The ACM SIGSIM International Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation (SIGSIM-PADS) focuses on cutting-edge research at the intersection of Computer Science and Modeling and Simulation (M&S). High-quality papers are solicited in all aspects of M&S.
SIGSIM-PADS'26 offers a set of thematic tracks (regular and special, the latter provide a novel focus each year), a two-phase submission process (which allows authors to significantly refine and enhance their submissions), an optional artifact review and badging, and the opportunity for authors (based on the decision of the Technical Program Committee) that their paper will be included in a special issue of the ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS) which complements the regular ACM Proceedings of SIGSIM PADS. Presentation at the conference is mandatory for all papers. The figure below illustrates the paper submission and reviewing process. All the submissions are made through EasyChair.
Papers submitted to the first call may receive reviews that include suggestions for improvements, areas of concern, and additional points that can be addressed or incorporated. In this case, authors have an interim period between the first and second submission deadlines to consider the feedback, make revisions, and further polish their submissions. Authors can resubmit their revised papers to the second call.
Our two-phase process ensures a higher quality of papers through an iterative feedback loop. This allows authors to engage more deeply in the review process, gaining a better understanding of where improvements can be made. By addressing concerns and making improvements, authors increase the likelihood of their papers being accepted. This process fosters a culture of excellence and continuous improvement, pushing the boundaries of research and innovation in the field of M&S. Papers can also be directly submitted to the second call. A regular review process will occur in this case, with an accept/reject outcome, and in case of acceptance with a publication either in the ACM regular proceedings or the TOMACS special issue. All contributions that meet the standards and criteria set by the conference committee will be accepted for presentation at the ACM SIGSIM PADS'26 International Conference. For each accepted paper, at least one author must attend the conference and present their work.
IMPORTANT: All PADS 2026 papers will be published under ACM Open (please see the Information for Authors page regarding details and implications).
For further information regarding formatting guidelines, the review process, and author guidelines and policies, please also see the Information for Authors page.
For the ninth time, SIGSIM PADS offers authors an optional review process to have artifacts and computational results evaluated and reproduced, and to apply for ACM Badges. See the Reproducibility and Artifact Evaluation page for more information.
Topics
We encourage submissions that align with the tracks. However, the topics of the tracks are not considered comprehensive: we accept high-quality papers on all aspects of M&S.
Regular Tracks
1. Simulation Algorithms and Infrastructure
Track Chair:
Alessandro Pellegrini (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy)
- Synchronization, scheduling, memory management, load balancing, runtime environments, fault tolerance
- Simulation on emerging hardware platforms
- Data-driven simulation systems: Digital Twins, DDDAS, symbiotic simulation
- Simulation engines and techniques for differentiable simulation and reinforcement learning
- Performance evaluation of simulation systems
2. Modeling Methodology
Track Co-Chairs:
Martin Bicher (TU Wien, Austria)
Joachim Denil (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
- Modeling formalisms and domain-specific languages
- Model-based approaches for reuse, composition, and evolution
- Experiment design, V&V, model calibration, uncertainty quantification, simulation-based inference Conceptual modeling
- Model families, and ensembles
- Explorative modeling
3. Applications of Advanced Discrete Simulation Methods
Track Chair:
Claudia Szabo (The University of Adelaide, Australia)
Case studies considering the application of new or advanced computational methods to applications of contemporary interest, such as:
- Cell biology
- Cyber-physical systems
- Ecology
- Emergency response and crisis preparedness
- Energy systems
- Healthcare
- Manufacturing and logistics
- Smart systems/IoT
- Social networks
- Transportation and urban planning
- Wireless, mobile, ad-hoc, and sensor networks
- Quantum Computing
Special Tracks:
1. Cybersecurity and Cyber Risk Management
Track Co-Chairs:
David Nicol (University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, USA)
Ranjan Pal (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Digital infrastructures are always under attack, which is what modern societies depend on. Failures spread through systems and supply chains, attackers come up with new strategies and AI-powered tools, and defenders have to make decisions without knowing what will happen. Simulation is a principled way to model how enemies act, figure out how risky something is, and try out resilience strategies before lives, money, or reputations are on the line.
This track is open to research that improves the theory, methods, and uses of simulation for cybersecurity, cyber-risk management, and resilience in IT, OT, cyber-physical systems, AI-enabled technologies, and supply chains that are connected all over the world. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Modeling & Simulation Approaches: agent-based, discrete-event, hybrid, digital twins, attack graphs/trees, kill-chain models, Monte Carlo risk analysis, Bayesian networks, wargaming, human-in-the-loop simulation, socio-technical interactions (modeling analysts, users, attackers/adversaries)
- Cybersecurity Operations & Threats: simulation of intrusion, malware, ransomware, denial-of-service, supply chain attacks, and emerging TTPs; SOC workflows; deception, moving-target defense, zero-trust architectures, Cyber-threat intelligence (CTI) sharing.
