We welcome submissions to the 37th International Workshop on Combinatorial Algorithms (IWOCA 2026), which will be held during June 8-12, 2026, at Université Clermont Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Since its inception in 1989 as AWOCA (Australasian Workshop on Combinatorial Algorithms), IWOCA has provided an annual forum for researchers who design algorithms for the myriad combinatorial problems that underlie computer applications in science, engineering and business.
***Conference website***
https://iwoca2026.limos.fr
***Topics***
The conference focuses on combinatorial algorithms and related areas. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:
Algorithmic Game Theory
Algorithmic Lower Bounds and Fine-grained Complexity
Algorithms and Data Structures
Algorithms for Big Data and Networks Analytics
Algorithms for Cryptography and Information Security
Algorithms on Graphs, Strings, and other Discrete Structures
Approximation Algorithms
Circuits and Boolean Functions
Combinatorics
Combinatorics of Words
Combinatorial Games
Combinatorial Generation, Enumeration and Counting
Combinatorial Optimization
Complexity Theory
Computational Algebra
Computational Biology
Computational Geometry
Distributed and Parallel Algorithms
Dynamic and Temporal Networks
Experimental Evaluation of Algorithms
Graph Drawing
Graph Theory
Mobile Agents
New Paradigms of Computation
Online and Streaming Algorithms
Parameterized and Exact Algorithms
Probabilistic and Randomized Algorithms
Scheduling Algorithms
***Important dates (Anywhere on Earth)***
January 26, 2026: abstract submission deadline
February 2, 2026: full paper submission deadline
March 25, 2026: notification
April 6, 2026: camera-ready deadline
May 11, 2026: early registration deadline
May 27, 2026: late registration deadline
June 8-11, 2026: IWOCA 2026
June 11-12, 2026: collaborative workshop
October 31, 2026: special issues submission deadline
***Submission instructions***
Authors are invited to submit high-quality manuscripts reporting original unpublished research in the topics of IWOCA. Papers are to be submitted electronically through Easychair at the following link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iwoca2026
Simultaneous submission to other conferences or workshops with published proceedings or to a journal is not allowed. At least one author of each accepted paper must present the paper at the conference as a registered participant. For authors who cannot present their paper in person, remote presentations are possible, but the workshop will not be held online and full registration will still be mandatory.
Each submission should be in the form of a single pdf file and consist of the main part of the paper, not exceeding 12 pages in the Springer LNCS format (including the title page and excluding the references), plus an optional, clearly marked appendix (to be read at the discretion of the committee). The main body of the paper must be self-contained, in particular, any figure pertaining to the main part of the paper should be included therein (within the 12 page limit). The LNCS style should not be modified (font size, spacing and margins should follow the default of the LNCS style). The paper should not reveal the identities of the authors (see instructions for double-blind format below). Submissions not conforming to the above rules and papers outside of the scope of the conference will be rejected without consideration. Springer encourages authors to include their ORCIDs in their papers, and requires to draw the attention of the contributing conference paper authors to the Code of Conduct. Please follow Springer's guidelines at https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines
Papers eligible for the best student paper award should be identified as "Student Paper" in the submission system by ticking the appropriate checkbox.
***Double-blind reviewing***
For the first time, IWOCA 2026 will employ a lightweight double-blind reviewing process: submissions should not reveal the identity of the authors in any way. The purpose of the double-blind reviewing is to help PC members and external reviewers come to an initial judgement about the paper without bias, not to make it impossible for them to discover the authors if they were to try. Nothing should be done in the name of anonymity that weakens the submission or makes the job of reviewing the paper more difficult. In particular, important references should not be omitted or anonymized. Uploading the paper to one's website or to a public repository (such as the arXiv) is permitted. Conflicts of interest with members of the programme committee must be disclosed on the submission server at the time of submission. Conflicts of interest include: being a family member or close friend, advisor/advisee (no time limit), having the same affiliation, being involved in an incident of harassment or other negative interaction (it is not required that the incident be reported or known), person who owes author a favour (e.g., recently requested a reference letter), frequent or recent collaborator (within last 5 years), and any other situation where the person may not be objective in judging the authors' work.
***Proceedings***
The conference proceedings will be published in the LNCS series of Springer, within the ARCoSS subline.
