First Call for Papers
ANTS 2026
15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence
June 8-10, 2026. darmstadtium - Science and Congress Center, Darmstadt, Germany
https://ants2026.org

Conference Scope

Since its inception in 1998, ANTS has been a highly selective, single-track meeting that provided a forum for discussing advances in the field of swarm intelligence. It solicits submissions presenting significant, original research from researchers and practitioners of any area related to swarm intelligence.

Swarm intelligence is an interdisciplinary and rapidly evolving field, rooted in the study of self-organizing processes in both natural and artificial systems. Researchers from disciplines ranging from ethology to statistical physics have developed models that explain collective phenomena, such as decision-making in social insect colonies and collective movements in human crowds. Swarm-inspired algorithms and methods have proven effective in solving complex optimization problems and creating multi-robot and networked systems of unparalleled resilience, adaptability and scalability. Applications of swarm intelligence continue to grow and become increasingly critical for addressing societal challenges such as environmental sustainability, food security, health, and global conflicts.

The 2026 edition’s theme is "reaching beyond - swarm intelligence across systems, disciplines, and communities". The meeting seeks to encourage new perspectives, help bridge traditional boundaries and enable open debate on what could be ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking endeavors to embark on.

Relevant Research Topics

Papers are solicited in all areas of swarm intelligence, including, but not limited to:
- Theoretical foundations of swarm intelligence and collective phenomena
- Modeling and analysis of self-organizing systems in nature, including many-particle systems, cellular systems, insect colonies, bird flocks, and human crowds
- Decision making in large groups e.g. consensus dynamics, mean-field games, social choice theory
- Swarm robotics, including colloidal systems, micro-robots, drones, and other autonomous vehicles
- Swarm optimization algorithms, including ACO, PSO, ABC
- LLMs and GenAI-in-the-loop systems in combination with swarm intelligence
- Large-scale distributed networks, such as smart dust, smart cities, or social networks
- Robotic materials and modular robots capable of self-repair, self-assembly or shape-shifting
- Distributed learning, coordination, and control in many-agent systems
- Human-centered swarm intelligence and human-swarm interaction
- Sustainable technologies for artificial and bio-hybrid swarms
- Creative and expressive uses of swarm principles in art, design and education
- Benchmarking and reproducibility in swarm intelligence research
- Ethical and societal implications of applications of swarm intelligence research
- Applications of swarm intelligence to real-world challenges

Important Dates

Submission deadline: November 10, 2025
Notification of acceptance: January 30, 2026
Camera ready copy: February 13, 2026
Conference: June 8-10, 2026

Plenary Talks
- Sharon Glotzer, University of Michigan, USA
- Tamas Vicsek, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

Perspective Talks
- Thomas Watteyne, Analog Devices, USA

Submitting to ANTS 2026

Submissions should be from 7 to 11 pages, excluding references, when typeset in the LNCS Springer LaTeX template.

Publication Details

All accepted contributions will be included in the proceedings of ANTS 2026, which will be published by Springer in the LNCS series. The journal Swarm Intelligence will publish a special issue dedicated to ANTS 2026 that will contain extended versions of selected research works presented at the conference. Further details will be published on the web site.

Conference Location

For the first time, the ANTS conference series will take place in Darmstadt, Germany. ANTS 2026 will be hosted by the Technical University of Darmstadt at the darmstadtium - Science and Congress Center, located in the heart of the city. The venue is walking distance to the UNESCO World Heritage site Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, offering attendees a unique opportunity to experience both ground-breaking research and the rich cultural heritage of the city.

ANTS 2026 Organizing Committee

General chair
Roderich Gross, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

Honorary chair
Marco Dorigo, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Technical program chairs
Aaron T. Becker, University of Houston, USA
Gianni Di Caro, Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar
Bahar Haghighat, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
M. Ani Hsieh, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Publicity chair
Razanne Abu-Aisheh, University of Bristol, UK

Publication chair
Mohamed Salah Talamali, The University of Sheffield, UK

Local organizing committee
Usama Ali, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Uta Drews, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Ecem Isildar, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Jenny von Trzebiatowski, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

Paper submission chair
Julian Rau, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

ANTS 2026 Steering Committee

Marco Dorigo, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Andries Engelbrecht, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Heiko Hamann, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Alcherio Martinoli, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Radhika Nagpal, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Thomas Stuetzle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Guy Theraulaz, CNRS CRCA, Toulouse, France

Further Information

Up-to-date information will be published at
Website: https://ants2026.org
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ants2026.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ants-conferences-a2970b14b