- Risk & Resilience: quantitative risk assessment; cascading failure analysis; resilience metrics (MTTx, recovery curves); incident response and business continuity planning; optimal defense allocation under constraints; interdependent infrastructure and supply chain resilience (energy, transport, healthcare, finance, cloud).
- Data, ML/AI, and Emerging Tech: adversarial ML; robust AI-based defenses; red-teaming large language models; simulation of AI in SOCs; privacy-preserving analytics; post-quantum transition scenarios.
- Validation & Evaluation: cyber ranges, network emulation, trace-driven simulation, benchmark datasets, reproducible artifacts, standardized resilience tests.
2. Automation in Modeling and Simulation
Track Co-Chairs:
Natasa Miskov-Zivanov (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
Pia Wilsdorf (University of Rostock, Germany)
This mini-track focuses on advanced methods and tools for automating key aspects of the modeling and simulation lifecycle, from building simulation models to the design and execution of simulation experiments. We invite contributions that present algorithmic, AI-driven, workflow-based, or knowledge-based approaches to reduce human effort and enable more efficient, adaptive, and scalable simulation studies. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Automated derivation of simulation models from data
- Applications of large language models for modeling and simulation
- Representation, elicitation, and utilization of context knowledge for modeling and simulation
- Automated generation of simulation experiments
- Automated calibration and validation of simulation models
- Self-adaptative simulation models and digital twins
- Open-source tools and platforms for simulation automation
3. Visualization for Communicating and Understanding Simulation Studies and Results
Track Co-Chairs:
Torsten Möller (University of Vienna, Austria)
Markus Hadwiger (KAUST, Saudi Arabia)
This track encourages submissions that focus on visualization and visual analytics methods and tools for enhancing the communication and interpretation of simulation results. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Visualization for Decision Support: Design and development of visual tools that enhance decision-making processes by effectively conveying simulation outcomes
- Comparative Visualization: Techniques for comparing multiple simulations or datasets visually to identify patterns, differences, and trends
- Uncertainty Visualization: Visual methods for representing and communicating uncertainties inherent in simulation studies
- Scalability in Visualization: Approaches for handling large-scale simulation data in a visually effective manner
- Storytelling and Narrative Visualization: Methods and approaches for creating dynamic narratives around simulation studies
- Immersive Analytics: Solutions that allow users to interact with and explore simulation data in immersive environments
- User-Centered Design: Creating visualization tools tailored to the needs of diverse stakeholders, from modelers to decision-makers
- Automated Visualization Pipelines: Methodologies for automating the generation of insightful visualizations from simulation results
- Machine Learning Integration: Visualization methods that incorporate machine learning to automatically generate, optimize, or refine visual representations of simulation data
This track is designed to attract an interdisciplinary audience, including visualization researchers and practitioners who are keen on developing innovative techniques for interpreting and communicating complex data, as well as members of the simulation community interested in leveraging advanced visualization methods to enhance the analysis and presentation of their simulation studies. The goal is to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between these communities to drive forward both fields.
4. Digital Twins
Track Co-Chairs:
Dong (Kevin) Jin (University of Arkansas, USA)
Wes Brewer (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA)
This mini-track explores the innovative applications and advancements of digital twin technology in Modeling and Simulation. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Optimization of Simulations for Digital Twins: Optimization techniques to ensure simulations meet the operational performance requirements of digital twins.
- Digital Twins Multi-Scale and Software Framework Issues: Techniques to address challenges in integrating simulations of multiple scales within digital twins, including middleware frameworks for digital twin integration, orchestration, and scalable applications and systems.
- Digital Twin Validation and Verification: Methods for assessing the accuracy and reliability of digital twin simulations, including uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, and stochastic modeling techniques.
- Digital Twins Integration: Assimilation of live telemetry, IoT data, and historical datasets into discrete simulations, integration of AI/ML models within simulation workflows, coordination of heterogeneous models with differing timing and fidelity requirements, addressing inference latency and scalability across HPC, cloud, and edge environments, and synchronization of models with evolving simulation states.
- Digital Twins of Complex Systems: Modeling and simulation techniques for creating digital twins of complex cyber-physical systems in various sectors (energy, manufacturing, transportation, smart building, etc.).
