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February 25, 2022

Applied Category Theory 2022

Posted by John Baez

The Fifth International Conference on Applied Category Theory, ACT2022, will take place at the University of Strathclyde from 18 to 22 July 2022, preceded by the Adjoint School 2022 from 11 to 15 July. This conference follows previous events at Cambridge (UK), Cambridge (MA), Oxford and Leiden.

Applied category theory is important to a growing community of researchers who study computer science, logic, engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, social science, linguistics and other subjects using category-theoretic tools. The background and experience of our members is as varied as the systems being studied. The goal of the Applied Category Theory conference series is to bring researchers together, strengthen the applied category theory community, disseminate the latest results, and facilitate further development of the field.

Submissions

We accept submissions in English of original research papers, talks about work accepted/submitted/published elsewhere, and demonstrations of relevant software. Accepted original research papers will be published in a proceedings volume. The keynote addresses will be chosen from the accepted papers. The conference will include an industry showcase event and community meeting. We particularly encourage people from underrepresented groups to submit their work and the organizers are committed to non-discrimination, equity, and inclusion.

Submission formats

Extended Abstracts should be submitted describing the contribution and providing a basis for determining the topics and quality of the anticipated presentation (1-2 pages). These submissions will be adjudicated for inclusion as a talk at the conference. Such work should include references to any longer papers, preprints, or manuscripts providing additional details.

Conference Papers should present original, high-quality work in the style of a computer science conference paper (up to 14 pages, not counting the bibliography; detailed proofs may be included in an appendix for the convenience of the reviewers). Such submissions should not be an abridged version of an existing journal article (see item 1) although pre-submission Arxiv preprints are permitted. These submissions will be adjudicated for both a talk and publication in the conference proceedings.

Software Demonstrations should be submitted in the format of an Extended Abstract (1-2 pages) giving the program committee enough information to assess the content of the demonstration. We are particularly interested in software that makes category theory research easier, or uses category theoretic ideas to improve software in other domains.

Extended abstracts and conference papers should be prepared with LaTeX. For conference papers please use the EPTCS style files available at

http://style.eptcs.org

The submission link is

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=act2022

Important dates

The following dates are all in 2022, and Anywhere On Earth.

  • Submission Deadline: Monday 9 May
  • Author Notification: Tuesday 7 June
  • Camera-ready version due: Tuesday 28 June
  • Adjoint School: Monday 11 to Friday 15 July
  • Main Conference: Monday 18 to Friday 22 July

Conference format

We hope to run the conference as a hybrid event with talks recorded or streamed for remote participation. However, due to the state of the pandemic, the possibility of in-person attendance is not yet confirmed. Please be mindful of changing conditions when booking travel or hotel accommodations.

Financial support

Limited financial support will be available. Please contact the organisers for more information.

Program committee

  • Jade Master, University of Strathclyde (Co-chair)
  • Martha Lewis, University of Bristol (Co-chair)

The full program committee will be announced soon.

Organizing committee

  • Jules Hedges, University of Strathclyde
  • Jade Master, University of Strathclyde
  • Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg, University of Strathclyde
  • James Fairbanks, University of Florida

Steering committee

  • John Baez, University of California, Riverside
  • Bob Coecke, Cambridge Quantum
  • Dorette Pronk, Dalhousie University
  • David Spivak, Topos Institute
Posted at February 25, 2022 5:09 PM UTC

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23 Comments & 0 Trackbacks

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Why are the deadlines in the AoE timezone rather than UTC?

Posted by: Madeleine Birchfield on February 25, 2022 10:08 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

“Anywhere on Earth” isn’t intended to be a specific timezone, though maybe in practice it’s the last place on Earth where midnight happens. The reason for not using UTC is that people easily make mistakes trying to convert UTC to their local timezone, so people submitting their papers at the last minute miss their deadlines. So, it’s easier if everyone on Earth can submit their paper before midnight and make the deadline.

Posted by: John Baez on February 26, 2022 5:43 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Is registration for the conference open yet?

Posted by: James Sheppard on April 22, 2022 5:51 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I’ve seen no signs of that, neither on the conference website nor in conversations. I’ll ask the organizers Jules Hedges and Jade Master what’s up.

