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Overview
Overview
This symposium addresses fundamental questions about the nature, applications, and limits of computation, with a focus on their relevance to the study of cognition and intelligent behaviour in living and artificial systems. Whilst computational parlance continues to dominate the disciplines addressing these phenomena since the computing revolution of the 20th century, recent progress in the abilities of computational systems calls for a reassessment of some long-standing assumptions within both our practical and theoretical approach to computation.
FOCSY ascribes to AISB’s identity as a venue where AI and cognitive science meet, by providing a structured forum for debate about the nature of computation, computational explanation, and the role of mechanisms and representations in modelling and evaluating intelligent systems. Also, within the contemporary context, the symposium aims to bridge traditionally separate communities, creating an opportunity for eclectic dialogue about some less-well explored areas in computational research, such as computational phenomenology.
Invited Speakers
Invited Speakers
Dr. Nathaniel Virgo
Dr. Nathaniel Virgo
Talk title TBA
Talk details TBA
Main topics of the symposium
Main topics of the symposium
The symposium will be a one-day session of talks, Q&A’s, and panel discussions, structured around two themes: foundations, and applications.
Each session will open with a keynote speaker (45 min presentation +15 min Q&A), include up to four further talks (15-30 min slots), and will wrap up with a panel discussion and audience questions.
1- Foundations:
Foundational debates concerning the nature of computational processes, the status of formal and physical models, and the relationship between abstraction and implementation - have been reopened by both theoretical developments and increasingly powerful real-world systems. Against this backdrop, the symposium’s foundations strand invites critical reflection on the conceptual terrain of computation, motivating the following guiding questions:
What makes a process computational?
Are classic distinctions between syntax and semantics, or implementational, algorithmic, and computational levels of description sound?
Is computation subjective or objective, abstract or concrete, mathematical or physical?
What are the limits of computation? Is undecidability restricted to a mathematical realm?
2- Applications:
The applications strand of the symposium will re-examine the role of computational concepts and tools across various research contexts relating to intelligence and adaptive behaviour. To further discussion of this topic, we seek contributors to address the below questions:
What are the distinctive strengths and limitations of computational explanations —generally, and in specific fields?
Is cognition a computational process? If so, what makes certain computational processes cognitive, and others not?
What is gained, and is anything lost, by treating cognition, life, and other processes computationally?
What is the explanatory role of representations and algorithmic models in the cognitive sciences?
What are the prospects for and obstacles to the development of a “computational phenomenology”?
Call for contributions
Call for contributions
We invite abstracts of up to 500 words on any of the above and related topics.
Accepted talks will be allotted 20, 30, 45 minute slots, plus a sit in the discussion panel.
Submission deadline: 30/04/2026
Decision will be made and communicated to all contributors by the end of May.
Venue
Venue
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK.
Organizers and Contact
Organizers and Contact
Adam Rostowski (a.rostowski@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex
Ben White (B.White@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex.
Fernando Rodriguez-Vergara (f.rodriguez-vergara@sussex.ac.uk), Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex
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