[apologies for multiple postings] First Call for Abstracts 17th annual Belgian-Dutch Conference on Machine Learning BENELEARN 2008 Spa (Belgium) May 19-20 http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/services/stochastic/benelearn08 Benelearn is the annual machine learning conference of Belgium and The Netherlands. It serves as a forum for researchers to exchange ideas, present recent work, and foster collaboration in the broad field of Machine Learning and its applications. Benelearn 2008 will be organised by the Systems and Modeling and Bioinformatics and Modeling research units of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and GIGA-Research of the University of Liège. The conference will take place in the Solcress seminar center, at walking distance from the center of the city of Spa located in the Belgian Ardennes. Contributions are now being invited that are relevant to machine learning and related disciplines in a broad sense. Topics include, but are not limited to: Kernel Methods Web/Link Mining Bayesian Networks Case-based Learning Computational Learning Theory Data Mining Evolutionary Computation Hybrid Learning Systems Inductive Learning Learning and Ubiquitous Inductive Logic Programming Computing Knowledge Discovery in Databases Language Learning Learning in Bioinformatics Learning for Multi-Agent Learning in Dynamic Domains Systems Multi-strategy Learning Neural Networks Reinforcement Learning Robot Learning Scientific Discovery Meta-Learning Statistical Learning Learning for Language, Speech Computational models of Human Learning Applications FORMAT OF THE CONFERENCE The official language of the conference is English. The conference will include two days of technical sessions. Plenary talks will be given by internationally renowned invited speakers. Regular sessions will allow young and senior researchers from the Machine Learning community to present their work. A poster session will be organized during break and evening hours. A social dinner is planned on the first day evening. SUBMISSION Each submission consists of an abstract of the contribution and must be submitted online via the Easychair submission system: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=benelearn08 Formating instructions are available on the conference web site http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/services/stochastic/benelearn08 Abstracts will be selected for oral or poster presentation according to their relevance and available slots. Electronic versions of extended abstracts will be accessible to the participants prior to the conference and will be made publicly available on the conference web site after the conference. The deadline for submission is April 4, 2008. Authors will be notified about the acceptance of their abstract on or before April 18, 2008. Final versions of the abstracts, if necessary, are due by April 25, 2008. LOCATION: SolCress seminar center located in the Belgian Ardennes, at walking distance from the center of Spa. http://www.solcress.be/incentives/EN/home.htm IMPORTANT DATES Abstract submission deadline: April 4, 2008 Notification of acceptance : April 18, 2008 Final version of abstracts: April 25, 2008 Conference: May 19-20, 2008 CONTACT For further information, please contact benelearn08@gmail.com or see the conference website: http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/services/stochastic/benelearn08 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Louis Wehenkel, Pierre Geurts, Raphaël Marée University of Liège, Belgium PROGRAMME COMMITTEE H. Blockeel, K.U. Leuven G. Bontempi, U.L. Bruxelles W. Daelemans, Universiteit Antwerpen P. Dupont, U.C. Louvain D. Ernst, Université de Liège A. Feelders, Universiteit Utrecht P. Geurts, Université de Liège B. Goethals, Univ. Antwerpen T. Heskes, Radboud Univ. Nijmegen B. Kappen, Radboud Univ. Nijmegen J. Kok, Universiteit Leiden B. Manderick, Vrije Universiteit Brussel R. Marée, Université de Liège B. de Moor, K.U. Leuven M. van Otterlo, Universiteit Twente J. Piater, Université de Liège L. de Raedt, K.U. Leuven J. Ramon, K.U. Leuven Y. Saeys, Universiteit Gent R. Sepulchre, Université de Liège M. van Someren, University of Amsterdam A. Siebes, Universiteit Utrecht Y. Smirnov, Universiteit Maastricht K. Van Steen, Université de Liège J. Suykens, K.U. Leuven A. van den Bosch, Universiteit Tilburg K. VanHoof, Universiteit Hasselt M. Verleysen, U.C. Louvain P. Vitanyi, Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica L. Wehenkel, Université de Liège