Complex Intelligent Systems Research lab

Another paper accepted for the CIS members @ ALife 2026

“Evolved Micro-Neural Networks for Per-Ant Behavioral Modulation in Ant Colony Optimization”, by Alessio Mezzina and Mario Pavone.

Congratulations guys!!

The 2026 Artificial Life Conference Conference this year will be hosted at the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University, within walking distance of each other, in the vibrant university town of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. These two universities each provide an attractive campus with state-of-the-art facilities including ac...

DECISION SCIENCES
Third Decision Science Alliance International Summer Conference, DSA ISC 2025, Catania, Italy, June 19–20, 2025,

Editors:
Mario Pavone, Carlos A. Coello Coello, Raffaele Cerulli, Salvatore Greco, El-Ghazali Talbi

Decision Sciences The DSA ISC 2025 proceedings aims to provide inclusive forum for sharing knowledge, outcomes of the art in AI-based decision making.

Finally online....

"Retrieval Augmented Generation with Iterative Critique: A Framework for Structured Task Solving", by Mezzina, Naso, Pavone

Retrieval Augmented Generation with Iterative Critique: A Framework for Structured Task Solving Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly employed in structured problem-solving, yet their unreliability in producing accurate, verifiable outputs limits their applicability in mathematically grounded domains such as decision science. In this work, we introduce...

Finally online....

"Energy-Aware Navigation in Maze-Like Environments: Balancing Exploration and Recharge Strategies in Autonomous Agents", by Crespi, Cutello, Di Natale, Pavone.

Energy-Aware Navigation in Maze-Like Environments: Balancing Exploration and Recharge Strategies in Autonomous Agents This paper presents an energy-aware framework for autonomous agents navigating maze-like environments characterized by limited visibility and heterogeneous traversal costs. The model extends a previously established navigation framework based on visibility, memory,...

Intelligent Systems & Decision Making: Human Insights in the Era of AI

special issue in Soft Computing. Editors: Salvatore Greco, Mario Pavone and El-Ghazali Talbi.

Submissions are now open!!

https://link.springer.com/collections/ifeihidici

Lunedì 4 Maggio 2026 alle ore 11:00 presso l’aula 23 del Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, Università di Catania, il prof Mario Pavone terrà un seminario dal titolo “Swarm & Smart: Simulare e risolvere l’Impossibile” per il ciclo di seminari Prospettive Informatiche.

Abstract:
Il talk intende accompagnare lo studente in un viaggio tra modelli ad agenti, intelligenza collettiva e metaeuristiche per affrontare le sfide del mondo reale in modo creativo, efficiente e scalabile. Attraverso un approccio pratico e interdisciplinare, si ci focalizzerà su come progettare e simulare sistemi composti da molteplici entità autonome capaci di interagire tra loro e con l’ambiente per dare origine a comportamenti emergenti. Verranno anche introdotti algoritmi ispirati dall’evoluzione naturale e dall’intelligenza collettiva per affrontare problemi complessi, dinamici e spesso intrattabili con metodi tradizionali.

** NEW APPLICATION DEADLINE: 20th May 2026 **

** SPEAKERS:
# Quantum Computing:
+ Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, VSB Tech. Un. Ostrava, Czech Republic
+ Linsey Rodenbach, Quantum Computing at NVIDIA
+ Philippe Lacomme, Université Clermont-Auvergne, CNRS, France

# Neuromorphic Computing:
+ Irem Boybat, IBM Research Zurich, Switzerland
+ Elisa Donati, Institute of Neuroinformatics UZH/ETH
+ El-Ghazali Talbi, University of Lille, France
+ Jorge Cruz-Duarte, University of Lille, France

https://www.ants-lab.it/mess2026/
[email protected]

📢 Call for Papers – WBO25 Special Issue

Claudia Cavallaro, Carolina Crespi, and Paola Festa are editing a special issue for Soft Computing (Springer), under the editorship of Editor-in-Chief Raffaele Cerulli:

"Advances in Large-Scale and Intelligent Optimization: Algorithms, Models, and Applications"
If you are working on any of the following, this is the right venue:

Novel metaheuristics and hybrid algorithms
Optimization under uncertainty
AI-integrated optimization approaches
Applications in transportation, telecommunications, and energy systems

The issue is open to all contributors — not only WBO25 participants — so if your research fits, you are encouraged to submit.

📅 Submission deadline: 31 July 2026
🔗 https://link.springer.com/collections/bagcgjcggb

Last working day of Sila in our research group before to back to her home in Turkey, after spending 2 full months working with us!!

We wish you all the best for your future and hopefully to meet each other soon!!

Of course, we will keep in touch!!

Happy to share that the paper “An Autonomous Navigation Framework for Item Retrieval in Unknown Environments”, by Alessio Mezzina, Carolina Crespi, Vincenzo Cutello and Mario Pavone, has been accepted at the 20th Learning and Intelligent Optimization Conference (LION) 2026!!