- Digital Twins Energy Aspects: Modeling and simulation techniques to study and optimize energy use and sustainability within digital twins.
- Digital Twins Real-Time Constraints: Real-time challenges and solutions using simulation and optimization strategies to balance the need for high-fidelity models with real-time constraints in digital twins.
- Digital Twins Benchmarks, Datasets, and Reproducibility: Standard benchmarks for discrete-event digital twin simulations, open datasets, and reproducible workflows to promote validation, comparison, and reproducibility in digital twin research.
5. Simulation-based Optimization
Track Co-Chairs:
Philipp Andelfinger (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Wei Xie (Northeastern University, USA)
- Compute budget allocation strategies for simulation-based optimization
- Differentiable simulation and gradient estimation techniques
- Novel methods for simulation calibration
- Bayesian optimization approaches and simulation-based optimization under uncertainty
- Simulation-based optimization in Digital Twins
6. Computational Demography
Track Co-Chairs:
Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz (TU Wien, Austria)
Bernhard Rengs (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria)
We encourage contributions highlighting novel approaches in computational demography, e.g. machine learning, microsimulation, agent-based modelling to study topics like:
- migration and mobility
- population dynamics
- using simulations to study key aspects of demographic behavior
- using digital trace data, e.g. from social media, in demography
The target audience is interdisciplinary: we seek contributions from social scientists, demographers, data and computational scientists interested in computational approaches in demography.
7. Computational Epidemiology
Track Chair:
Tyll Krüger (Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland)
Simulation research provides essential tools to better understand, anticipate, and manage epidemics. By modelling the dynamics of disease spread in heterogeneous populations, simulations enable the analysis of potential future scenarios and the early identification of critical developments. They support the evaluation of intervention strategies such as vaccination, testing, or mobility restrictions by making their possible effects transparent and comparable. Decision-makers benefit from simulation-based evidence when balancing health, social, and economic impacts under uncertainty. At the same time, simulations increase explainability and accountability by explicitly representing assumptions, causalities, and interactions. Beyond expert use, they can serve as instruments for science communication, helping to inform the public and build trust in evidence-based policy.
This track is open to research that improves the theory, methods, and uses of simulation in epidemiology. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Methodological advances in epidemic modelling and simulation
- Integration of data-driven and model-based approaches
- Evaluation of interventions: vaccination, testing, mobility, communication strategies
- Simulation as decision-support for policymakers and health authorities
- Explainability, transparency, and accountability of models
Important Dates
Submission Deadline, First Call: October 31st, 2025 November 12th 2025
First Notification of Acceptance: December 18th, 2025
Submission Deadline, Second Call: January 23rd, 2026
Second Notification of Acceptance: March 23rd, 2026
PhD Colloquium Abstract: April 3rd, 2026
PhD Colloquium Notification: April 17th, 2026
Camera Ready: March 24th, 2026
Conference June 24-26th, 2026
(see also above figure about submission and reviewing process)
ACM TOMACS Special Issue
ACM SIGSIM PADS'26 offers an exciting opportunity for authors, in collaboration with ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS).
Selection for the Special Issue: Upon submission of a paper to the ACM SIGSIM PADS'26 conference, the Technical Program Committee (TPC) holds the discretion to propose that the paper be included in a special issue of TOMACS. Even papers requiring major revisions can be recommended during the first call for the TOMACS special issue. Authors of these papers will then have the opportunity to address feedback and submit their revised manuscripts by the second deadline set for the conference.
Special Issue Publication Timeline: The special issue of TOMACS will be released concurrently with the Conference Proceedings. This ensures that the spotlight remains on the most influential and innovative research at the time of the conference.
Turnaround Time: For papers that require only minor revisions, the turnaround time from submission to acceptance for the TOMACS special issue can be as short as 3.5 months. The process will span approximately 6 months for papers needing major revisions, ensuring authors ample time to refine and improve their work while benefiting from a timely publication.
Benefits: Selected papers enjoy the prestige of being published in a special issue of a reputable journal with a short turnaround time. Authors benefit from rapid feedback, revisions, and publication as well as the opportunity to present the work at PADS.
PhD Colloquium
ACM SIGSIM PADS also invites students to participate in the PhD Colloquium and Poster Session at the 2026 ACM SIGSIM PADS by submitting an extended abstract illustrating their research activities.
The extended abstracts must be in double-column format, up to two pages (including references). Abstracts accepted to the colloquium will be published in the conference proceedings.
Travel grants are available for students taking part.
For more information, see the PhD Colloquium page.