February 2026 - Scheduling seminar - list.iid.ciirc.cvut.cz

Chris Potts, February 23
by Zdenek Hanzalek 17 Feb '26

17 Feb '26

Dear colleagues, Let me forward the message provided by Nicholas Hall. The time of the event is *12:15 GMT / UTC and 0715 (U.S.) EST on Monday, February 23*. Begin forwarded message: *Subject:* *Fw: Order Update - Streaming for the service of Chris Potts* *From:* Obitus <media(a)obitus.com> *Sent:* 16 February 2026 16:20 *To:* Chris Lawrence <jlawrenceundertakers(a)btconnect.com> *Cc:* Southampton <Crematorium(a)southampton.gov.uk> *Subject:* Order Update - Streaming for the service of Chris Potts email-logo-obi.png Hello, here's a summary of the streaming service you have booked. Streaming order summary Streaming details for the service of *Chris Potts* at *12:15 (GMT)* on *Monday 23rd February*, at Southampton - East, run by J Lawrence & Sons are as below. Watching Live & On Demand Website _https://watch.obitus.com <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://watch.obitus.com/login/zqcvdg__;!!KGKeu…>_ Username cuzu1543 Password 090915 Info Obitus will never ask viewers for payment to watch a Live Stream or service recording. Streaming details Live & On Demand *Awaiting Service* Service details Venue Southampton East Bassett Green Rd . Booked by J Lawrence & Sons 17 St Denys Road Portswood *Please note*, Live & On Demand streams will allow up to *250* connections at any one time. If you think more than 250 people would like to join and view live, please only publicly share the log in details once the On Demand video has been re-uploaded after the service. Watching Live You will be able to view the live stream approximately 5 minutes before the service start time. Please be aware the service is in a public building and earlier services may overrun. Please use your discretion should you see activities unrelated to the service you are here to view. In advance of the service, we strongly recommend you log in to the site and test your internet connection. Watching On Demand We aim to process the editing of the footage and upload for the On Demand service within 3 working days. If you did not order this feature and would like to request it, please get in touch. To _unsubscribe <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dashboard.obitus.com/account__;!!KGKeuk…>_ please update your email preferences in your account.

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Christian Blum (IIIA-CSIC) | February 18 | CMSA: A Hybrid Metaheuristic for Combinatorial Optimization
by Zdenek Hanzalek 16 Feb '26

16 Feb '26

Dear scheduling researcher, We are delighted to announce the talk given by Christian Blum (IIIA-CSIC). The title is "CMSA: A Hybrid Metaheuristic for Combinatorial Optimization". The seminar will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, February 18 at 14:00 UTC. Join Zoom Meeting https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/91528778001?pwd=OD4EuDE8dPNHhXoYQqPJbamPCaEf3D.1 Meeting ID: 915 2877 8001 Passcode: 474863 You can follow the seminar online or offline on our Youtube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUoCNnaAfw5NAntItILFn4A The abstract follows. Construct, Merge, Solve & Adapt (CMSA) is an award-winning, hybrid algorithm for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. The main idea consists in the iterated application of an exact solver - such as an integer linear programming (ILP) solver - to sub-instances of the original problem instance. These sub-instances are enlarged at each iteration by adding solution components from a set of valid solutions that are obtained either by probabilistic solution construction or by any other means. Moreover, seemingly useless (or even harmful) solution components are removed. In this talk, an introduction to CMSA will be given, in addition to describing some of the most recent research lines around this technique. The next talk in our series will be: Helmut Simonis (Insight Centre, UCC) | March 4 | Constraint Based Scheduling: A User Perspective. For more details, please visit https://schedulingseminar.com/ With kind regards Zdenek Hanzalek, Michael Pinedo and Guohua Wan -- Zdenek Hanzalek Industrial Informatics Department, Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic https://rtime.ciirc.cvut.cz/~hanzalek/

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Petr Vilim (OptalCP) and Vilem Heinz (CTU in Prague) | February 4 | OptalCP: Constraint Programming with Parallel Search and Reinforcement Learning-Based Acceleration
by Zdenek Hanzalek 03 Feb '26

03 Feb '26

Dear scheduling researcher, We are delighted to announce the talk given by Petr Vilim (OptalCP) and Vilem Heinz (CTU in Prague). The title is " OptalCP: Constraint Programming with Parallel Search and Reinforcement Learning-Based Acceleration ". The seminar will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, February 4 at 14:00 UTC. Join Zoom Meeting https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/92404900677?pwd=HV03FRygB2sDF5X7xI7IL68aIU9XX9.1 Meeting ID: 924 0490 0677 Passcode: 249708 You can follow the seminar online or offline on our Youtube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUoCNnaAfw5NAntItILFn4A The abstract follows. Constraint Programming (CP) is a powerful paradigm for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems, especially in scheduling. In this talk, we introduce OptalCP, a modern CP solver designed for scheduling, and explain why its design is both practical and effective for real-world instances. We begin with an overview of what CP is and how models are defined using variables, domains, and constraints. We then break down the essential components of a solver—propagation and search—and show how OptalCP combines efficient propagation algorithms with parallel search strategies: LNS, failure-directed search, and user heuristics, all exchanging solutions to find better results faster. The main part focuses on OptalCP’s internal solving strategy: Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) for fast improvements, Failure-Directed Search (FDS) for strong reasoning and bounds, and efficient propagation algorithms for aggressive pruning. We explain why combining these approaches is crucial. To demonstrate, we will show the solver on a live example. In the last part, we present research results showing how reinforcement learning - specifically multi-armed bandits (MAB) - can accelerate complete CP search by reducing the explored search tree. This approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on classical JobShop and RCPSP scheduling benchmarks. The next talk in our series will be Christian Blum (IIIA-CSIC) | February 18 | CMSA: A Hybrid Metaheuristic for Combinatorial Optimization. For more details, please visit https://schedulingseminar.com/ With kind regards Zdenek Hanzalek, Michael Pinedo and Guohua Wan -- Zdenek Hanzalek Industrial Informatics Department, Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic https://rtime.ciirc.cvut.cz/~hanzalek/

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