Focus Period Halmstad 2026

Focus Period halmstad UNIVERSITY 2026

Robust AI for Science and Industry

September 7-october 9, 2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic for a few years, but it is more than just a buzzword. From an industrial and societal perspective, it is a promising technology, and in the last decade, we have seen the initial idea of data-driven science using AI becoming a reality. The question is, what makes AI methods robust enough to be able to serve as new scientific instruments for researchers as well as applicable in sensitive and demanding areas of industry?

The objective of this focus period is to approach this challenging question from several directions.

First, together with AI researchers, we will focus on the recent advances in relevant areas of AI, including model-based and physics-guided AI, self-supervised machine learning, cross-domain AI and transfer learning, data augmentation, information extraction and knowledge modelling supporting explainability, robust representation learning, adversarial robustness of AI tools, as well as replicability and scalability of AI-based computational experiments. Second, we will invite scientists from beyond the field of AI to discuss their perspectives on the use of AI methods in fundamental research within their fields. Third, we will consider the use of applied AI research in demanding and sensitive areas to understand what makes AI-based tools robust enough to be utilized in engineering and industrial practice.

During the focus period, a number of international scholars interested in these research challenges will be hosted at Halmstad University in addition to the regular ELLIIT faculty, postdocs and PhD students.

In the third week of the focus period (September 22–24), there will be a 3-day symposium, with several invited top-level researchers.

Scientific committee

The scientific committee consists of internationally renowned researchers, active within the topic of the focus period. The committee members, in collaboration with the organizers, suggest speakers for the symposium, and visiting scholars for the focus periods. The majority of the members of the scientific committee also contribute to the event as speakers during the symposium.

Przemysław Biecek

Professor, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland

Albert Bifet

Professor, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Pedro Larrañaga

Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Myra Spiliopoulou

Professor, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany

Indrė Žliobaitė

Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland

Organizing committee

The organizing committee consists of researchers and administrators from the ELLIIT institutions. Their role is to appoint the scientific committee, select speakers and visiting scholars, plan the focus period activities, and serve as hosts during the event.