[2nd CfP] Advances in Cognitive Systems 2026 - Oct 6-9 in Edinburgh, UK - Paper and workshop deadlines EXTENDED

[Maithilee Kunda]

Dear colleagues,

The Thirteenth Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems (ACS) will take place in the Informatics Forum at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, UK, from October 6 to 9, 2026.

Full details are available at:  http://www.cogsys.org/conference/2026/

Scope

The ACS conference brings together researchers who aim to explain cognition and learning in computational terms and to reproduce a broad range of intelligent behaviors and abilities in computational artifacts.

• We encourage many types of research, including demonstrations of new capabilities, empirical studies of implemented systems, and formal analyses of challenging tasks.
• Note, evaluation against prior systems and benchmarks are welcome, but are not expected or required, particularly for submissions that introduce novel capabilities for which no comparable baselines exist.

Topics of interest include (but are in no way limited to):

• Conceptual Inference and Reasoning
• Problem Solving, Planning, and Heuristic Search
• Common Sense and Qualitative Modeling
• Memory Storage and Retrieval
• Structural Learning and Knowledge Capture
• Natural Language Understanding and Generation
• Discourse and Dialogue Processing
• Vision, Audition, and High-level Perception
• Mental Imagery and Iconic Processing
• Cognitive Models and Architectures
• Cognitive Robotics and Embodied Cognition
• High-level Execution and Control
• Multi-Tasking and Attention
• Social Cognition and Interaction
• Cognitive Aspects of Emotion and Personality
• Metacognition and Meta-level Reasoning
• Collaboration and Teaming 

Paper submissions

Papers may be 16 pages in the single-column format described at http://cogsys.org/instructions/  The meeting will consider two types of submissions.

• Technical papers should report an implemented cognitive system, the detailed design for such a system, or an analysis of some complex task. Authors of technical papers should examine the review form carefully before submission, as referees will expect them to address the questions therein.
• Commentaries should review the state of the field, pose challenge problems, or relate alternative frameworks. These essays will be reviewed separately, with the main criteria for acceptance being relevance to the conference, clear statements of positions, and effective communication. They may be less than 16 pages.

Each submission will receive 2-3 external reviews, and well-written submissions will be accepted for either oral or poster presentation. Authors of papers accepted for oral presentations may also be invited to publish an expanded version of their paper in a journal special issue.

There will be two rounds of paper submissions:  an early paper round for those who would like more advance notice of paper acceptances (e.g., for travel planning purposes) and a regular paper round for those who would like more time to prepare their submissions.  Both rounds will be fully peer-reviewed, and papers accepted from both rounds will be presented at the conference and will appear in the conference proceedings.

Submissions will be invited via Easychair (submission link will be posted on the main conference website soon).

Workshop/tutorial submissions

We also invite proposals for workshops or tutorials to be held on the first day of the conference. These events will support focused community discussion and knowledge exchange.

Proposals should have no more than three (3) pages (A4 size) and are NOT required to follow the ACS format. They should include a title, the organizers and their affiliations, an abstract, the motivation and objectives, the content and relevance to cognitive system, a list of speakers (confirmed or tentative), the duration (half or full day), and a tentative schedule.

Workshop/tutorial submissions can be made following the instructions on the main conference website.

Important Dates

Workshop proposals due:	July 7, 2026
Early paper abstracts due:      Early paper submissions due:      Early paper decisions sent:	July 7 2026     July 14, 2026     August 4, 2026
Regular paper abstracts due:      Regular paper submissions due:      Regular paper decisions sent:	August 7, 2026     August 14, 2026     September 3, 2026
Conference schedule released:     Camera-ready papers due:     Conference	September 10, 2026     September 22, 2026     October 6-9, 2026

The time zone for each deadline is 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12:00)

Travel

Edinburgh hotels often get busy with tourists and business travelers, so early hotel bookings are highly recommended. We have arranged for room blocks and/or discount codes at several hotels within walking distance of the conference venue.  Please see the conference logistics page for information about hotels and other travel details:

http://www.cogsys.org/conference/2026/logistics.html

Note: One of our conference hotel blocks, at the Residence Inn by Marriott Edinburgh (0.3 miles from conference venue), has a very early closing date of July 11.  If you are interested in this particular room block, please book early!  See booking details on the conference logistics page, including other hotel options.

See you in Edinburgh!

Whether you're a long-time member of the community or newly interested in cognitive systems research, we hope you'll join us in the beautiful city of Edinburgh this October!

Also consider joining the Cognitive Systems mailing list:

https://groups.google.com/g/cognitive-systems 

- Maithilee Kunda

Program Chair, ACS 2026

Reader in Computational Cognitive Science, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.