Strong presence of the GRAFO group at MIC 2026 (Ischia, Naples)
The GRAFO group had an outstanding presence at the 16th Metaheuristics International Conference (MIC 2026), held from June 8 to 11, 2026 on the island of Ischia, Naples, Italy.
MIC 2026 brought together 277 authors from more than 30 countries, cementing its place as one of the leading venues in metaheuristics and combinatorial optimization research. Spain led the participation with 58 authors (20.9%), followed by Italy with 53 (19.1%) and France with 19 (6.9%). At institutional level, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos topped the ranking with 20 researchers — the highest count of any participating institution.
GRAFO’s footprint
The GRAFO team at ETSII–URJC had a remarkable showing at this edition: 13 members attending with a total of 14 presentations, representing approximately 10% of the entire conference. These figures reflect the strength and dynamism of the group on the international metaheuristics research scene.
We would like to warmly thank Paola Festa and her organizing team for putting together such a high-quality conference in a truly exceptional setting.
Acknowledgements to funding projects
This level of participation would not have been possible without the support of the research projects funding the group’s activity:
- New Advances in the Holistic Methodology for Configuration, Comparison and Evaluation of Metaheuristics (PID2024-156045NB-I00), funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
- Computer Science for Supply Chain Optimization (PID2024-160226OB-C22), funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
- Cybersecurity and Resilient Artificial Intelligence for the Community of Madrid (TEC-2024/COM-404), funded by the Comunidad de Madrid.
- AI4DDS – Artificial Intelligence for Data Driven Solutions (TSI-100930-2023-3), funded by the Ministerio para la Transformación Digital y de la Función Pública.
Thanks to these projects, the GRAFO group is able to sustain a research activity and international visibility of the highest level.
