NeurIPS Newsletter – October 2026
Welcome to the October edition of the NeurIPS monthly Newsletter!
The NeurIPS Newsletter aims to provide an easy way to keep up to date with NeurIPS events and planning progress, respond to requests for feedback and participation, and find information about new initiatives. This newsletter will focus on NeurIPS 2026, held in Sydney, Australia, with official Satellites in Atlanta, USA and Paris, France. The conference will be held on the following dates:
● Sydney, Australia: from Sunday, Dec 6th to Saturday, Dec 12th
● Atlanta, USA: from Wednesday, Dec 9th to Sunday, Dec 13th
● Paris, France: from Wednesday, Dec 9th to Sunday, Dec 13th
You are receiving this newsletter as per your subscription preferences in your NeurIPS profile. As you prepare to attend NeurIPS, we hope that you will find the following information valuable.
This NeurIPS Newsletter includes:
- NeurIPS Foundation Announces 2026 Bridging the Future Grants Program Recipients
- Announcing the NeurIPS 2026 Affinity Events
- NeurIPS 2026 Tutorial Announcement
- Making AI Science More Accessible at NeurIPS
- Announcing the NeurIPS 2026 Journal Track
- Australasian AI Research Gatherings: Connecting NeurIPS 2026 with the AJCAI 2026 and ACML 2026
- NeurIPS 2026 Invited Speaker Topics
1. NeurIPS Foundation Announces 2026 Bridging the Future Grants Program Recipients
The NeurIPS Foundation is excited to announce the recipients of the NeurIPS 2026 Bridging the Future Grants Program, created to support innovative activities that broaden participation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Open to learners at every stage, from grade school students taking their first steps in computational thinking to senior faculty developing new pedagogical approaches, the six recipients of this year’s program were selected from 134 applications submitted from organizations and individuals around the world.
The winning projects were selected for their global relevance, innovation, and novel approach that has not been widely implemented in AI/ML education and outreach. If you have questions about the NeurIPS Bridging the Future Grants Program, or are interested in future funding cycles, please reach out to the NeurIPS Foundation at bridging-the-future@neurips.cc.
We are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their vision with us, and look forward to continuing to invest in creative, impactful initiatives that broaden participation in AI and machine learning.
Please look at the recipients and their projects here.
2. Announcing the NeurIPS 2026 Affinity Events
We are excited to announce this year’s affinity events co-located with NeurIPS in Sydney (Australia), Paris (France), and Atlanta (United States).
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.
For more details of Affinity Group and their appearance at NeurIPS 2026, please find here.
3. NeurIPS 2026 Tutorial Announcement
We are delighted to announce the tutorials that have been accepted at the NeurIPS 2026 Tutorial Track. In total, we selected 19 very strong proposals out of 62 submissions, covering a wide range of topics and sub-disciplines.
For the first time, NeurIPS is taking place at three sites across the world: Sydney, Paris, and Atlanta. Authors indicated their preferred sites when submitting their proposals. To ensure consistent tutorial quality across all three, we reviewed all proposals centrally. The acceptance decision was based on the proposals’ scientific merit and presenters’ expertise in their proposed topics. Indications of preferred physical sites were used only after the initial acceptance list was made.
For more details of NeurIPS 2026 Tutorials, please find them here.
4. Making AI Science More Accessible at NeurIPS
Authors of accepted NeurIPS papers are now asked to provide a plain-language summary (lay summary) of their work. Limited to 150 words, each summary should explain the research problem, the approach, and why the results matter. This initiative aims to make AI science accessible to audiences beyond the research community, including journalists, policymakers, and potential collaborators.
To support this initiative, NeurIPS 2026 will also offer in-person science communication training in Sydney. We encourage authors to focus on the key ideas of their work, avoid unnecessary jargon, and use engaging explanations that preserve the nuance of the research.
For more guidance on preparing a lay summary and details of this initiative, please find them here.
5. Announcing the NeurIPS 2026 Journal Track
We are excited to announce the NeurIPS 2026 Journal Track, which provides an opportunity for research published in leading machine learning and statistics journals to be presented at NeurIPS. By bringing together the journal and conference communities, the track aims to increase the visibility of rigorously reviewed work and encourage scientific exchange across disciplines.
This year, the track features 88 accepted papers: 64 from Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR), 16 from the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR), and 8 from the Annals of Statistics (AoS). The papers will be presented across Sydney, Atlanta, and Paris alongside the Main Track and Evaluations & Datasets Track. We warmly invite attendees to visit the poster presentations and engage with the authors.
For more details and the full list of Journal Track papers, please find them here.
6. Australasian AI Research Gatherings: Connecting NeurIPS 2026 with the AJCAI 2026 and ACML 2026
With NeurIPS 2026 taking place in Sydney this December, we are pleased to highlight two nearby conferences that offer valuable opportunities to connect with the AI and machine learning research communities across Australia, New Zealand, and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
The 39th Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AJCAI 2026) will be held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, from November 27 to 30. The 18th Asian Conference on Machine Learning (ACML 2026) will take place at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, from December 1 to 4. Held shortly before NeurIPS 2026 (December 6–12), these gatherings offer researchers traveling to the region an opportunity to share ideas, build collaborations, and engage with regional colleagues.
For more details about AJCAI 2026 and ACML 2026, please find them here.
7. NeurIPS 2026 Invited Speaker Topics
With NeurIPS 2026 being held across three locations, we are delighted to share a preview of this year’s invited talks. The program features 13 distinguished speakers: six in Sydney, four in Paris, and three in Atlanta. Their talks span foundational machine learning and reinforcement learning, AI for science and mathematics, and the ethical, social, and environmental impact of AI.
Each location brings its own emphasis: Sydney highlights scientific discovery and industrial applications; Paris explores mathematical foundations, explainability, and climate; and Atlanta addresses robotics, learning on structured data, and AI’s impact on communities and energy systems. We hope these invited talks will inspire discussions across all three venues.
For the full invited speaker lineup and talk details, please find them here.
Hsuan-Tien Lin, Razvan Pascanu, Jean Kossaifi, Aadirupa Saha, Khimya Khetarpal, Feng Liu, Christian Wolf
NeurIPS 2026 General Chairs and Communication Chairs
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