[CfP] 7th Int. Conf. on Active Inference IWAI2026 @CSIC, Madrid, Spain

[Pablo Lanillos]

CALL FOR PAPERS: 7th International Conference on Active Inference IWAI2026,
📍 Where: Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain. 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/int-conf-active-inference/ 
Website: https://iwaiworkshop.github.io/

*Important dates*
🗓️ Abstract Registration Deadline: May 24, 2026
Submission Deadline: June 7, 2026
Acceptance Notification: July 12, 2026
🕒 Conference Date: October 14-16, 2026

The 7th International Conference/Workshop on Active Inference (IWAI) is an interdisciplinary venue that brings together researchers in Active Inference and related research fields to discuss current trends, novel results, and real-world applications. It originally started as a workshop jointly organized with a machine learning conference, and four years ago, we initiated this stand-alone conference format, keeping the name. We have an interest in exploring the extent to which active inference can be used in modern machine learning settings, such as in hybrid setups combining it with deep learning, as well as to unify the latest psychological and neurological insights, and to determine how it can best be used to understand action, optimization, and decision making.

 IWAI 2026 theme will be foundations and will address three core streams of Bayesian Brain, Active Inference, Neuro AI and Physical/Embodied Intelligence related research:

1. Computational Theory and Simulations. Mathematical and computational developments.

2. Cognitive, Philosophical, and Neural Models. Modeling biological, neural, and cognitive phenomena, and integrating applied philosophy.

3.  Empirical, Clinical, and Real-World Applications. Robotics, IoT, clinical, industrial, and societal challenges.

We expect contributions from different areas of research, such as Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Robotics, Machine Learning, Cognitive Science, Philosophy, etc. We look forward to your contributions and participation at IWAI 2026!

Accepted papers will be published in the Active Inference book proceedings in Communications in Computer and Information Science, Springer Nature.

 *TOPICS OF INTEREST*
Papers on all subjects and applications of active inference and related research areas are welcome. The workshop's focus is on the technical implementation of the ideas. Consequently, topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Active inference, theory and applications
• Predictive coding
• Generative models
• Computational neuroscience
• Cognitive robotics
• Physical Intelligence
• Neuro Artificial Intelligence
• Intelligent systems
• Navigation and autonomous driving
• Neuroeconomics
• Cognitive science
• Decision making

*CONFIRMED SPEAKERS*
This year we have an amazing set of speakers, which you will be able to interact, in the areas of Comp. Neuroscience, Cog. Science, AI and Robotics:

• Prof. Rajesh Rao – CJ and Elizabeth Hwang Professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington (UW), US
• Dr. Giovanni Pezzulo –  Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR), National Research Council of Italy.
• Prof. Tadahiro Taniguchi – Kyoto University, Japan.
• Prof. Carme Torras – Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC), Spain
• Prof. Karl Friston – Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging. University College London, UK.

 *VENUE*
The conference goes back to Europe and will be hosted at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the State Agency for scientific research and technological development, and the largest public research institution in Spain. Interestingly, for the IWAI foundations theme this year, Madrid was the residence of Santiago Ramón y Cajal when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He started modern neuroscience under the neuron doctrine and influenced current breakthroughs in modern artificial intelligence.

The conference venue will be in Madrid at the CSIC central Auditorium at C. de Serrano, 117, Chamartín, 28006 Madrid.

 
*PAPER SUBMISSIONS*
Submissions are accepted in two formats: full papers and extended abstracts. Submission follows a two-stage process. All authors must first complete an abstract registration on OpenReview. Only submissions with a completed abstract registration may proceed to full paper or extended abstract submission. The abstract registration requires the submission of an abstract of no more than 250 words, together with the author list and a tentative title. The abstract registration deadline is two weeks before the paper submission deadline and applies to both full papers and extended abstracts. Final submissions must be uploaded in PDF format via OpenReview (click here).

Full papers must be anonymized and be up to 12 pages in the LNCS format (click here for details), including figures but excluding references. All full papers will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process. Papers are evaluated based on originality, quality, soundness, and relevance. Full paper submissions must be anonymized to the best of the authors' efforts; the existence of a non-anonymous online preprint is permitted after acceptance notification. Accepted full papers will receive oral presentations and will be published in the proceedings in the Springer CCIS series.

Extended abstracts must be up to 2 pages, excluding references and figures. These submissions may cover the material of a journal paper published by the author in the past 12 months or may present late-breaking results. Extended abstracts will also be peer-reviewed. Accepted extended abstracts will be presented as posters and will not be published in the proceedings, but will be published in the conference program.

 
On behalf of the organizing committee,

Organizers

   General Chair: Pablo Lanillos
   Technical Program Chairs: Martijn Wisse, Ivilin Peev Stoianov
   
Organization committee

Mahault Albarracin, VERSES, USA
Christopher Buckley, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Daria De Tinguy, Ghent University, Belgium
Pablo Lanillos, Spanish National Research Council, Spain
Riddhi J. Pitliya, VERSES, USA
Hideaki Shimazaki, Kyoto University, Japan
Ivilin Peev Stoianov, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR), Italy
Tim Verbelen, VERSES, USA
Martijn Wisse, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

 

--
Dr. Pablo Lanillos
Neuro AI and Robotics (NAIR) group | https://neuro-ai-robotics.github.io/
Cajal Neuroscience Center (CNC) | Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain
ELLIS Nijmegen Unit | Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, the Netherlands