The STFC DiRAC HPC Facility and HPC-AI Advisory Council invite you to the eighth annual UK Conference, taking place in person on 13 & 14 October 2026, at the Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium, Leicester, the home of the Leicester Tigers rugby team. This two-day gathering offers a unique opportunity to connect with fellow experts and practitioners across High Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
HPC and AI are no longer just tools for researchers: they are engines of discovery, economic growth, and societal transformation. Our conference theme for 2026 is “HPC-AI: From marketing to reality: What Works; What doesn’t; What’s Next?”. This is an opportunity to showcase where HPC and AI are already delivering discovery and growth, as well as an invitation to have frank discussions about challenges and wrong turns. A timely assessment of the current state of the art will provide a solid basis for transformational future developments.
These conversations aim to surface practical solutions, strengthen collaborative networks, and highlight the ways that all parts of the community can work together to deliver the full potential of HPC and AI.
For Students and Early Career Professionals:
This isn’t just an event, it’s an opportunity to get involved, contribute, and grow. The conference offers a chance to build connections with the UK’s scientific and technical leaders. Whether you’re exploring your future in research or refining your technical career, this is your place to engage and be inspired.
Potential topics for discussion at the conference include:
Mark your calendar and register today!
Join us to be part of the conversation, share your voice, and help shape a trustworthy future for computing. The UK HPC & AI Conference is free to attend and open to all. Registration is required.
The HPC-AI UK Conference requires registration. Please register below.
| Start Time | Session Title | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30 | Conference Introduction and Overview | Brian Sparks (HPCAIC), Mark Wilkinson (DiRAC) |
| 09:40 | Keynote: TBD | Pontus Stenetorp (UK-LLM) |
| 10:35 | Isambard-AI's Early Years and Future Roadmap: Driving Open and Sovereign Supercomputing | Sadaf Alam, Richard Gilham, Ashish Tom, Jake Watson (Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) University of Bristol) |
| 11:15 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:40 | BeeGFS High-Performance Storage Software, Sovereign by Design | Dominic McKendry (BeeGFS) |
| 12:00 | Data-Driven Force Field Development for Biomolecular Simulation | Daniel Cole (Newcastle University) |
| 12:30 | The Venture Scientist and the Compute Layer: What HPC-AI Unlocks for Science Founders | Riam Kanso (ConceptionX) |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Credibility of Real-World Quantum Computers and Simulators | Animesh Datta (Warwick University) |
| 14:40 | The HPC Hardware Lab | Alastair Basden (DiRAC / Durham University) |
| 15:00 | Connect, Coordinate, Collaborate - The NFCS Roadmap for Federation | Jon Hays (Queen Mary University of London) |
| 15:20 | Evolving Digital Research Infrastructure Ecosystems: A Metascience Perspective | Louise Chisholm (UK SKA Regional Centre / UCL) |
| 15:40 | AI-Driven Predictive Maintenance and Foundation Models for Sustainable and Cost-efficient HPC Systems | Erick Sperandio Nascimento (University of Surrey) |
| 16:00 | Coffee Break | |
| 16:25 | Towards an Accelerated Tomorrow's Planning for Integrated HPC+AI systems of the Future | Ricky Patel (Fsas) |
| 16:45 | Panel | |
| 17:15 | DiRAC Training Hub Launch | Clare Jenner (DiRAC) |
| 17:25 | Day 1 Endnote: TBD | TBD |
| 18:05 | Day 1 Close - Day 2 Look Ahead | Brian Sparks (HPCAIC), Mark Wilkinson (DiRAC) |
| 18:30-21:00 | Evening Dinner Event |
| Start Time | Session Title | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Day 2 Opening | Brian Sparks (HPCAIC), Mark Wilkinson (DiRAC) |
| 09:05 | Day 2 Keynote: TBD | TBD |
| 10:05 | UK HPC Programme and Sovereign AI Opportunities | Pete Grindrod (Astut) |
| 10:45 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:10 | Sponsor Session | Sponsor (StarFish Storage) |
| 11:30 | Current and Future Large-Scale Cosmology Simulations: A Combination of HPC and AI | Matthieu Schaller (Leiden University) |
| 12:00 | oxDNA-Kokkos in LAMMPS: Delivering Performance-Portable, Multi-GPU Coarse-Grained DNA Modelling | Lewis Russell (Strathclyde) |
| 12:30 | DiRAC Training Academy | Jamie Quinn (DiRAC) |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Research Data and AI: Solving the Survival Bias of Publish or Perish | Penn Rainford (University of York) |
| 14:40 | Sponsor Session | Sponsor (BIOS IT) |
| 15:00 | Zenith - Sovereign Cloud Infrastructure for AI | Stig Telfer (StackHPC) and Wojciech Turek (Cambridge University) |
| 15:20 | Sensitive AI Workloads on National HPC Infrastructure: The FRIDGE Satellite TRE Model | Matt Craddock (Alan Turing Institute) |
| 15:40 | Coffee Break | |
| 16:00 | Panel | |
| 16:30 | Trustworthy Compute Characteristics of Educational Artificial Intelligence Workloads: A Comparative Study of Large Language Models for National Assessment Systems | Lousia Muparuri (Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council) |
| 16:50 | Building the Business Case for Research Computing Investment | Manveer Munde (Red Oak Consulting) |
| 17:10 | Conference Endnote: TBD | TBD |
| 18:00 | Conference Close |
Speaker submissions are now open. The deadline for submission is 12 noon on 1st June, 2026. Whether you’re developing trusted AI models, improving infrastructure reliability, or advocating for stronger technical career pathways, we want to hear about your experiences. We will address pressing challenges and opportunities including:
Please submit proposals using the form below by 12 noon on 1st June, 2026.
Your Help Brings the UK HPC-AI Community Together
Join fellow members in supporting our annual conference collaborations with leading research centers throughout the world and share your company’s expertise, insights and innovations in HPC & AI technologies. This year’s conference facility at the Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium will enable us to have all tabletop booths, sessions and catering in a single room for premium visibility and conversation starters.
Gold Sponsor – $4,000 USD
All Silver promotions plus
Silver Sponsor – $2,500 USD
The sponsorship agreement is available here.
For more information on sponsorship opportunities and deadlines, please contact Brian Sparks at info@hpcadvisorycouncil.com
Parking at the venue is available on a first come, first served basis with a number of pay & display car parks nearby should the venue car park be full.
Further details can be found on the venue website.
Leicester train station is a short drive or 15 minutes walk from the conference venue.
VOCO Hotel Leicester is directly opposite the conference venue.