***Journal special issues***
Authors of selected papers accepted to IWOCA 2026 will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers to Special Issues at the "Journal of Computer and Systems Sciences" and "Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science".
***Awards***
Awards sponsored by Springer will be given to the best paper and the best student paper. To be eligible for the best student paper award, at least one of the authors must be a full-time student at the time of submission, and the student(s) must have made a significant contribution to the paper. The programme committee may decline to make these awards or may split them.
***Open problems and collaborative workshop***
In the tradition of past IWOCAs, an open problem session will take place during the conference, and on 11-12 June 2026, a 1.5-day collaborative workshop will take place. We encourage all IWOCA participants to stay in order to engage in collaborative work in a friendly atmosphere.
***Extended Stay Support Scheme***
We encourage all IWOCA participants to use the opportunity of traveling to France to plan a visit to any French institution reachable without plane, before or after IWOCA 2026. A selected number of partner institutions will offer partial funding for such research trips.
***Registration***
The early registration fees are planned to amount to 275€ for student participants and 385€ for other participants. An extra 110€ needs to be added for the late registration fees. The registration includes lunches, coffee breaks and social programme.
***Venue***
Clermont-Ferrand lies in the heart of France and is surrounded by a beautiful (non-active) volcanic range featuring multiple hills, mountains and lakes, to which various hiking trips can be arranged. Clermont-Ferrand is accessible by train, bus or plane via Paris and Lyon international airports.
***Invited Speakers***
Sergio Cabello (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Pierre Fraigniaud (CNRS, Université Paris Cité, France)
Neeldhara Misra (Indian Institute of Technology Ghandinagar, India)
***Programme Chairs***
Florent Foucaud (Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Aline Parreau (CNRS, Université Lyon 1, France)
***Programme Committee***
Cristina Bazgan (Université Paris Dauphine, France)
Petra Berenbrink (Universität Hamburg, Germany)
Davide Bilo (Università dell'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy)
Hans-Joachim Böckenhauer (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Switzerland)
Hans Bodlaender (Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands)
Tiziana Calamoneri (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy)
Dibyayan Chakraborty (University of Leeds, UK)
Monika Csikos (Université Paris Cité, France)
Antoine Dailly (INRAE, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Peter Dankelmann (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
Jessica Enright (University of Glasgow, UK)
Henning Fernau (Universität Trier, Germany)
Florent Foucaud (Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Serge Gaspers (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)
Pavol Hell (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)
Ling-Ju Hung (National Taipei University of Business, Taiwan)
Ralf Klasing (CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, France)
Thierry Lecroq (Université de Rouen Normandie, France)
Daniel Lokshtanov (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
Arnaud Mary (Université Lyon 1, France)
Martin Milanic (Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, Slovenia)
Valia Mitsou (Université Paris Cité, France)
Pedro Montealegre (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile)
Amer Mouawad (American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
Lucia Moura (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Alantha Newman (CNRS, ENS Lyon, France)
Prajakta Nimbhorkar (Chennai Mathematical Institute, India)
Aline Parreau (CNRS, Université Lyon 1, France)
Rajiv Raman (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, India)
Adele Rescigno (Università degli studi di Salerno, Italy)
Matthieu Rosenfeld (Université de Montpellier, France)
Sagnik Sen (Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, India)
Maria Serna (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain)
Ana Silva (Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil)
Ueverton Souza (IMPA Tech, Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Prafullkumar Tale (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune, India)
Kunihiro Wasa (Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan)
Binhai Zhu (State University of Montana, Bozeman, USA)
***Organizing Chairs***
Antoine Dailly (INRAE, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Florent Foucaud (Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
***Local Organizing Committee (Université Clermont Auvergne)***
Gaétan Berthe
Béatrice Bourdieu
Antoine Dailly
Jona Dirks
Solène Drouet
Florent Foucaud
Yan Gerard
Claire Hilaire
Sophie Huiberts
Victoria Kaial
Lucas Lorieau
Anirudh Rachuri
Alexandre Vigny
Loïc Yon
***Steering Committee***
Maria Chudnovsky (Princeton University, USA)
Henning Fernau (Universität Trier, Germany)
Ralf Klasing (CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, France)
Tomasz Radzik (King's College London, UK)
Bill Smyth (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada)
Wing-Kin (Ken) Sung (Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)