Announcing the NeurIPS 2026 Affinity Events
By Celia Cintas, Harshita Sahni, Sarthak Arora, Yachna Sharma
We are excited to announce this year’s affinity events co-located with NeurIPS in Sydney (Australia), Paris (France), and Atlanta (United States).
What are affinity groups?
At NeurIPS, affinity groups play a crucial role in promoting and supporting the ideas and voices of various communities that are defined by some axis of joint identity and raise awareness of issues that affect their members. In addition, they provide members of these affinity groups with increased opportunities to showcase their work, engage in discussions, and build connections during NeurIPS events, promoting diversity and inclusion at NeurIPS.
The main goals of affinity events are to increase visibility of the work done by the members of the affinity group, enable them to interact and discuss topics that are unique to each affinity group, and encourage affinity group members to showcase their work and step into the NeurIPS community. In contrast to regular workshops, affinity group workshops adopt a more open and flexible approach around topic areas, focusing on forming research communities within the affinity groups and bringing attention to the unique challenges faced by their members.
Additionally, affinity group socials serve as safe and welcoming spaces, allowing members to interact, socialize, and network in an inclusive environment. By fostering such social gatherings, NeurIPS supports the creation of a supportive community that values diversity and ensures that all voices are heard and valued.
What kind of events do affinity groups offer at conferences?
Affinity groups organize events with the main aim of encouraging people to showcase their work and step into the NeurIPS community. The affinity events at NeurIPS this year will take place throughout the main conference week and across three different venues: Paris, Sydney, and Atlanta. See below for the details on when each affinity event will take place. NeurIPS will offer streaming support for all the in-person components of the affinity groups.
What can NeurIPS attendees do to support affinity groups?
Participate! Actively attending and participating in panels and sessions for discussions about issues that are relevant to the affinity groups goes a long way in helping promote their cause. We request all members of our community to participate actively!
Affinity groups at NeurIPS 2026
We are delighted to announce the following affinity groups at NeurIPS 2026 at the main venue in Sydney as well as Satellite events in Paris and Atlanta. Find out more below about their mission and the event they are organizing!
Africa in AI
The Africa in AI Affinity Workshop will be held for the first time as part of NeurIPS. The workshop will establish a dedicated forum for AI researchers, practitioners, industry partners, and policymakers working at the intersection of AI and sustainable development in Africa. By bringing together diverse disciplines and stakeholders across Africa’s socio-political and innovation ecosystems, the Affinity Group and its workshop will foster dialogue on the opportunities and challenges associated with AI adoption in the region, including shared constraints related to infrastructure, skilled personnel, funding, governance, and institutional capacity.
This inaugural workshop emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaborations to address interconnected development priorities, such as health and climate resilience or sustainable cities and productive employment, with the goal of advancing scalable and resource-efficient AI solutions in the region. Through the Africa in AI Affinity Group, we are building a pan-African community that will showcase African perspectives, highlight region-specific challenges, and provide opportunities to elevate innovations on trustworthy AI that supports sustainable development outcomes. Ultimately, the Affinity Group aims to strengthen the African AI ecosystem and accelerate the responsible adoption of AI technologies that contribute to peace, prosperity, and inclusive development across the continent.
Africa in AI will be present only at the Atlanta venue on December 9th.
For more details on the Africa in AI Affinity Group and event, visit our website: https://africainai.mailab.io/
GlobalSouthAI
The GlobalSouthAI affinity event brings together AI/ML researchers working under resource constraints across the Global South. These communities face structural limitations in compute, data access, infrastructure, and research mobility, yet contribute significantly to efficient and robust ML systems. Our goal is to establish a sustained NeurIPS-affiliated community focused on efficient, inclusive, and context-aware ML systems, and to strengthen collaboration between Global South and Global North researchers. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive environment for networking, mentorship, and technical exchange among researchers who are systematically underrepresented at NeurIPS. The community builds on two highly successful predecessor events, GlobalSouthAI @ AAAI 2026 (100+ submissions) and GlobalSouthML @ ICML 2026 (150+ submissions), demonstrating strong demand and community engagement. The one-day program features invited talks from leading researchers across academia and industry, lightning talks, a Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, and a poster session showcasing cutting-edge research. The event focuses on technical challenges in resource-constrained ML systems, including efficient training, deployment under limited compute, multilingual and low-resource modeling, and data governance in constrained environments. All invited speakers and organizers will attend in person. GlobalSouthAI will be present across Paris and Sydney venues:
Sydney – December 7th
Paris – December 9th
For more details, please visit our website: https://sites.google.com/view/globalsouthai-neurips26/home
LatinX in AI
The LXAI Workshop has been a recognized part of the NeurIPS workshop lineup since 2018. This one-day event is designed to bring together faculty, students, researchers, and professionals for a day of collaboration and knowledge-sharing. The agenda includes invited talks from leading experts, oral and poster presentations of cutting-edge research, a panel discussion on key topics in the field, and a dedicated mentoring session.
