Conference Recap

WUST Celebrates a Decade of Excellence at IJCACI 2026

A landmark hybrid conference united global researchers, industry leaders, and innovators in Alexandria

Official poster for the 10th International Joint Conference on Advances in Computational Intelligence, hosted at WUST on July 24-25, 2026.

A Decade of Research Excellence

Washington University of Science and Technology successfully hosted the 10th International Joint Conference on Advances in Computational Intelligence on July 24-25, 2026. Held in hybrid mode at the WUST campus at 2900 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, the conference brought distinguished researchers, academicians, industry professionals, and students together for two days of advanced research, knowledge exchange, and professional recognition.

The conference was jointly organized with the Soft Computing Research Society and also provided the platform for the 2nd SCRS-WUST Global Excellence Awards 2026, which celebrated professionals driving transformation in artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity, and related technology fields.

Researchers participated from Bangladesh, India, Japan, Nepal, Norway, Oman, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan. The accepted work covered artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, data science, intelligent systems, and emerging technologies.

Inaugural Ceremony

The inaugural ceremony began at 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time with a vibrant in-person gathering at WUST. Prof. Touhid Bhuiyan, Professor and Assistant Director at the School of IT at WUST and General Chair and Convener of IJCACI 2026, opened the ceremony with a welcome address reflecting on a decade of growth and WUST's commitment to research excellence and international academic collaboration.

Engr. Abubokor Hanip, Chairman and Chancellor of WUST and Chief Guest of the conference, addressed participants on the role of research as a force for real-world transformation. Dr. Hasan Karaburk, President of WUST and Guest of Honour, discussed the responsibility of universities to create environments where innovative research can flourish.

Prof. Jagdish Chand Bansal of South Asian University and General Chair of IJCACI 2026 delivered a welcoming note that established the global and collaborative character of the event. Mr. Naveen Garg, Conference Chair and Principal Electrical Engineer at Cameron LNG, conducted the formal inauguration. Mrs. Priya Kothari, Executive Director of the WUST Foundation and WISE Accelerator, also spoke about inclusive innovation and cross-sector collaboration.

Plenary, Keynote, and Invited Speakers

The conference featured speakers from respected academic institutions and major industry organizations. The morning plenary address was delivered by Mr. Christopher McNair, an Innovation and Strategic Advisor affiliated with Harvard Business School. His presentation connected innovation, digital transformation, business strategy, and future-ready leadership.

The wider online keynote and invited-talk program included professionals from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, The Hartford, U.S. Bank, PG&E, Ford Motor Company, Guidewire Software, Comcast, Visa, Salesforce, Carnegie Mellon University, Drexel University, and Dell.

Research in the Spotlight

Technical Session 1 took place in person at the WUST campus during the afternoon of the first day. Researchers presented accepted work across the conference's 19 tracks and received certificates recognizing their participation and contribution to the scholarly program.

The second day was conducted online through 18 parallel technical sessions organized across three time slots. Presenters from 10 countries contributed to a globally representative day of research exchange.

SCRS-WUST Global Excellence Awards

The 2nd SCRS-WUST Global Excellence Awards were presented by Kyrie Petrakis. The awards honored technology professionals and innovators across 17 categories, including Academic Excellence, AI and Robotics Excellence, Data Scientist of the Year, Cloud Computing Innovation, Enterprise Security Champion, Women in Tech Excellence, Threat Intelligence Innovation, AI-Driven Environmental Research Excellence, and Technology Leader of the Year.

Awardees represented organizations including Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, Visa, CrowdStrike, Thermo Fisher Scientific, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and WUST.

Conference Moments

The conference brought its research program to life through presentations, audience discussion, professional recognition, and informal conversation. Select any photograph to view it at full size.

A Vision Realized

About IJCACI and SCRS

The International Joint Conference on Advances in Computational Intelligence is a recurring international forum for machine learning, optimization, soft computing, data science, intelligent systems, computer vision, cybersecurity, and related disciplines.

The Soft Computing Research Society is a global academic and research society dedicated to advancing soft computing, computational intelligence, and nature-inspired systems. SCRS serves as co-organizer of the IJCACI conference series and the SCRS-WUST Global Excellence Awards.