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WEPO 2021
2nd Workshop on Evolutionary and Population-based Optimization

29-30 November 2021
Online Event
In conjunction with AIxIA 2021

https://wepo2021.aisylab.com
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The workshop WEPO 2021, part of AIxIA 2021, is intended to foster the
discussion about Evolutionary Computation (EC) and Population-based
Optimization (PO). Nature-inspired algorithms are largely used for
solving optimization problems in a large number of fields due to their
simplicity and effectiveness. The underlying principles behind these
algorithms are simple enough to allow a great adaptability to various
problems and domains and, while maintaining excellent effectiveness,
they offer the possibility of obtaining explainable solutions. In a
scenario where AI is increasingly predominant, but often with black
box solutions, the explainability of EC and PO solutions may be an
answer to the growing demand for understandable AI. The goal of this
workshop is to explore and discuss the latest trends, promising
results and hot topics in the fields of EC and PO, offering a
discussion forum where new research collaborations can be established.

Topics of Interest
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The topics of the workshops include all evolutionary computation
methods and population-based optimization techniques, including but
not limited to:

- Genetic Algorithms
- Genetic Programming (tree-based, cartesian, graph-based,
grammar-based, linear, semantic, and other kinds of GP)
- Evolution Strategies
- Differential Evolution
- Particle Swarm Optimization and other swarm intelligence methods
- Neuroevolution
- Evolutionary robotics
- Distributed methods in EC and swarm intelligence
- Multi-objective optimization in EC and swarm intelligence
- Cooperative and competitive evolution
- Fitness landscape analysis
- Applications of evolutionary algorithms to cyber-physical systems
- Real-world applications
- Software packages for population-based optimization methods
(including implementations for HPC and GPU)

Both theoretical works, novel techniques, and application to
real-world problems are on-topic for the workshop. A particular focus
of this workshop is the relation between these methods and the larger
area of AI, in particular how they can contribute to the development
of an explainable AI and how they can be hybridized with other machine
learning methods.

Types of submission
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WEPO 2021 welcomes three different kinds of submissions:

- Research Papers (up to 12 pages). Original and unpublished research
works. The aim of this kind of paper is to disseminate to the
community a complete research work.

- Exploratory papers (up to 6 pages). Shorter papers with preliminary
results or in-progress works. The authors are encouraged to present
the main open problems and novel ideas to allow a fruitful discussion
that can help in improving the work. Exploratory papers are also a
useful tool for students to start presenting their current research.

- Proposal for software demos (2 pages short description). It is well
known that the software landscape for evolutionary computation and
swarm intelligence is quite fragmented, with tools usually limited to
single research groups. With a software demo, we want to encourage
researchers to present their software, possibly helping other people
in learning how to use it in their research. Authors are also
encouraged to make available before the workshop a software repository
with the code and examples used in the demo.

Submission Instructions
-----------------------

All submissions must be formatted according to Springer’s LNCS style
(https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines)
and must be submitted using the EasyChair submission system
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aixia2021), specifying the
WEPO track.

Publication
-----------

All accepted research and exploratory papers will be available in a
local proceedings volume or, subject to confirmation, to CEUR-WS
proceedings. All accepted software demos will be available in the
local proceedings.

Authors of a selection of accepted papers will be invited to submit an
extended and revised version for publication in an international
journal (to be confirmed).

Important Dates
---------------

Paper submission deadline: October 1st, 2021.
Notification to authors: November 8th, 2021.
Camera ready submission: November 22th, 2021.
Workshop date: November 29th-30th, 2021.

Participation
-------------

The workshop will be held online, with a program expected to run for
one day, before the main conference. The exact date (November 29th
or 30th) will be announced later. Further information on the AIxIA
conference, of which WEPO is part of, are available on the main
AIxIA website (https://aixia2021.disco.unimib.it/).

Organizing Committee
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Luca Manzoni, University of Trieste, IT
Andrea De Lorenzo, University of Trieste, IT
Luca Mariot, TU Delft, NL

Website
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https://wepo2021.aisylab.com

Contact
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wepo2021@easychair.org