(Apologies for multiple postings) BENELEARN 2012 -- PMLS 2012 The 21st annual Machine Learning Conference of Belgium and The Netherlands Workshop Predictive Modeling for the Life Sciences www.benelearn2012.ugent.be <http://www.benelearn2012.ugent.be> May 24th and 25th, 2012 Ghent University, Belgium Call for Abstracts and Full Papers 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. The 21st edition of the annual Belgian-Dutch Conference on Machine Learning (BeneLearn) will be organized in Ghent, in conjunction with a workshop on Predictive Modeling in Life Sciences (PMLS). This year we have chosen for a two-day program to showcase the use of predictive modeling in the life sciences. This is in part motivated by the increasing focus on applicability of scientific research. The joint event takes place on the 24th and 25th of May 2012 at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University. It is organized by the research unit Knowledge-based Systems (KERMIT). Scope We invite the submission of abstracts or full papers on all aspects of machine learning and related disciplines, including, but not limited to Kernel Methods Bayesian Learning Case-based Learning Ensemble Methods Computational Learning Theory Data Mining Evolutionary Computation Hybrid Learning Systems Graphical Models Inductive Logic Programming Knowledge Discovery in Databases Online Learning Web/Link Mining Learning in Multi-Agent Systems Learning in Dynamic Domains / Data Streams Multi-Strategy Learning Neural Networks Reinforcement Learning Robot Learning Feature Selection and Dimensionality Reduction Scientific Discovery Multi-task and Transfer Learning Statistical Learning Ranking / Preference Learning / Information Retrieval Computational models of Human Learning Structured Output Prediction / Learning from Multi-Label Data Learning for Language and Speech Image, Video, Audio and Text Analysis Applications of Machine Learning Learning and Ubiquitous Computing In addition to theoretical and applied work in machine learning in general, we warmly welcome applications for the PMLS workshop, in areas such as: Bioinformatics Medicine / Biomedical Engineering Systems Biology / Microbiology Chemometrics / Computational Drug Discovery Ecology / Environmental Sciences Agriculture and Soil Management Food Sciences Geographical Information Systems Weather and Climate Forecasting Submission One can submit full papers up to 6 pages or one-page abstracts. Full papers need to report original, unpublished work and they are meant for researchers that prefer to obtain an official publication via BeneLearn, including feedback from the program committee. Abstracts can also concern work in progress and past published work, if the precise references to the original publication are mentioned. This way we aim to provide the same broad overview as in previous years, and make it attractive and easy to attend by both senior as well as junior researchers, from both academia and industry. To attract as many people as possible, registration fees will be low and three international speakers are invited for a keynote talk. We consider a single submission procedure for the main conference and its satellite workshop. The program committee will make a selection for oral presentations among abstracts and full papers to ensure a program that has academic quality but is also interesting and inspiring for the attendees. The remainder of the submissions will be presented during a poster session and poster spotlight presentations. Abstracts and papers should be submitted electronically, no later than Friday March 2nd, 2012. Notification of acceptance is on Friday April 6th. Please follow the guidelines that are mentioned on our website: http://www.benelearn2012.ugent.be/submission.php During submission authors will be able to indicate their preference for an oral or a poster presentation. Submissions that concern an application in the life sciences will be considered for PMLS, all other submissions will be considered for the main conference day. Organizing Committee Bernard De Baets, Michaël Rademaker, Willem Waegeman (UGent) Bernard Manderick (VUB)