Evolutionary scheduling and combinatorial optimisation (ESCO) is an important research area at the interface of artificial intelligence (AI) and operations research (OR). ESCO has attracted the attentions of researchers over the years due to its applicability and interesting computational aspects. Evolutionary Computation (EC) techniques are suitable for these problems since they are highly flexible in terms of handling constraints, dynamic changes, and multiple conflicting objectives. With the growth of new technologies and business models, researchers in this field have to continuously face with new challenges, which required innovated solution methods.

This special session focuses on both practical and theoretical aspects of Evolutionary Scheduling and Combinatorial Optimization. Examples of evolutionary methods include genetic algorithm, genetic programming, evolutionary strategies, ant colony optimisation, particle swarm optimisation, evolutionary based hyper-heuristics, memetic algorithms.

We welcome the submissions of quality papers that effectively use the power of EC techniques to solve hard and practical scheduling and combinatorial optimization problems. Papers with rigorous analyses of EC techniques and innovative solutions to handle challenging issues in scheduling and combinatorial optimisation problems are also highly encouraged.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:
Production scheduling
Timetabling
Vehicle routing
Project scheduling
Airport runway scheduling
Transport scheduling
Grid/cloud scheduling
Evolutionary scheduling with Big Data
Web service composition
Wireless networking state location allocation
Project scheduling
2D/3D strip packing
Space allocation
Multi-objective scheduling
Multiple interdependent decisions
Automated heuristic design
Innovative applications of evolutionary scheduling and combinatorial optimisation

Submission Guideline:
Please follow the submission guideline from the IEEE CEC 2017 Submission Web Site. Special session papers are treated the same as regular conference papers. Please specify that your paper is for the Special Session on Evolutionary Scheduling and Combinatorial Optimization. All papers accepted and presented at CEC 2017 will be included in the conference proceedings published by IEEE Explore, which are typically indexed by EI.


Important Dates:
16 January 2017, Deadline for submission of full papers
26 February 2017, Notification of acceptance
12 March 2017, Deadline for Final paper submission
5-8 June, 2017, Conference dates


Special Session Organizers:
Dr. Su Nguyen, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (su.nguyen@ecs.vuw.ac.nz)
Dr. Yi Mei, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (yi.mei@ecs.vuw.ac.nz)
Dr. Mengjie Zhang, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (Mengjie.Zhang@ecs.vuw.ac.nz)

Supported by Task Force: ECTC TF10: Evolutionary Scheduling and Combinatorial Optimisation