NeurIPS 2026 Workshop · Sydney, Australia
Machine Learning for Simulations in Biology & Chemistry
The 2nd SIMBIOCHEM Workshop
Fusing molecular simulation, generative models and agentic AI into physics-aligned systems that learn from reality.
Date
Friday, 11 December 2026
Rooms
MR C4.6 & C4.7
Sydney, Australia
Latest updates
We received 79 submissions this year. We are delighted by the response and excited to see the community grow.
The call for papers closed on 04 September 2026 (AoE). Acceptance decisions will be announced on 28 September 2026 (AoE).
The call for Programme Committee members is now closed.
Confirmed sponsors
Supported by the community
Sponsorship detailsOur sponsors help fund the workshop, but remain independent of agenda-setting and scientific review.
The workshop
Simulation as the substrate for scientific AI
The next step beyond structure prediction is motion — trajectories, ensembles, kinetics and rare events. SIMBIOCHEM II brings together machine learning, computational chemistry, biophysics and materials science to make molecular AI faster, and grounded in physical rigour.
“How can simulation, generative models, and agentic AI be fused into physics-aligned systems that learn from reality and accelerate biological and chemical discovery?”
Topics & themes
Community
Expected attendance: 100–150 researchers. Two poster sessions, six community spotlights and a sponsor-supported Sydney social event.
Speakers
Keynotes & invited speakers
Perspectives from AI-for-science labs, computational chemistry, biophysics and industry research. Click a speaker for their profile.
Panel · Agents & Simulations
Moderator: TBC
Frank Noé
MSR AI for Science · FU Berlin
Anthony Costa
NVIDIA — Digital Biology
Kristine Deibler
Novo Nordisk
Konstantin Hemker
OpenAI
Agenda
Workshop Schedule
Friday, 11 December 2026 · Rooms MR C4.6 and C4.7. The formal programme runs from 08:45 to 17:00, with keynotes, invited talks, community spotlights and two poster sessions. An optional social event follows in the evening.
- 08:45 – 09:00
Opening
CeremonyOrganisers
Confirmed - 09:00 – 09:30
Keynote — Frank Noé
MSR AI for Science · FU Berlin
Confirmed - 09:30 – 10:00
Spotlight Talks from Accepted Papers
Three 10-minute talks chosen by the programme committee
Confirmed - 10:00 – 10:15
Invited Talk — Yu-Shan Lin
Tufts University
Confirmed - 10:15 – 10:30
Invited Talk — Heather J. Kulik
MIT
Confirmed - 10:30 – 10:45
Coffee Break + Poster Setup
Catering provided by sponsors
- 10:45 – 12:45
Poster Session I + Lunch
Catering provided by sponsors
- 12:45 – 13:00
Invited Talk — Ai Niitsu
RIKEN IMS
Confirmed - 13:00 – 13:15
Invited Talk — John Chodera
Sloan Kettering Institute · MSKCC
Confirmed - 13:15 – 13:45
Spotlight Talks from Accepted Papers
Three 10-minute talks chosen by the programme committee
Confirmed - 13:45 – 14:00
Coffee Break + Poster Setup
Catering provided by sponsors
- 14:00 – 15:30
Poster Session II
Catering provided by sponsors
- 15:30 – 16:15
Panel — Agents & Simulations
Frank Noé · Anthony Costa (NVIDIA) · Kristine Deibler (Novo Nordisk) · Konstantin Hemker (OpenAI)
Confirmed - 16:15 – 16:40
Keynote — Jack Yang
UNSW Sydney
Confirmed - 16:40 – 17:00
Best Paper Awards + Closing
CeremonyOrganisers
Confirmed - 18:30 – 21:00
Optional Social Event
Further networking, supported by sponsors
Call for papers · Closed
79 submissions received
We are delighted by this year’s response and excited to see the SIMBIOCHEM community grow. Reviews are now under way, with acceptance decisions on 28 September 2026 (AoE).
Call for papers
Closed
Submission deadline
04 September 2026
AoE
Acceptance decisions
28 September 2026
AoE
Workshop day
Friday, 11 December 2026
Rooms MR C4.6 and C4.7
Organisers
The organising team
Six organisers across academia and industry, with Emine Kucukbenli and Ole Winther as senior organisers. Click a name to see their research interests.
Advisory committee
Senior advisors
Senior faculty and industry research leaders supporting the workshop through community steering, scientific advice and endorsement. Click a name for their profile.
Sponsors
Supported by the community
Sponsors keep this workshop community-run — funding catering, prizes, poster sessions and the Sydney social event, while scientific review stays entirely independent of them.
