Connectionists: 14th Metaheuristics International Conference, 11-14 July 2022, Ortigia-Syracuse, Italy

[Mario Pavone]

Apologies for cross-posting. Appreciate if you can distribute this CFP  
to your network.

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MIC 2022 - 14th Metaheuristics International Conference
11-14 July 2021, Ortigia-Syracuse, Italy
https://www.ANTs-lab.it/mic2022/
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** Submission deadline: 30th March 2022 **


*Scope of the Conference
========================

The Metaheuristics International Conference (MIC) conference series  
was established in 1995 and this is its 14th edition!

MIC is nowadays the main event focusing on the progress of the area of  
Metaheuristics and their applications. As in all previous editions,  
provides an opportunity to the international research community in  
Metaheuristics to discuss recent research results, to develop new  
ideas and collaborations, and to meet old and make new friends in a  
friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Considering the particular moment, the conference will be held in  
presence and online mode. Of course, in case the conference will be  
held in presence, the organizing committee will ensure compliance of  
all safety conditions.

MIC 2022 is focus on presentations that cover different aspects of  
metaheuristic research such as new algorithmic developments,  
high-impact and original applications, new research challenges,  
theoretical developments, implementation issues, and in-depth  
experimental studies.
MIC 2022  strives a high-quality program that will be completed by a  
number of invited talks, tutorials, workshops and special sessions.


*Plenary Speakers
========================

+ Holger H. Hoos, Leiden University, The Netherlands
+ Christian Blum, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA),  
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

More Plenary Speakers will be announced soon.


*Relevant Research Areas
========================

MIC 2022 solicits contributions dealing with any aspect of  
metaheuristics. Typical, but not exclusive, topics of interest are:

    + Metaheuristic techniques such as tabu search, simulated  
annealing, iterated local search, variable neighborhood search,  
memory-based optimization, dynamic local search, evolutionary  
algorithms, memetic algorithms, ant colony optimization, variable  
neighborhood search, particle swarm optimization, scatter search, path  
relinking, etc.

    + Techniques that enhance the usability and increase the potential  
of metaheuristic algorithms such as reactive search mechanisms for  
self-tuning, offline metaheuristic algorithm configuration techniques,  
algorithm portfolios, parallelization of metaheuristic algorithms, etc.

    + Empirical and theoretical research in metaheuristics including  
large-scale experimental analyses, algorithm comparisons, new  
experimental methodologies, engineering methodologies for  
metaheuristic algorithms, search space analysis, theoretical insights  
into properties of metaheuristic algorithms, etc.

    + High-impact applications of metaheuristics in fields such as  
bioinformatics, electrical and mechanical engineering,  
telecommunications, sustainability, business, scheduling and  
timetabling. Particularly welcome are innovative applications of  
metaheuristic algorithms that have a potential of pushing research  
frontiers.

    + Contributions on the combination of metaheuristic techniques  
with those from other areas, such as integer programming, constraint  
programming, machine learning, etc.

    + Contributions on the use of metaheuristic techniques in machine  
learning and deep learning for finetuning and neural architecture  
search, etc.

    + Challenging applications areas such as continuous, mixed  
discrete-continuous, multi-objective, stochastic, or dynamic problems.


Important Dates
================

Submission deadline           March 30th, 2022
Notification of acceptance    May 10th, 2022
Camera ready copy             May 25th, 2022
Early registration            May 25th , 2022


Submission Details
===================

We will accept submissions in three different formats.

S1) Original research contributions for publication in the conference  
proceedings of a maximum of 10 pages

S2) Extended abstracts of work-in-progress and position papers on an  
important research aspect of a maximum of 3 pages

S3) High-quality manuscripts that have recently, within the last year,  
been submitted or accepted for journal publication


Accepted contributions of categories S1 and S2 will be published in  
the MIC 2022 conference proceedings. Accepted contributions of  
category S3 will be orally presented at the conference, but not be  
included into the conference proceedings.