<div dir="ltr"><p id="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-m_4229868390343672935gmail-docs-internal-guid-7c650841-1517-b358-ebfc-16e3705df810" dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:11pt">Dear Colleagues,</span><br></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">We would like to invite you to submit extended abstracts of between 4-6 pages to our '<span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">Lifelong</span> Learning: A Reinforcement Learning Approach' ICML 2017 Workshop which will be held in Sydney, Australia on <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aBn"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aQJ">August 10, 2017</span></span>.</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">IMPORTANT INFORMATION</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">******************************<wbr>******************</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Website:</span><a href="http://rlabstraction2016.wix.com/icml-2017" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">http://rlabstraction2<wbr>016.wix.com/icml-2017</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Date: <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aBn"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aQJ">10 August 2017</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Location: Sydney, Australia</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Submission deadline: </span><b style="font-size:small"><s><span style="color:red">6th June 2016,</span></s></b><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aBn" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:11pt"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aQJ"> 13th June 2017, 11:59 PM</span></span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:11pt"> (GMT+2)</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">OVERVIEW</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">******************************<wbr>******************</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">One of the most challenging and open problems in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that of <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">Lifelong</span> Learning:</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline">“<span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">Lifelong</span> Learning is the continued learning of tasks, from one or more domains, over the course of a lifetime, by a <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning system. A <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning system efficiently and effectively (1) retains the knowledge it has learned; (2) selectively transfers knowledge to learn new tasks; and (3) ensures the effective and efficient interaction between (1) and (2).”</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">Lifelong</span> learning is still in its infancy. Many issues currently exist such as learning general representations, catastrophic forgetting , efficient knowledge retention mechanisms and hierarchical abstractions .  Much work has been done in the Reinforcement Learning (RL) community to tackle different elements of <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span>learning. Active research topics include hierarchical abstractions, transfer learning, multi-task learning and curriculum learning. With the emergence of powerful function approximators such as in Deep Learning, we feel that now is a perfect time to provide a forum to discuss ways to move forward and provide a truly general <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning framework, using RL-based algorithms, with more rigour than ever before. This workshop will endeavour to promote interaction between researchers working on the different elements of <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning to try and find a synergy between the various techniques.</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">SUBMISSION</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">******************************<wbr>******************</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">The submitted work should be an extended abstract of between 4-6 pages (including references). The submission should be in </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline">pdf</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"> format and should follow the style guidelines for ICML 2017. The review process is double-blind and the work should be submitted by the latest </span><b style="font-size:small"><s><span style="color:red">6th June 2016,</span></s></b><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aBn" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:11pt"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aQJ"> </span></span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline"><b>13</b></span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aBn"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-m_2314404096192024048gmail-aQJ">th June 2017, 11:59 PM</span></span>(GMT+2).</span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline">Submissions must be made through easychair: <a href="https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=llicml2017" target="_blank">https://easychair.o<wbr>rg/conferences/?conf=llicml201<wbr>7</a></span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">AREAS OF INTEREST</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">******************************<wbr>******************</span></p><ul style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Using Hierarchical Abstractions to perform <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning (e.g., skills/options and state space representations)</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Transfer Learning</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Multi-task Learning</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Curriculum Learning</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Deep Learning as a tool for performing <span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">lifelong</span> learning</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Determine new, challenging benchmark domains</span></p></li></ul><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">For more info see our</span><a href="http://rlabstraction2016.wix.com/icml-2017" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">website</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">.</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">******************************<wbr>******************</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Sarath Chandar - University of Montreal</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Balaraman Ravindran - Indian Institute of Technology</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Daniel J. Mankowitz - Technion Israel Institute of Technology</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Tom Zahavy - Technion Israel Institute of Technology</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Shie Mannor - Technion Israel Institute of Technology</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">We look forward to reviewing your submissions and hope to see you in Sydney!</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Kind regards,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Sarath, Ravi, Daniel, Tom and Shie</span></p><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-m_-9155032417325520844gmail-il">Lifelong</span> Learning: A Reinforcement Learning Approach Workshop organizers</span><br>
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