AICS 2026

Call for Papers

The 34th Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (AICS2026) will be hosted in University College Dublin and supported by the Rinn AI Centre. The conference will take place in University College Dublin (UCD) from 15-16 October 2026. This year AICS2026 is recognized as an Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026, and will be held in parallel with the AI in Science Summit (AIS2026) also running in UCD. There will be a special Nectar Track poster session highlighting the best Irish AI and Cognitive Science research run in parallel with AIS2026. Alignment with AIS2026 requires a slightly accelerated review process.

With regular conferences dating back to 1988, the AICS has served as the premier platform for researchers in Ireland working in Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, and their applications. This year, we warmly invite and strongly encourage submissions from researchers worldwide, including those based outside of Ireland, to foster broader collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Topics

The Program Committee of AICS2026 invites both technical and experiential submissions in the broad areas of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. Areas of interest include, but are not restricted to:

Technical Submissions

Topic Area	Description
Symbolic AI and Knowledge Representation	Logic programming, reasoning, knowledge bases, ontologies, etc.
Machine Learning	Deep learning, neural networks, reinforcement learning, etc.
Machine Learning Testing	Safety, evaluation metrics, robustness etc.
Learning Theory	Optimisation, Bayesian Methods, Game Theory, Complexity Analysis etc.
Semantic Web	Knowledge Graphs, Social Network Analysis etc.
Applications	Computer Vision, speech/audio processing, natural language processing, ML for medicine, recommender systems etc.

Application-focused Submissions

Topic Area	Description
Applications of AI	Examples and experiences of using AI to solve real-world challenges
AI in Practice	Case studies detailing the deployment, integration, and operationalisation of AI systems
Responsible and Ethical AI Deployment	Fairness, transparency, accountability, and compliance
AI for Social Good	Addressing societal challenges, including low-resource settings, inclusion
Scalable and Sustainable AI Solutions	Scalable, energy-efficient, and maintainable in production
AI in Science	AI techniques designed to support the scientific process or to AI for specific scientific fields

Important Dates

Event	Date
Submission Date	5th September 2026
Acceptance Notification	26 September 2026
Final Paper Deadline	23rd October 2026 (after AICS2026)

Instructions for Authors

We invite three types of submissions:

Full Paper Track: Full paper submissions should consist of original contributions (describing either fundamental research, interesting applications, in-use experiences, or reviews of the field) not published in other forums. Papers should be 6 to 12 pages in length (including references) in CCIS Format (single column). Accepted submissions will appear in conference proceedings, and authors will be invited to oral or poster presentations.
Student Track: This track is designed to facilitate students who have recently completed a Bachelor's or Master's program. Student track submissions should consist of original contributions (describing either basic research or interesting applications), and the first author must be a student. Papers should be 6 to 12 pages in length (including references) in CCIS Format (single column). Accepted submissions will typically appear in the conference proceedings, though some may be included in the full-paper track. Typically authors of this track will be invited to give a poster presentation.
NECTAR Track: NECTAR track submissions should describe significant results previously published or disseminated no earlier than 2024 at a prestigious international conference or journal. Accepted submissions will be included in online proceedings as a single-page abstract. Authors will be invited to present their work as part of the poster session run in parallel with AIS2026 and a selection will also be invited for oral presentation at AICS.

Organisation Committee

General Co-Chairs

Courtney Ford

University College Dublin

Giulio Gabrieli

Technological University Dublin

Brian Mac Namee