Advanced School and Workshop on Soft Computing and Complex Systems

This event is part of the Thematic Term on Mathematics and Engineering sponsored by CIM (Centro Internacional de Matemática).

Goals

The main scientific goal of the workshop is to introduce recent developments in mathematical techniques applied to complex engineering problems. In particular, the workshop will focus on different aspects of the area called soft computing, including fuzzy and conexionist systems, evolutionary computation, artificial life and complex systems.

Harnessing complexity is an important aspect of today problem solving. Complexity may be due to the presence of uncertain information or because the regularities of a system, we are trying to understand, cannot be briefly described. We will discuss recent developments in dealing with complexity, by means of introducing the methods and their sound mathematical foundations, as well as through the work of some difficult problems.

Audience

The target audience will be about thirty worldwide students, with a strong mathematical background and an engineering bias. These students are supposed to be engaged in a post-graduation course, like a Ph.D..

Justification

There is an increase of interest in the area of soft computing and complexity theory as they give new solutions to old and poorly solved or understood problems This field is one of the most active worldwide in information science. New architectures and learning algorithms are being developed. New solutions are being proposed that challenge more traditional ones. We start seeing the first efforts to understand the field as a whole, and, as a consequence, it is possible today to describe coherently the area. This is particularly important for young researchers working in engineering problems, because they still have, in general, some lack of knowledge about these new ways to deal with them. The strong mathematical basis of the workshop is also an important aspect, that will show to the students the importance of rigour that these new mathematic techniques provide. Today is clear that soft computing and complexity theory are in the intersection of advanced mathematics and engineering applications.

In Portugal, there exist already several groups, spread around the country, working in soft computing and complexity. Their work is internationally recognised and we expect that the workshop will be an important opportunity for some of youngest Portuguese researchers not only to improve their expertise but also to make contact with some colleagues from other countries, fostering that way the possibility of future international cooperation.