Parallel Problem Solving from Nature

Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, or PPSN, is a peer-reviewed research conference focusing on the topic of natural computing.

Parallel Problem Solving from Nature
Student helpers ready for PPSN 2016 in Edinburgh
Status	Active
Genre	Conference
Frequency	Biennially
Years active	35
Inaugurated	1990 (1990)
Founders	Bernard Manderick, Reinhard Männer, Heinz Mühlenbein and Hans-Paul Schwefel
Most recent	2024
Next event	2026
Area	Europe

In 2020 PPSN got a CORE rank of A,^[1] corresponding to an "excellent conference, and highly respected in a discipline area".^[2]

Origin

The idea behind PPSN emerged around 1989-1990 when Bernard Manderick, Reinhard Männer, Heinz Mühlenbein, and Hans-Paul Schwefel, realised they shared a common field of study that was not covered by the conferences on Operations Research, Physics, or Computer Science they attended regularly.^[3]

The field of genetic algorithms had already been established in the form of the ICGA conference in 1985, but the founders of PPSN wanted a wider focus, with algorithms that included problem solving, parallel computing and the use of natural metaphors (such as Darwinian evolution or Boltzmann dynamics).

The success of the first PPSN event at Dortmund encouraged its organisers to start a biennial conference series, as a European counterpart to the American-based ICGA (which in 1999 merged with the Genetic Programming conference to give rise to GECCO).

Analogies to natural processes included the thermodynamic process of annealing, immune systems and neural networks, as well as other paradigms, with Darwinian evolution being by far the most frequently used metaphor.

In this way, evolutionary algorithms and evolutionary computation became the common denominator for the PPSN approach to problem solving by mimicking biological principles like populations, birth, death, mutation, recombination, and natural selection.

History

So far, eighteen PPSN conferences have been held. The table below describes their dates, locations and cites their websites and proceedings, where accessible. The importance of Dortmund, as the location of the Technical University of Dortmund (de:Technische Universität Dortmund), where the conference originated, as the location of many successor conferences and as the location of on-going relevant research, should not be understated.

Parallel Problem Solvings from Nature (PPSN) Conferences

Year	Dates	Location	Website[4]	Proceedings[5]
1990	1-3 October	Dortmund	No	LNCS 496[6]
1992	28-30 September	Brussels	No	PPSN II[7]
1994	9-14 October	Jerusalem	No	LNCS 866[8]
1996	22-26 September	Berlin	No	LNCS 1141[9]
1998	27-30 September	Amsterdam	No	LNCS 1498[10]
2000	16-20 September	Paris	No	LNCS 1917[11]
2002	7-11 September	Granada	No	LNCS 2439[12]
2004	18-22 September	Birmingham	No	LNCS 3242[13]
2006	9-13 September	Reykyavik	No	LNCS 4193[14]
2008	13-17 September	Dortmund	Yes[15]	LNCS 5199[16]
2010	11-15 September	Krakow	Yes[17]	LNCS 6238,[18] LNCS 6239[19]
2012	1-5 September	Taormina	No	LNCS 7491,[20] LNCS 7492[21]
2014	13-17 September	Ljubljana	No	LNCS 8672[22]
2016	17-21 September	Edinburgh	Yes[23]	LNCS 9921[24]
2018	8-12 September	Coimbra	No	LNCS 11101,[25] LNCS 11102[26]
2020	5-9 September	Leiden	No	LNCS 12269,[27] LNCS 12270[28]
2022	10-14 September	Dortmund	No	LNCS 13398,[29] LNCS 13399[30]
2024	14-18 September	Hagenberg	Yes[31]	LNCS 15148,[32] LNCS 15149,[33] LNCS 15150,[34] LNCS 15151[35]
2026	29 August-2 September	Trento	Yes[36]	Pending

The last-but-two conference, held in Leiden, counted on Thomas Bäck and Mike Preuss as General Chairs and Carola Doerr, Michael Emmerich and Heike Trautmann as Programme Committee Chairs. André Deutz and Hao Wang were Proceedings Chairs and Anna Esparcia-Alcázar, Ofer Shir and Vanessa Volz were Workshops, Tutorials and Competitions Chairs, respectively; Anna Kononova was Local Chair.

Format

Keynote speakers

The diversity of subjects that the conference covers means that it has attracted a wide range of keynote speakers in natural computing and related areas.

Year	Keynote speakers
1998	Grzegorz Rozenberg, Nicholas Gessler, and Lawrence Davis
2000	Aaron Sloman, Luc Steels and Henrik Hautop Lund
2002	Alexander Nareyek, Roderic Guigó and William Hart
2004	Mandyam V. Srinivasan, Benjamin W. Wah and C. Lee Giles
2006	Herschel Rabitz, Nadia Busi, and Edward Tsang
2008	Levent Tunçel, Thomas Breitling and Arndt von Haeseler
2010	Jon Garibaldi, Zbigniew Michalewicz and Darrell Whitley
2012	Angelo Cangelosi, Natalio Krasnogor, Panos M. Pardalos, and Leslie G. Valiant
2014	Jadran Lenarčič, Thomas Bäck and A. E. (Gusz) Eiben
2016	Susan Stepney, Josh Bongard and Andrew Philippides
2018	Ahmed Elgammal, Francis Heylighen and Kurt Mehlhorn
2020	Eric Postma, Carme Torras and Christian Stöcker
2022	Doina Bucar, Claudio Semini and Travis Waller
2024	Oliver Schutze, Richard Kueng and Bernardino Romera-Paredes

Each PPSN conference includes workshops, tutorials and poster sessions, which will be described in more detail.