Dear all,
We are pleased to invite you to submit your work to the 8th edition of the
international conference Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication,
which will be held in Padova, Italy, from October 12 to October 15, 2026.
The CMSC conference series, initiated in 2013, aims to explore new ways of
communicating the rich mathematical ideas fundamental to computer science.
There’s a need and an appetite among mathematicians and computer scientists
for outreach and engagement at all levels. Bringing together researchers,
educators, and communicators, the conference aims to explore new approaches
to mathematical and computational thinking and lay the groundwork for
innovative teaching and research engagement methods at all educational
levels.
The organizers of CMSC believe that engaging in mathematical science goes
in two directions. Certain areas of research, such as algorithms and
combinatorics, are accessible even to elementary-age children, while
conversely, interaction with non-specialists, including young learners, can
spark new research questions. Creating opportunities for broad and
inclusive engagement in the mathematical sciences not only enriches the
researchers but also brings lasting benefits to society as a whole.
Therefore, we invite both researchers (working in areas such as
mathematics, computer science, engineering, and education in general) and
teachers (working at any level) to contribute and attend the conference.
Any participant who submits a contribution (i.e., a standard paper or a
poster) that passes the reviewing process will have the opportunity to
present their work during the conference. At the bottom, you'll find the
full Call for Contributions.
Submission opening: February 1st, 2026.
Abstract submission deadline (first round): March 6th, 2026
Standard paper deadline (first round): March 13th, 2026
For now... SAVE THE DATE! If you would like to know more or have questions,
you can write to us at cmsc2026@dei.unipd.it or visit our website
https://cmsc2026.github.io for more details.
Looking forward to seeing you in Padova!
CMSC 2026 Organizers
Maarten Löffler, Utrecht University (program co-chair)
Alice Raffaele, University of Padova (organizing co-chair)
Francesco Silvestri, University of Padova (organizing and program chair)
Program Committee
Tim Bell, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Sergio Canazza, University of Padua, Italy
Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Henning Fernau, University of Trier, Germany
Bernd Gärtner, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Henry Hickman, University of New South Wales, Australia
Thore Husfeldt, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jyothi Krishnan, IT Gandhinagar, India
Martina Landman, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Lukas Lehner, TU Wien, Austria
Michael Lodi, University of Bologna, Italy
Zuzana Masárová, ISTA / Grow Trails, Austria
Monica Mattei, International School of Turin, Italy
Valia Mitsou, Université Paris Cité, France
Matthias Mnich, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
Elena Mumford, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Rüdiger Reischuk, ITCS, Universität zu Lübeck, Germany
Giovanni Righini, University of Milan, Italy
Inge Schwank, University of Cologne, Germany
Jacqueline Staub, University of Trier, Germany
Jay Thakkar, IIT Gandhinagar, India
Josef Tkadlec, Charles University, Czechia
Sebastian Wild, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
Steering Committee
Frances Rosamond, University of Bergen, Norway (Chair)
Małgorzata Bednarska-Bzdęga, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland
Tim Bell, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Michael Fellows, University of Bergen, Norway
Valia Mitsou, IRIF, Paris Diderot University, France
Jam Ramanujam, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India
Rüdiger Reischuk, University of Lübeck, Germany
Eljakim Schrijvers, Eljakim IT, Netherlands (International Chair)
Matt Skoss, The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, Australia
Verena Specht-Ronique, HLTM Marburg, Germany
Brett Stephenson, University of Tasmania, Australia
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CMSC 2026 – Call for Contributions
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts on topics related to the
conference’s scope (see below). All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by
members of the Programme Committee.
More precisely, CMSC welcomes the following contributions:
-
Standard papers from 3 to 12 pages; the papers should be in one of the
following categories:
-
Research papers (e.g., empirical, qualitative, quantitative, theory
building, research methods, comparative studies, transferability
of methods
and results from other disciplines)
-
Best practice papers/country reports/experience reports
-
Description of creative products, for instance, a dance or song
performance
-
Position/discussion papers
-
Poster proposals up to 3 pages for:
-
work in progress
-
short description of published work
The page limitations include references. Papers may have an appendix, whose
length must not exceed 3 pages; reading of the appendix is at the
discretion of the reviewers. Accepted papers will be published in the
Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The submissions
should be formatted accordingly. Posters will not be published.
Work submitted to CMSC as standard papers should be novel and original.
Material that has been previously published can be presented as a poster,
or it can be submitted as a standard paper only if the work has been
significantly revised. Note, however, that while novel work is highly
valued, constructive replication of previous studies can also be a
significant contribution, and a new interpretation or evaluation of
previously published work can make a good contribution.
All inquiries about submissions should be sent to cmsc2026@dei.unipd.it.
Conference Scope
The main topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:
-
Teaching Computer Science in early childhood, primary, secondary, and
higher education
-
CS Unplugged
-
Computational Thinking / Algorithmic Thinking
-
Broadening engagement and diversity for the exact sciences
-
Teacher education in Mathematics and Computer Science
-
Teaching CS in relation to other subjects
-
Linking mathematical and computational content for fundamental
competency development
-
Contests and competitions
-
Education for students with special needs
-
Education within resource-limited environments
-
Education in conflict-affected areas
Accepted Contributions
For all accepted contributions, we expect at least one author to attend the
conference and present the work. Given the creative nature of CMSC, you
will have a free choice of how to present your work, as long as it fits the
schedule and conference locations. We encourage authors to contact the
organizers before the submission for inquiries about special requirements
of the presentation. Possible formats include, but are not limited to:
-
a traditional plenary conference talk
-
a video showing a live performance
-
an installation of limited size
-
a test session for an educational activity (with other participants as
test subjects)
In addition, for a selected number of accepted papers, it would be possible
to present their work during the last day, at the Teachers’ Day, to
teachers from primary/secondary schools. More details will be provided in
late Spring 2026.
Submission Guidelines
All contributions (papers and posters) must be submitted through the Microsoft
CMT platform <https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/CMSC2026>, using LNCS
templates. More details will be posted soon. Submissions must be formatted
according to the Springer LNCS style guidelines using LaTeX. The maximum
length of the paper (including references, but excluding the optional
appendix) is 12 pages.
Standard Paper Requirements
All submissions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style
<https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines>
guidelines using LaTeX <https://www.latex-project.org/>.
Poster Requirements
To prepare a poster submission (up to 3 pages), authors are also asked to
use the same Springer LNCS style
<https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines>
and to use LaTeX <https://www.latex-project.org/>. The purpose of the
poster is to stimulate discussion with conference participants about your
presented activity during the conference. During the poster session, the
poster presenters should be present at their booth to give short
presentations to interested participants.
The final poster of an accepted poster submission should have the following
requirements:
-
Size and orientation: A1 portrait (594 × 841 mm)
-
Minimum information required: title, author(s), institution(s), contact
information, problem statement, description of work, gained results, future
work, and primary references. Please bring a printed poster of the correct
size to the conference.
Submission Platform
The Microsoft CMT service was used to manage the peer-review process for
this conference. This service was provided free of charge by Microsoft,
which covered all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services, as
well as software development and support.