Machines, Computations and Universality, MCU 2026

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Machines, Computations and Universality, MCU 2026

This conference series focuses on investigating language describing formalisms (automata, grammars, etc.) that are equivalent to Turing machines (or close to being it). The International conference series MCU traces its roots back to the mid 1990's, and has always been concerned with gaining a deeper understanding of computation and universality. The 11th edition of this conference will take place in Trier during 27.7-29.7.2026.

Registration  will be the same procedure as for the main event, which is CiE, as we expect participants to stay over the whole week. There, you could also find all further organizational information.

Submissions

Deadline for submissions (first round): May 10th AoE, 2026 

Submissions server: Easychair

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. We expect non-anonymous submissions up to 15 pages in LNCS format, including “everything” apart from a possible appendix (read at the discretion of the PC); alternatively, include a link to an ArXiv version. 

Author notification (first round): June 15th, 2026 

The submission server will open again on May 25th and allow a second round of submissions until May 31st AoE, 2026, following the same rules as those for the first round. Author notification (second round): June 29th, 2026 

Program Chairs

  • Henning Fernau, Trier University, Germany
  • Serghei Verlan, University Paris Est Créteil, LACL, France

What is special about this edition? It is co-located with CiE and other conferences and workshops.

Invited Speakers

  • Martin Kutrib (Gießen, Germany)
  • Olivier Bournez (Paris, France): he will give a tutorial at CiE.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to

  • Analog computation
  • Automata theory
  • Cellular automata
  • Classical computability and degree structures
  • Computability theoretic aspects of programs
  • Computable structures and models
  • Continuous computing
  • Decidability of theories
  • DNA computing, self-assembly and tiling
  • Dynamical systems and computational models
  • Emerging and non-standard models of computation
  • Finite model theory
  • Generalized recursion theory
  • Higher type computability
  • Hyper-computational models
  • Infinite time Turing machines
  • Membrane computing
  • Molecular computation
  • Morphogenesis and developmental biology
  • Multi-agent systems models
  • Natural computation and hybrid systems
  • Neural nets and connectionist models
  • Physics and computability
  • Proof theory and computability
  • Quantum computing and information
  • Randomness and Kolmogorov complexity
  • Relativistic computation
  • Swarm intelligence and self-organisation
  • Theory of Petri nets
  • Turing, Counter, Register, Signal machines
  • Universality of systems

Program Committee

  • Artiom Alhazov (Chisinau, Moldova)
  • Péter Battyányi (Debrecen, Hungary)
  • Song Bosheng (Hunan, China)
  • Olivier Bournez (Paris, France)
  • Erzsébet Csuhaj-Varjú (Budapest, Hungary)
  • Jérôme Durand-Lose (Orléans, France)
  • Rudi Freund (Vienna, Austria)
  • Daniela Genova (North Florida, USA)
  • Dora Giammarresi (Rome, Italy)
  • Mika Hirvensalo (Turku, Finland)
  • Jarkko Kari (Turku, Finland)
  • Lila Kari (Waterloo, Canada)
  • Tomas Masopust (Olomouc, Czech Republic)
  • Benedek Nagy (Famagusta, Cyprus)
  • Matthew Patitz (Rio Grande Valley, USA)
  • Simon Perdrix (Vandœuvre lès Nancy, France)
  • Agustín Riscos-Núnez (Sevilla, Spain)
  • Shinnosuke Seki (Tokyo, Japan)
  • KG Subramanian (Chennai, India)
  • György Vaszil (Debrecen, Hungary)
  • Tomoyuki Yamakami (Fukui, Japan)