ERA - Emerging Researchers in ALife

ERA communication is moving to discord! ➡️ The discord will be used for announcements and discussions of ERA activities, but more importantly it will allow emerging ALife researchers from across the globe to chat, network, and collaborate! Join us here: discord.gg/m3qvuXgkZ7

Interested in #robotics? Join our next Professional Town Hall on May 14th! Our speakers will explore how Hebbian learning allows identical neural controllers in modular soft robots to differentiate into specialized "brains" for different body parts. 🤖 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

3/🔗 Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI… #ArtificialLife #STEM #EdTech #ALife2026 #AEdu #EmergingResearchers

2/Join us virtually for one of two global sessions: 📍 May 18–19 (10 – 14 ET) 📍 May 25–26 (10 – 14 JST) From balancing technical code with accessibility to hands-on teaching methods, we're shaping the future of #ALife education together. Don't miss out on this inaugural event!🧑‍🏫

1/📢 Ready to bring Artificial Life into your classroom? 🧬✨ The ERA board is excited to announce the AEdu Spring 2026 Workshops for Educators! These sessions are designed for teachers, trainers, and leaders ready to explore the future of #ALife and synthetic intelligence.

3/Points to discuss at the JC: How does this challenge the idea that "human nature" is inherently competitive? To what extent can we claim any of our goals are truly our own versus "reference signals" mirrored from our peers? 👯 Bring a friend, bring a question. See you there!🌱

2/Are our unique desires just echoes of others? This work asks how Mimesis (imitation) and Cybernetics (control of perception) combine to drive behavior. It explores how one single mechanism of imitation can trigger totally different outcomes depending on our environment. 🪞

1/📢 Announcing our next ERA Journal Club session 📍Mar 28, 9:00 AM GMT on Discord: discord.gg/m3qvuXgkZ7 Paper: “Cybernetic Mimesis: Collective Phenomena through Reference Imitation among Feedback-Control Agents” by @EarnestKotaCarr. Join us to explore cybernetic mimesis! 🔄

Interested in #evolution, #learning, and #AI? Join us for our next Professional Town Hall on April 9th! Emmanouil Giannakakis will explore how network bottlenecks and task structure drive the development of optimized learning rules over chaotic ones. 🤖 arxiv.org/abs/2403.13649

Good news if you’re still finishing your #ALIFE2026 submission! ⏳ Deadline extended to April 12, 2026 (AoE) — final extension. 📌 Submissions are not anonymized this year. 👉 Details & templates on our website. 2026.alife.org

Guess what? Our ERA workshop has just been accepted into #ALIFE2026 ! This will be a valuable opportunity for emerging researchers in #ALife, and we'll have more information for you soon. 👽🛸 In the meantime, see you at @ALifeConf ! 🍁

Submissions for #ALife2026 workshop, tutorial, and spec.session proposals are now closed. Thanks for the great response! Decision letters will be sent soon. Reminder: the deadline for full papers and extended summaries is March 30. 👉 2026.alife.org

Preparing your proposal for @ALifeConf? Join us for our next Social Town Hall on March 7th! We'll have a co-work session to get everyone encouraged while working on their submissions for #ALIFE2026! Bring a friend, bring a question. See you there!🌱

1/📢 Announcing our next ERA Journal Club session 📍Feb 28, 4:00 PM GMT on Discord: discord.gg/m3qvuXgkZ7 Topic: Evochora, an open-source lab for embodied digital evolution. 🧬🧱 Project: github.com/evochora/evoch… Demo: evochora.org #ALife #Evolution #Evochora

Do you know a student who has published an amazing paper? A veteran professor you admire? Nominate them to win an #ISAL 2026 Award! 🏆 Winners will be announced at @ALifeConf! Want to know more? Check out the form and submit it by March 8 AoE! #ALIFE2026 forms.gle/bkd4ireJSSUcyN…

📣 Extended Deadline: #ALIFE2026 – Call for Workshops, Tutorials & Special Sessions We are pleased to announce an extended submission deadline: 28 February 2026. 🗓 Aug 17–21, 2026, Waterloo, Canada 2026.alife.org

5/See also A personal story, how Evochora came into existence: github.com/evochora/evoch… A more scientific view on the motivation and the capabilies of Evochora: github.com/evochora/evoch…

4/Discussion topics: • What should digital physics include for meaningful open-ended evolution? • How do thermodynamic constraints shape ecology and complexity? • Do approaches like Fuzzy Jumps help evolution or change what's being selected for? Intrigued? See you there! 👽🛸