Each year, we receive high-quality paper submissions from Latinx researchers worldwide, demonstrating the community’s growing strength and interest in AI. We aim to amplify Latinx voices and promote diverse perspectives to build a more inclusive and equitable AI research ecosystem. While our focus is on Latinx representation, the event is intentionally inclusive and open to all who are committed to advancing diversity in AI.
While all presenters will identify primarily as LatinX, everyone is invited to attend.
LatinX in AI will be present across Atlanta and Sydney venues:
Sydney – December 7th
Atlanta – December 9th
For more details, please visit: https://www.latinxinai.org/neurips-2026
Muslims in ML
The 7th Muslims in ML (MusIML) Workshop will be held at NeurIPS 2026 in Sydney, bringing together the community at the intersection of machine learning, Sovereign AI, and global Muslim expertise. Since 2020, MusIML has organized 12 events at top-tier conferences, growing steadily from around 100 attendees at our first workshop to 60 accepted papers and 300+ attendees at NeurIPS 2025.
The workshop is dedicated to promoting ethical and Sovereign AI solutions tailored to diverse cultural, linguistic, and economic contexts, and creating a dedicated academic space for Muslim researchers. This year’s program spans a broad range of contributions from Sovereign ML for Muslim communities and Islamic contexts, to AI system demonstrations, social-impact competition proposals, and open ML research by Muslim scholars, alongside our mentored-research initiatives (Ibtikar × MusIML and the Fatima Fellowship) and a panel on “AI and the Future of Society: Sovereignty and Global Equity.” Beyond the main workshop in Sydney, we will also host social events at NeurIPS 2026’s two satellite sites, Atlanta and Paris, for the global community.
Support for attending NeurIPS 2026 is available through the NeurIPS Affinity Program and MusIML, with priority given to authors of accepted papers presenting in person.
Muslims in ML will be present across Paris and Sydney venues:
Sydney – December 7th
Paris – December 10th
For more details, visit https://www.musiml.org/events/2026-NeurIPS/index.html
New in ML
In an era deeply influenced by the rapid rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI, how can researchers effectively navigate their journey in machine learning and accelerate their growth to achieve impactful breakthroughs? The NewInML Workshop brings together emerging researchers and senior PhD students, connecting them directly with top experts and industry thought leaders for profound insights and practical guidance. Covering topics from foundational skills to advanced research in LLMs and Generative AI, the workshop offers a unique opportunity to enhance your research capabilities and competitive edge. Join us to ride the wave of innovation and grow alongside the brightest minds in the ML community!
NewInML will be present only at the Paris venue on December 11th. For more details, visit our official website: https://newinml.github.io/NewInML2026NeurIPS/
Queer in AI
The Queer in AI workshop and social events at NeurIPS 2026 aim to create a vibrant and inclusive space that brings together queer students, researchers, and practitioners from across the globe to critically examine the impact of AI on the LGBTQIA* community. The workshop aspires to build a strong network of queer individuals, enable discussions at the intersection of AI and queer identities, and tackle issues of discrimination within the tech industry and society at large.
The Queer in AI workshop is dedicated to advancing equitable AI practices and contributing to a future where technology serves the needs of all communities. The workshop is committed to advocating for a more ethically grounded approach to AI development, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and valued in conversations about the future of technology.
Queer in AI will be present across all venues:
Sydney – December 9th
Atlanta – December 11th
Paris – December 10th
For more details, please visit our official website: https://www.queerinai.com/neurips-2026
Women in ML
Women in Machine Learning is proud to celebrate nearly two decades of driving gender diversity in AI, since our founding in 2006. WiML’s flagship Annual event is held alongside NeurIPS, providing a space where women can connect, learn, and grow. The field of machine learning, while growing immensely in scale and scope over the last decade, still faces a major lack of gender diversity. WiML’s mission is to close this gap by creating opportunities for women and non-binary scholars to engage in substantive technical and professional conversations, while increasing awareness of their achievements in the community.
The WiML Workshop at NeurIPS 2026 brings this mission to life, celebrating research across the breadth of ML. Our goals are to:
- Highlight the contributions of women and non-binary scholars across the breadth of ML
- Create spaces to meet, exchange ideas through deep technical discussion, and spark future collaborations
- Provide junior researchers with a visible platform to present their work to peers and senior members of the community
The program features invited talks by women and non-binary researchers, a poster session showcasing accepted abstracts and fostering interactive feedback, and dedicated networking time to build lasting connections. Structured mentorship sessions round out the program, offering practical guidance on navigating publishing, shaping research agendas, and exploring academic and industry career paths. Through these sessions, women starting out in their careers can gain valuable guidance, while established women serve as a guiding force, sharing their experience and paying it forward to the next generation.
Our workshop is designed to be welcoming to researchers at all stages and across subfields. WiML will be present across all three venues: Atlanta, Paris, and Sydney.
Sydney – December 8th
Atlanta – December 9th
Paris – December 10th
For more details, please visit the WiML website and our 2026 workshop website.