[agents] VLearn 2018 - Call for Papers

[Louise Dennis]

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                   CALL FOR PAPERS
Symposium on the Verification of Systems that Learn
                     VLEARN 2018

      Liverpool, United Kingdom, 5th April 2018

      http://cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/~lad/vlearning/
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-- ABOUT VLEARN --

Machine learning is of particular value in areas where developing a 
precise specification of desired behaviour is outside the scope of our 
current understanding of the world. For instance machine learning is 
widely deployed for image classification tasks. In these cases the 
specification is that the classifier should match the perception ability 
of a human. This is a difficult property to formally specify.  Even when 
properties can be formally specified, the results of many machine 
learning systems (e.g. a set of weights in a neural network) are 
difficult to map onto these or to reason about in appropriate terms.  
The aim of this symposium is to bring together researchers interested in 
the question of how systems that learn may be verified. It will take the 
form of a number of scientific presentations and posters.
The Symposium is being sponsored by the UK Network on the Verification 
and Validation of Autonomous Systems (vavas.org).

--INVITED SPEAKER--

Professor Sandor Veres, University of Sheffield

--IMPORTANT DATES --

   * Full papers and abstracts due: 26th January 2018
   * Notification: 16th February 2018
   * Camera-ready versions due: 2nd March 2018

-- SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS --

We invite the submission of both full papers (8 pages max) and extended 
abstracts (2 pages max) related to the Verification of Systems that 
Learn. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
    * Verification of learning algorithms.
    * Verification of objective functions.
    * Specification of learned behaviour.
    * Ensuring the learning process is safe (safe learning).
    * Verification and explainability of neural networks.

Full papers and abstracts may present finished work, work in progress or 
be position papers.

The authors of accepted full papers will be invited to present a talk at 
the workshop, while extended abstracts will be invited to present a 
poster. Papers should be formatted using the AISB 2018 style 
(http://aisb2018.csc.liv.ac.uk/AISB2018.tar.gz) and submitted via 
EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vlearn18).

-- 
Dr. Louise Dennis,
Department of Computer Science, Room 117, Ashton Building,
University of  Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX,  UK.
http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~lad/  phone: +44 151 795 4237