1st-edition sponsors
Ways to support
The Sydney social event
Host or co-host the evening that closes the workshop day — the part everyone remembers. Several sponsors can share it, or one can take it on.
Catering
Coffee, lunch and refreshments across the breaks and both poster sessions — the moments where most of the community actually meets.
Poster sessions & networking
Boards, printing and materials for our two poster sessions and the informal networking around them.
Awards & prizes
Best paper, best poster and reproducibility awards — named after your organisation if you would like.
Student & speaker participation
Bring people into the room who would otherwise not be there — students, early-career researchers and speakers travelling a long way.
Community infrastructure
The website, proceedings page and submission support that keep the workshop running from one edition to the next.
Why sponsorship matters here
SIMBIOCHEM is a community-driven workshop, organised by researchers who volunteer their time around their own work. Sponsorship is what makes the day possible — and we think the exchange runs both ways.
The room is small and unusually well selected: people doing some of the strongest work in machine learning for biology and chemistry, who attend and present at NeurIPS, the most respected venue in the field. Sponsoring SIMBIOCHEM puts your organisation in front of exactly that community — a real opportunity to build your brand among researchers who are hard to reach anywhere else, to find collaborators, and to recruit.
It also supports the science itself: the poster that starts a collaboration, the prize that shifts an early-career trajectory, the conversation over lunch that becomes a paper. Our first edition sent five papers on to Nature Portfolio editors. Those are the conversations your support helps make happen — and they are the ones that can genuinely make things better.
What sponsors receive
Each level adds to the one below it. Levels of support are set out in the sponsorship letter.
Bronze
A straightforward way for smaller groups, startups and long-standing friends of the workshop to put their name behind it.
Supports
Includes
- Logo and link on the workshop website, grouped by category — community, pharma, investment or technology partner
- Kept on the permanent edition archive, so the recognition outlives the day
- Nothing to ship, nobody to staff, no deadlines to meet
Silver
For organisations that want to be visible in the room all day, without taking on anything operational.
Supports
Includes
- Everything in Bronze
- Logo on the slides shown throughout both coffee breaks and both poster sessions — around four hours of the day
- A shoutout from the organisers in the opening and closing acknowledgements
- An acknowledgement from the workshop's social accounts
- A short description of your organisation on the sponsor page
Gold
For partners who want their name attached to a named part of the programme, and a light presence in the room.
Supports
Includes
- Everything in Silver
- Your name on an award certificate, worded as “supported by”, and read aloud at the closing awards — the one moment the whole room is seated
- Materials on the shared sponsor table: swag, recruiting cards and printed matter, where the venue permits
- A careers link on the sponsor page
- Priority for shared sponsorship of the Sydney social event
Diamond
For the one or two partners underwriting the day itself — recognised first, everywhere the workshop recognises anyone.
Supports
Includes
- Everything in Gold
- Featured placement: top of the sponsor page in a larger lockup, and named on the opening and closing slides
- Your banner in the workshop room — Diamond only, subject to venue approval
- First call on the day's three short break-time messages, three minutes each
- First choice among the major support areas, in order of confirmation
- The option to host the Sydney social event
- Custom arrangements, agreed in writing
- A named organiser as your direct contact throughout
Prefer the full detail?
The sponsorship letter sets out every level, what each one supports and how we handle the parts that are limited.
Download the sponsorship letterTalk to the organisers
Tell us what you would like to support and we will find a shape that works. No commitment at this stage.
Sponsorship does not influence review decisions, speaker selection, awards or publication opportunities. SIMBIOCHEM is community-driven and independent, and is not affiliated with any sponsor.
Venue
Sydney, Australia
SIMBIOCHEM II takes place on Friday, 11 December 2026, in rooms MR C4.6 and C4.7 at NeurIPS 2026 in Sydney.
Friday, 11 December 2026
NeurIPS 2026 workshop day
Rooms MR C4.6 and C4.7
NeurIPS 2026 · Sydney, Australia. A sponsor-supported Sydney social event follows the workshop day.
Open in Google Maps
Join us on Sydney Harbour
A full day of talks, spotlights and posters, capped by a community social event.
Previous edition
SIMBIOCHEM I — EurIPS 2025, Copenhagen
Our first edition brought the community together for a day of talks, spotlights and posters — with a DGX Spark best-paper award and five papers invited by Nature Portfolio editors for extended versions.
Explore the 1st edition>100
Attendees
29
Accepted posters
8
Spotlight talks
5
Nature-invited extended versions