About the Workshop
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly emerging as an enabler of sustainable growth, resilience, and digital inclusion, particularly in non-urban environments where access to infrastructure, expertise, and connectivity is limited. By decentralising intelligence and embedding it into affordable, adaptive, and resource-efficient systems, AI offers a pathway to bridge the persistent urban-rural digital divide.
Building on the vision of RuralAI, intelligent, low-cost, and distributed solutions have the potential to unlock unprecedented opportunities for both social and industry communities in rural contexts. Examples include precision farming techniques that enhance yields while conserving resources, environmental monitoring systems that deliver real-time insights for managing natural ecosystems, healthcare applications that extend diagnostic capabilities to underserved populations, and disaster preparedness tools that strengthen resilience through early warning.
Despite this promise, such deployments face unique constraints that differ significantly from those in urban or data-centre settings. Limited and intermittent connectivity, scarce computing resources, and strict energy budgets demand novel approaches for sharing and processing data, training and deploying models, and ensuring robustness under resource constraints.
Programme
The FL-RCE 2026 workshop will run as a half-day programme on Monday, 18 May 2026, from 9:00am to 12:30pm, in Conference Room 3. The schedule is structured around two sessions: a technical paper session, followed by a panel discussion with leading researchers.
FL-RCE 2026 Program
Monday, 18 May 2026 · 9:00am – 12:30pm · Conference Room 3
| Session 1 · 9:00am – 10:30am | |
| 9:00 – 9:15 | Welcome |
| 9:20 – 9:40 | Paper Presentation 1 “Edge-Native Federated LiDAR Analytics for Robust Guardrail Monitoring in Rural Environments” |
| 9:45 – 10:05 | Paper Presentation 2 “SpotFed: Cost-Efficient Federated Learning with Spot Instance Compensation” |
| 10:10 – 10:30 | Paper Presentation 3 “Enhancing Fairness in Federated Learning Using Client Clustering and Personalized Models” |
| Break · 10:30am – 11:00am | |
| Session 2 · 11:00am – 12:30pm | |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Panel Discussion |
Programme is subject to minor adjustments. Please check back closer to the workshop date for the latest version.
Topics of Interest
This workshop provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to discuss and share the current and emerging state-of-the-art, challenges, and solutions on topics including (but not limited to):
Algorithms & Architectures
- Lightweight and Energy-Aware Algorithms for Low-Power IoT Devices
- Personalisation and Model Adaptation for Heterogeneous Rural IoT Networks
- Serverless Frameworks for IoT Deployments in RuralAI
- Edge-Cloud Collaboration Models for Rural IoT Applications
Security & Resilience
- Security and Privacy Preserving Techniques in Distributed Rural AI Systems
- Resilient AI Architectures for Intermittent Connectivity in Remote IoT Networks
Sustainability & Ethics
- Sustainable AI for Rural Development: Balancing Efficiency, Scalability, and Environmental Impact
- Policy, Governance, and Ethical Frameworks for Federated Learning in Rural Communities
Applications
- Drone-Based Sensing and Federated Intelligence for Rural Applications
- Agricultural Robotics and Automation Powered by Federated Learning
- Healthcare at the Edge: Telemedicine and Monitoring in Rural Communities
- Multi-Modal Data Fusion in RuralAI Applications
Platforms & Deployment
- Low-Cost and Open-Source Federated Platforms for Rural Innovation
- Scaling RuralAI: From Pilot Deployments to Global Rural Connectivity and Impact
Call for Papers
We invite submissions of original research papers, work-in-progress papers, and position papers addressing the challenges and opportunities in federated learning and distributed AI for resource-constrained environments.
Submission Guidelines
- Papers should be formatted according to IEEE conference proceedings format
- Full papers: up to 8 pages (including references)
- All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process
- Each submission will be reviewed by at least three experts
- Accepted papers will be published in the CCGrid 2026 workshop proceedings
Paper Submission
via EasyChair
Submission closes in
Deadline: 18 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT (UTC)
Important Dates
| Paper Submission Deadline: | February 18, 2026 |
| Notification of Acceptance: | March 8, 2026 |
| Camera-Ready Papers Due: | March 15, 2026 |
| Workshop Date: | May 18-21, 2026 |
All deadlines are 23:59 GMT (UTC)
Workshop Organizers
Shaleeza Sohail
University of Newcastle, Australia
Email: shaleeza.sohail@newcastle.edu.au
Shaleeza Sohail received her Master’s and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia. She is currently a Lecturer and Program Convenor at the University of Newcastle, where she leads and coordinates postgraduate programs in Information Technology. Her research interests span federated learning, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT). She has actively participated in and co-led several national and international research projects and has published over 50 papers in leading international conferences and journals.
Farzana Zahid
University of Waikato, New Zealand
Email: farzana.zahid@waikato.ac.nz
Farzana Zahid received her Ph.D. degree in cybersecurity from the Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. She is currently a Lecturer with the Department of Computer Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Her research interests include active security, IoT, ICS, Cloud Computing, and Machine Learning. Her research is dedicated to enhancing the self-protection of resource-constrained devices. She has published her work in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and conferences and brings experience in co-leading national and international research projects.
Program Committee
Forman Christian College, Pakistan
Eastern Institute of Technology, New Zealand
University College Cork, Ireland
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Discovery Partners Institute, US
Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand
University of Newcastle, Australia
University of Waikato, New Zealand
RPTU University Kaiserslautern, Germany
Kacific Broadband Satellites Limited, Singapore
University of Galway, United Kingdom
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Barani Institute of Technology, Pakistan
Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Kuwait
Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar
Cardiff University, UK
University of Waikato, New Zealand
University of Newcastle, Australia
University of Newcastle, Australia
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand
University of Newcastle, Australia
Workshop Structure
The workshop will include:
- Keynote Address — Delivered by an internationally renowned speaker, providing cutting-edge insights into the field
- Technical Paper Sessions — 5-6 high-quality, peer-reviewed papers presented across two sessions, showcasing recent advances and innovative ideas
- Panel Discussion — An engaging dialogue with leading international researchers, encouraging debate on emerging challenges and future directions
Contact Us
Have questions about the workshop? Get in touch with the organizers: