us at cmsc...@dei.unipd.it or visit our website https://cmsc2026.github.io for more details.
Looking forward to seeing you in Padova!
CMSC 2026 Organizers
Maarten Löffler, Utrecht University (program co-chair)
Alice Raffaele, University of Padova (organizing co-chair)
Francesco Silvestri, University of Padova (organizing and program chair)
Program Committee
Tim Bell, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Sergio Canazza, University of Padua, Italy
Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Henning Fernau, University of Trier, Germany
Bernd Gärtner, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Henry Hickman, University of New South Wales, Australia
Thore Husfeldt, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jyothi Krishnan, IT Gandhinagar, India
Martina Landman, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Lukas Lehner, TU Wien, Austria
Michael Lodi, University of Bologna, Italy
Zuzana Masárová, ISTA / Grow Trails, Austria
Monica Mattei, International School of Turin, Italy
Valia Mitsou, Université Paris Cité, France
Matthias Mnich, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
Elena Mumford, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Rüdiger Reischuk, ITCS, Universität zu Lübeck, Germany
Giovanni Righini, University of Milan, Italy
Inge Schwank, University of Cologne, Germany
Jacqueline Staub, University of Trier, Germany
Jay Thakkar, IIT Gandhinagar, India
Josef Tkadlec, Charles University, Czechia
Sebastian Wild, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
Steering Committee
Frances Rosamond, University of Bergen, Norway (Chair)
Małgorzata Bednarska-Bzdęga, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland
Tim Bell, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Michael Fellows, University of Bergen, Norway
Valia Mitsou, IRIF, Paris Diderot University, France
Jam Ramanujam, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India
Rüdiger Reischuk, University of Lübeck, Germany
Eljakim Schrijvers, Eljakim IT, Netherlands (International Chair)
Matt Skoss, The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, Australia
Verena Specht-Ronique, HLTM Marburg, Germany
Brett Stephenson, University of Tasmania, Australia
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CMSC 2026 – Call for Contributions
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts on topics related to the conference’s scope (see below). All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by members of the Programme Committee.
More precisely, CMSC welcomes the following contributions:
- Standard papers from 3 to 12 pages; the papers should be in one of the following categories:
- Research papers (e.g., empirical, qualitative, quantitative, theory building, research methods, comparative studies, transferability of methods and results from other disciplines)
- Best practice papers/country reports/experience reports
- Description of creative products, for instance, a dance or song performance
- Position/discussion papers
- Using art as a vehicle for teaching.
- Poster proposals up to 3 pages for:
- work in progress
- short description of published work
The page limitations include references. Papers may have an appendix, whose length must not exceed 3 pages; reading of the appendix is at the discretion of the reviewers. Accepted papers will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The submissions should be formatted accordingly. Posters will not be published.
Work submitted to CMSC as standard papers should be novel and original. Material that has been previously published can be presented as a poster, or it can be submitted as a standard paper only if the work has been significantly revised. Note, however, that while novel work is highly valued, constructive replication of previous studies can also be a significant contribution, and a new interpretation or evaluation of previously published work can make a good contribution.
All inquiries about submissions should be sent to cmsc...@dei.unipd.it.
Conference Scope
The main topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:
- Teaching Computer Science in early childhood, primary, secondary, and higher education
- CS Unplugged
- Computational Thinking / Algorithmic Thinking
- Broadening engagement and diversity for the exact sciences
- Teacher education in Mathematics and Computer Science
- Teaching CS in relation to other subjects
- Linking mathematical and computational content for fundamental competency development
- Contests and competitions
- Education for students with special needs
- Education within resource-limited environments
- Education in conflict-affected areas
Accepted Contributions
For all accepted contributions, we expect at least one author to attend the conference and present the work. Given the creative nature of CMSC, you will have a free choice of how to present your work, as long as it fits the schedule and conference locations. We encourage authors to contact the organizers before the submission for inquiries about special requirements of the presentation. Possible formats include, but are not limited to:
- a traditional plenary conference talk
- a video showing a live performance
- an installation of limited size
- a test session for an educational activity (with other participants as test subjects)
In addition, for a selected number of accepted papers, it would be possible to present their work during the last day, at the Teachers’ Day, to teachers from primary/secondary schools. More details will be provided in Summer 2026.
Submission Guidelines
All contributions (papers and posters) must be submitted through the Microsoft CMT platform, using LNCS templates. More details will be posted soon. Submissions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style guidelines using LaTeX. The maximum length of the paper (including references, but excluding the optional appendix) is 12 pages.
Standard Paper Requirements
All submissions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style guidelines using LaTeX.
Poster Requirements
To prepare a poster submission (up to 3 pages), authors are also asked to use the same Springer LNCS style and to use LaTeX. The purpose of the poster is to stimulate discussion with conference participants about your presented activity during the conference. During the poster session, the poster presenters should be present at their booth to give short presentations to interested participants.
The final poster of an accepted poster submission should have the following requirements:
- Size and orientation: A1 portrait (594 × 841 mm)
- Minimum information required: title, author(s), institution(s), contact information, problem statement, description of work, gained results, future work, and primary references. Please bring a printed poster of the correct size to the conference.
Submission Platform
The Microsoft CMT service was used to manage the peer-review process for this conference. This service was provided free of charge by Microsoft, which covered all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services, as well as software development and support.