The 50th ICALP (International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming) took place from 10 to 14 July at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) and the Heinz Nixdorf Institute (HNI) in Paderborn. The conference was organised by the Department of Computer Science at Paderborn University in cooperation with the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science, (EATCS). The ICALP is the most important European conference in the field of theoretical computer science and at the same time the annual meeting and flagship of the EATCS.
This year's 50th anniversary of the international conference offered more than 350 participants from all over the world a wide variety of workshops, talks and discussion platforms on the latest research results in the field of theoretical computer science.
On the first day of the event, a series of workshops took place on various research fields such as "Congestion Games", "Recent Trends in Online Algorithms" and "Algebraic Complexity Theory". The actual conference was officially opened on 11 July by the chairman of the local organising committee, Prof. Dr. Sevag Gharibian, Chair of Quantum Computation at Paderborn University. In addition to the 135 short talks on the accepted research papers, the highlights of the event included in particular the keynote talks by renowned scientists in the field: Thomas Vidick (Weizmann Institute of Science and California Institute of Technology) spoke on "Quantum Codes, Local Testability and Interactive Proofs", James Worrell (University of Oxford) gave a talk entitled "The Skolem Landscape" – he researches logic in computer science. Anna Karlin (University of Washington) spoke on "(Slightly) Improved Approximation Algorithm for the Metric Traveling Salesperson Problem" – her focus is on randomised and approximation algorithms. In addition, Rupak Majumdar (Max Planck Institute for Software Systems) gave a keynote talk as an expert on "Context-Bounded Analysis of Concurrent Programs". On the last day of the conference, Rasmus Kyng (ETH Zurich) spoke about "An Almost-Linear Time Algorithm for Maximum Flow and More".
In addition, several scientific prizes were awarded during the conference, among others Amos Fiat from Tel Aviv University received the "EATCS Award" for his scientific lifetime achievement, while the "Presburger Award" went to two young up-and-coming scientists (Aaron Bernstein and Thatchaphol Saranurak) for their excellent contributions within theoretical computer science. This year, the "Alonzo Church Award" went to a ten-member research team from the IRIS project, which, among other things, provides a framework for the security of concurrent programmes.
In a special ICALP anniversary session, which was moderated by the former EATCS President and Emeritus of Paderborn Computer Science, Burkhard Monien, two of the most renowned representatives of European Theoretical Computer Science, Kurt Mehlhorn (Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science) and Thomas Henzinger (first President of the Institute of Science and Technology of Austria), spoke about their main research results and the significance of ICALP or EATCS in their many years of research.
The conference participants were also offered an extensive social programme, in which the city and the region of Paderborn presented themselves excellently. In addition to the opportunity to explore the world's largest computer museum in the HNF, there were guided tours through the historic city centre of Paderborn followed by a reception with the mayor in the historic city hall. On another evening, there was a big barbecue on the Pader. The highlight of the last evening of the conference was a dinner at the Strate Brewery in Detmold, including a tour of the brewery, beer tasting and music by the Nordborchen brass band.
The organisation of the ICALP was a complete success and was highly praised by all participants.
This text has been translated automatically.
