Join us for CCC 2026
The Computation and Cognition Symposium (CCS) is an interdisciplinary event exploring the scientific connections between artificial and natural intelligence. CCS was first held in 2025 at Dalhousie University, and aims to promote collaboration across fields studying intelligent behaviour in humans, animals, and machines.
This year CCS 2026 will focus on how fundamental research and practice in AI, neuroscience, and psychology co-evolve and inform one another. Over a full day of invited talks, contributed posters, and networking, the symposium will bring together diverse perspectives from AI, cognitive science, developmental psychology, philosophy of science, neuroscience, and neuroengineering.
Across four invited talks, leading researchers will discuss how their fields are growing, changing and adapting in response to recent advances in AI and its increasing integration into science and society.
This symposium offers opportunities to hear about current research, connect with peers and potential collaborators, share your work, and explore how different research communities can benefit from one another’s success. We encourage participation from engineers, experimentalists, and theoreticians investigating brain and behaviour in humans, animals, and machines.
Discussions will include topics in the following areas, as well as many others:
- Understanding how intelligent behaviour in biological and artificial systems can inform one another
- Using machine learning and AI methods to study brain and behaviour
- Measuring and expanding the representational capacities of modern AI systems
- Interpreting large neural network models and characterizing their internal representations
- Emerging social cognition, cooperation, and (mis)alignment in multi-agent AI systems
- Using modern LLMs as tools for studying human cognition and reasoning
- Development and learning across biological and artificial systems (developmental psychology × AI
- Tool use, planning, and compositional reasoning in humans and machines
- Bridging mechanistic neuroscience and machine learning models of cognition
We will have an exciting lineup of invited speakers, a contributed poster session, and opportunities to connect and discuss new ideas. This event is open to all, whether you’d like to present a poster, learn about current research in brain, AI and behaviour, or simply attend and enjoy the conversations. We welcome participation from researchers at all career stages and methodological backgrounds.
Registration is free.
Call for Posters
Poster spots are limited and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. To allocate space for your posters, we need to have your poster abstract in advance. If you wish to present a poster, you will need to indicate your poster title and approximate abstract during registration. Your abstract will be used to moderate submissions based on thematic fit.
Budget permitting, there may be two Best Poster Awards, chosen by the organizing committee.
Poster Dimensions: posters can be horizontal or vertical, with maximum dimensions of 30x40 or 40x30 inches.
- June 15, 2026 Poster abstract submission opens
- August 1, 2026 Poster abstract submission deadline
The posters will be on display between 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Two dedicated poster sessions will be held at 12-1PM and 4-5 PM
Invited Speakers
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Conference Schedule
The Computation and Cognition Conference 2026 will take place on August 13, 2026, at the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, Dalhousie University. Below is the preliminary schedule. All times are in Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT).
| Time | Event | Speaker/Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM | Breakfast | Provided on-site |
| 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM | Opening Remarks | Organizers |
| 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Keynote: TBD | TBD |
| 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Coffee Break | Networking |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Keynote: TBD | TBD |
| 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM | Lunch Break | Provided on-site |
| 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Keynote: TBD | TBD |
| 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | Coffee Break | Networking |
| 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Keynote: TBD | TBD |
| 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Poster and Networking Session | Student and faculty posters |
| 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | Post-Conference Reception | Contact organisers for location, as places are limited. Please arrive by 6PM. |
Venue
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building,
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Organisers
Marta Kryven, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Psychology and Neuroscience (marta.kryven@dal.ca)
Aaron Newman, Professor and Chair, Psychology and Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychiatry, Surgery, Pediatrics
Program Committee
Max Mascini, Research Assistant, Psychology and Neuroscience
Ciaran Lawless, Research Assistant, Computer Science, Psychology and Neuroscience
Marta Kryven, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Psychology and Neuroscience (marta.kryven@dal.ca)
Aaron Newman, Professor and Chair, Psychology and Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychiatry, Surgery, Pediatrics
Sponsors
Dalhousie University, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Dalhousie University, Faculty of Computer Science
Dalhousie University, President's Office
Dalhousie University, AI Institute