As part of the AISB conference to be held at the University of Sussex, UK, 1 to 2 July 2026

The conference is organised by The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB)
http://www.aisb.org.uk/

OVERVIEW:

The symposium will be a one-day session of talks, Q&A’s, and panel discussions, structured around two themes: foundations, and applications. 

Each session will open with a keynote speaker (45 min presentation +15 min Q&A), include up to four further talks (15-30 min slots), and will wrap up with a panel discussion and audience questions.

Confirmed speakers:

  • Prof. Gualtiero Piccinini
  • Dr. Fernando Rosas
  • Dr. Kate Nave
  • Dr. Nathaniel Virgo

 

TOPICS OF INTEREST

1- Foundations:

Foundational debates concerning the nature of computational processes, the status of formal and physical models, and the relationship between abstraction and implementation - have been reopened by both theoretical developments and increasingly powerful real-world systems. Against this backdrop, the symposium’s foundations strand invites critical reflection on the conceptual terrain of computation, motivating the following guiding questions:

·         What makes a process computational?  

·         Are classic distinctions between syntax and semantics, or implementational, algorithmic, and computational levels of description sound?  

·         Is computation subjective or objective, abstract or concrete, mathematical or physical?

·         What are the limits of computation? Is undecidability restricted to a mathematical realm?  

2- Applications: 

The applications strand of the symposium will re-examine the role of computational concepts and tools across various research contexts relating to intelligence and adaptive behaviour. To further discussion of this topic, we seek contributors to address the below questions:

·         What are the distinctive strengths and limitations of computational explanations —generally, and in specific fields? 

·         Is cognition a computational process? If so, what makes certain computational processes cognitive, and others not? 

·         What is gained, and is anything lost, by treating cognition, life, and other processes computationally? 

·         What is the explanatory role of representations and algorithmic models in the cognitive sciences?  

·         What are the prospects for and obstacles to the development of a “computational phenomenology”?  

 

SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION DETAILS

We invite abstracts of up to 500 words on any of the above and related topics.

Each paper will receive at least two reviews. Selected papers will be published in the general proceedings of the AISB Conference, with the proviso that at least ONE author attends the symposium, in person, in order to present the paper and participate in general symposium activities.

Accepted talks will be allotted 20, 30, 45-minute slots, plus a sit in the discussion panel.

Submission deadline: 15/05/2026

Decision will be made and communicated to all contributors by the end of May.

 

SYMPOSIUM ORGANISERS:

Adam Rostowski (a.rostowski@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex

Ben White (b.white@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex. 

Fernando Rodriguez-Vergara (f.rodriguez-vergara@sussex.ac.uk), Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex 

 

SYMPOSIUM WEBSITE: https://sites.google.com/view/foundations-of-computation