I don’t remember registering for earlier ACTs, but it could be just my forgetfulness.

Posted by: John Baez on April 22, 2022 6:23 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

ACT 2021 required registration, which opened on 21 April: hence my question.

Posted by: James Sheppard on April 23, 2022 10:16 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I’ve asked the organizers about this, but have not heard back yet.

Posted by: John Baez on April 23, 2022 5:49 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

There are six working weeks between now and the conference. Prospective participants need to know such things as whether the conference will be in-person, on-line or hybrid and what fees if any will be charged. Then of course they need to be able to register so that they know they have a place, and make their travel and accommodation arrangements.

Posted by: James Sheppard on June 2, 2022 10:19 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I relayed your questions to the organizers. Here are some answers:

  1. The conference will be in hybrid format.

  2. If you are coming to Glasgow, there is GB£20 (roughly US$25) registration fee.

  3. Please pay the fee and register here.

Posted by: John Baez on June 3, 2022 3:10 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Okay, a more detailed answer to your questions is here.

Posted by: John Baez on June 3, 2022 10:59 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Thanks!

Posted by: James Sheppard on June 6, 2022 8:09 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I note the recent announcement that the conference is sponsored by Huawei. I wonder what the organisers’ position is on the very close connection between that company and the government of the Peoples Republic of China? Do the organisers wish to comment on the implications of that government’s policies of mass surveillance and control of its population, its increasing political repression in Hong Kong, or its policies of oppression, possibly amounting to genocide, of the ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet?

Posted by: James Sheppard on May 15, 2022 4:23 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

For starters, where’s this announcement you’re talking about? I can’t find a list of sponsors of ACT2022 anywhere.

Posted by: John Baez on May 15, 2022 6:22 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

For starters, where’s this announcement you’re talking about? I can’t find a list of sponsors of ACT2022 anywhere.

Huawei is listed as a sponsor on the ACT2022 page.

https://msp.cis.strath.ac.uk/act2022/#sponsors

Posted by: RodMcGuire on May 15, 2022 11:43 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

That is indeed what I was referring to.

Posted by: James Sheppard on May 16, 2022 4:33 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Does anyone see any sponsors listed there? I don’t. Am I being blind?

Posted by: John Baez on May 17, 2022 9:06 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Perhaps your browser has cached an old version of the webpage: if so, there should be a way of refreshing it. But as a member of the Steering Committee for the conference, were you not aware of this sponsorship already? The question I asked was about the propriety of accepting sponsorship from the PRC, not about the website.

Posted by: James Sheppard on May 18, 2022 9:12 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I see 3 sponsors on that page: Huawei, Protocol Labs, and Cambridge Quantum. They’re listed between the submission link and the program committee.

Posted by: Madeleine Birchfield on May 17, 2022 11:05 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

James wrote:

Perhaps your browser has cached an old version of the webpage: if so, there should be a way of refreshing it.

I tried removing the cache and that didn’t help. Then I turned off my ad blocker and that did the job! Pretty funny — I hadn’t realized an ad blocker would hide corporate sponsors of conferences.

Madeleine wrote:

I see 3 sponsors on that page: Huawei, Protocol Labs, and Cambridge Quantum.

Right. Now I see them.

But as a member of the Steering Committee for the conference, were you not aware of this sponsorship already?

No, other people were running that stuff. Nobody ever mentioned the sponsors to me. I should have sought out that information.

I agree that Huawei is a problematic entity. ACT2019 also had sponsors that some people objected to. Others vigorously defended them. If you were involved in the ACT community at the time, you’d remember that controversy.

I think the fundamental problem is that the people who seek out corporate sponsors for the ACT conference series — roughly speaking, the experts at getting funding — have different standards than some other people involved in applied category theory.

(In case it’s not obvious, I’m not an expert at getting funding — quite the opposite. I retired in part because pressure on me to get grants was increasing as people in my department started considering me some sort of bigshot.)

To some extent this difference in opinions can be dealt with by making sure potential funding sources are discussed ahead of time by a larger number of people, not just left to those few experts. It’s possible that Huawei is contributing a small enough amount of money that it could have been avoided without major sacrifices. I don’t know.

