MESS 2020+1 ~ Learning & Optimization from Big Data ~ 15-18 June 2021
2021-06-15 - 2021-06-18 | Catania, Sicily, Italy
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MESS 2020+1 – Metaheuristics Summer School
– Learning & Optimization from Big Data –
15-18 June 2021, Catania, Italy (virtual and onsite mode)
https://www.ANTs-lab.it/mess2020/
mess.school@ANTs-lab.it
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetaheuristicsSchool/ ———————————————————————–
** APPLICATION DEADLINE: 5th March 2021 **||
https://www.ants-lab.it/mess2020/application/
MESS 2020+1 is aimed at qualified and strongly motivated MSc and PhD students; post-docs; young researchers, and both academic and industrial professionals to provide an overview on the several metaheuristics techniques, and an in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art. The main theme of this edition is “Learning and Optimization from Big Data”, therefore MESS 2020+1 wants to focus on (i) Learning for Metaheuristics; (ii) Optimization in Machine Learning; and (iii) how Optimization and Learning affect the Metaheuristics making them relevant in handling Big Data.
Participants will be delivered a certificate of attendance indicating the number of hours of lectures (36-40 hours of lectures). In according to the academic system all PhD and master students attending to the summer school will may get 8 ECTS points.
** LIST OF LECTURERS & LECTURES TITLES
+ Paolo Arena, Unviersity of Catania, Italy
Lecture#1: TBA
Lecture#2: TBA
+ Angelo Cangelosi, University of Manchester & Alan Turing Institute, UK
Lecture#1: Cognitive and Developmental Robotics, part 1
Lecture#2: Cognitive and Developmental Robotics, part 2
+ Swagatam Das, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
Lecture#1: Deep Generative Adversarial Networks and Their Application to Class-imbalanced Learning
Lecture#2: Non-convex Constrained Optimization – Some Advanced Approaches
+ Luca Maria Gambardella, IDSIA Istituto Dalle Molle for Artificial Intelligence, Switzerland
Lecture#1: TBA
Lecture#2: TBA
+ Salvatore Greco, University of Catania, Italy & University of Portsmouth, UK
Lecture#1: Preference Learning in Multicriteria Decision Support
Lecture#2: Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization Guided by Preference Learning
+ Giuseppe F. Italiano, Luiss University, Italy
Lecture#1: TBA
Lecture#2: TBA
+ Rafael Martì, University of Valencia, Spain
Lecture#1: Optimization in Graph Drawing
Lecture#2: Models and Heuristics in Discrete Diversity Maximization
+ Gabriela Ochoa, University of Stirling, UK
Lecture#1: Fitness Landscape Analysis
Lecture#2: Complex Networks in Search and Optimisation
+ Mauricio Resende, AMAZON, USA
Lecture#1: GRASP with Path-Relinking for Real-World Optimization Problems
Lecture#2: Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithms with Applications
+ El-Ghazali Talbi, University of Lille 1, France
Lecture#1: Machine learning for metaheuristics
Lecture#2: Automated design of deep neural networks
+ Daniele Vigo, University of Bologna, Italy
Lecture#1: Fast and scalable heuristics for vehicle routing problems
Lecture#2: Integrating machine learning into vehicle routing heuristics
** METAHEURISTICS COMPETITION
All participants to the school will be involved in the “Metaheuristics Competition”, where each of them will must develop a metaheuristic solution on the given problem. The top three of the competition ranking will receive the MESS 2020+1 prize. Students whose algorithm will rank in the top ten of the competition ranking will be invited to submit a manuscript of their work to be published in the special volume MESS 2020+1 of the AIRO Springer Series.
** SHORT TALK & POSTER PRESENTATION
All participants may submit an abstract of their recent results, or works in progress, for presentation and having the opportunities for debate and interact with leaders in the field. Mini-Workshop Organizers and Scientific Committee will review the abstracts and will recommend for the format of the presentation (oral or poster). All abstracts will be published on the electronic hands-out book of the summer school.
The Abstracts must be submitted by *March 5, 2020*.
*See Previous Edition – MESS 2018*
https://www.ants-lab.it/mess2018/
** MORE INFORMATION:
https://www.ANTs-lab.it/mess2020/ — mess.school@ANTs-lab.it Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetaheuristicsSchool/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MESS_school

MIC 2026 - 16th Metaheuristics International Conference
2026-06-08 08:00 - 2026-06-11 17:00 UTC | ischia, Ischia island (Napoli), Italy
MIC 2026 – 16th Metaheuristics International Conference

8 – 11 June, 2026
Ischia Island (Napoli), Italy
www.mic2026.unina.it
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Submission deadline: February 27, 2026
Number of days to deadline: 21
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Aims, Themes & Scope: As per tradition, looking at the previous editions of the MIC conferences, this conference focuses on the progress of the area of Metaheuristics and their applications and provides an opportunity to the international research community to discuss recent research results, to develop new ideas and collaborations, and to meet old friends and make new ones in relaxed atmosphere. MIC 2026 strives to propose a high-quality program that will be completed by a number of invited talks, tutorials, workshops and special sessions.
Solicited contributions can cover a variety of topics including but not limited to:
– 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, 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.
MIC 2026 accepts submissions in three different formats:
1. Regular paper: novel and original research contributions of a maximum of 15 pages (LNCS format)
2. Short paper: extended abstract of novel research works of 6 pages (LNCS format)
3. Oral presentation: one page abstract describing the content of an high-quality manuscript that has recently, within the last year, been submitted or accepted for journal publication.
All submitted papers will undergo a review process. All papers must be prepared using Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) template, and must be submitted in PDF using the easychair system (https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=mic2026).
Accepted papers in categories 1 and 2 will be published as post-proceedings in Lecture Notes in Computer Science series by Springer.
In addition, a post-conference special issue in Journal of Heuristics will be considered for the significantly extended and revised versions of selected accepted papers from categories 1 and 2.
IMPORTANT DATES:
All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE = UTC-12h).
– December 1, 2025, submission open/registration open
– February 27, 2026, submission deadline
– March 27, 2026, notification of acceptance
– April 10, 2026, early registration deadline
– June 8-11, 2026, conference at Ischia, Italy
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Paola Festa (E-mail: infomic2026@unina.it, paola.festa@unina.it)
Dept. of Mathematics and Applications “R. Caccioppoli”, University of Napoli “Federico II”