The deeper problem of ethically funding ACT research will not go away so easily: right now, most of the entities funding research on this subject — or computer science in general, or homotopy type theory for that matter — have goals that deserve scrutiny.

There’s a lot more to say about this. My ACT talks, assuming I’m invited to speak, will indicate my own personal approach to this problem.

Posted by: John Baez on May 19, 2022 1:53 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Hi, I’m the organiser responsible for sponsorship, this thread was just brought to my attention

I am aware of all of the things you say.

The funding comes via Huawei’s programming languages research lab in Edinburgh, just up the road from where ACT is being held in Glasgow. Several of our friends work there (Dan Ghica is head of research there).

Without giving any numbers, they are covering a significant proportion of our budget. The conference is (nearly) free to attend, and it looks like we will probably be able to fund travel + accommodation for everyone who’s applied for it. It’s possible we might have been able to find a different sponsor to make that possible, although there’s not too many options.

The same lab was also a sponsor of ACT last year. There is no coordination between different years besides each organising team passing on advice to the next.

I was one of several people who strongly opposed the involvement of BAE in 2019, which John referred to.

I’m not going to attempt to defend this as a moral position or even a coherent position. It’s just the decisions that this year’s team made under the pressure to make the conference accessible.

Posted by: Jules Hedges on June 13, 2022 4:50 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

I think that you are correct not to try to defend this position as coherent.

Posted by: Steve Huntsman on June 13, 2022 8:52 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Thanks for explaining the position. Obviously some people will feel uncomfortable about indirectly accepting money from, or being seen to endorse, Huawei and hence the policies of the PRC government. Perhaps they will choose not to take part. I presume it goes without saying that the sponsorship will not constrain anything that participants might wish to say that might be unwelcome to the sponsor?

Posted by: James Sheppard on June 14, 2022 12:27 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

You are right that it goes without saying, yes

Posted by: Jules Hedges on June 15, 2022 12:25 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Applied Category Theory 2022

Here’s some new information:

Dear all

The 5th International Conference on Applied Category Theory will take place at the University of Strathclyde from 18 to 22 July 2022. This conference follows previous events at Cambridge (2021), MIT (2020), Oxford (2019) and Leiden (2018).

HYBRID FORMAT

The conference will be fully hybrid, that is, it will be possible for both the audience and presenters to participate remotely over Zoom, if preferred.

REGISTRATION

We are asking in-person participants to register and pay a nominal registration fee of GB£20 (about US$25) at the following link:

If the fee is a financial burden for you, please contact us.

Online attendance will be free, although we ask that you nevertheless register using the above link. This will allow us to keep track of the numbers of participants, send out zoom links, etc.

The university’s covid regulations change unpredictably, and we still don’t know what the capacity of the room will be. In the event that we are over-subscribed, we have some side rooms where participants can watch the livestream together while still participating normally in coffee breaks etc. The reason for the registration fee is to give us the option to limit participation if it becomes necessary, and if that happens then places will be first-come-first-served except for accepted speakers.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

We have a budget for financial assistance for participants thanks to our sponsors, for which priority will be given to accepted speakers, PhD students and early career researchers. Please contact the organisers if this would be useful to you, including information about your status, and your estimated costs.

Financial support application deadline: Friday 10 June 2022 Anywhere on Earth Financial support notification: Monday 13 June 2022

TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION:

Central Glasgow has many hotels and Airbnbs, but can be busy in the summer months. The conference will be held in the McCance building on the Strathclyde campus: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/86419875 The nearest hotel is the Premier Inn, about 30 seconds walk away.

Glasgow is well served by trains in the UK (e.g. London Euston is 4.5 hours away), and can be reached from the European continent via a Eurostar train to London. Note that advance train tickets can be considerably cheaper in the UK. Glasgow has an international airport, and is also quite easily reachable from Edinburgh airport.

We look forward to welcoming you in Glasgow!

the organisers:

Jules Hedges (jules.hedges@strath.ac.uk)

Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg (fredrik.nordvall-forsberg@strath.ac.uk)

Jade Master (jade.master@strath.ac.uk)

James Fairbanks (fairbanksj@ufl.edu)

Posted by: John Baez on June 3, 2022 10:59 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

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