The event was organized in the context of the project HAR.S.H. (Hardware-aware extreme-scale Similarity search, project no. YΠ3TA-0560901), which is implemented under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” with funding from the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

By attracting nearly 50 participants (with students accounting for approximately 80% of the attendees), both in person and online, the school successfully bridged the gap between theoretical foundations and modern advances in concurrent and distributed systems.

Event Highlights & Major Topics

The 2026 curriculum focused on cutting-edge topics shaping parallel and distributed computing, offering participants a rigorous program of talks by experts. The lectures were delivered by distinguished researchers from around the world. Key focus areas included:

• Blockchain & Consensus: Exploring formal methods for blockchain and consensus, from Federated Byzantine Agreement (Giuliano Losa) and distributed consensus foundations (Gadi Taubenfeld, Nitin Vaidya) to incentive compatibility, fairness, and blockchain protocol design (Sara Tucci,  Alberto Sonnino).
• Distributed Learning, Security & Networks: Addressing robustness, dependability, and scalability in distributed systems, from robust distributed learning (Nirupam Gupta) and trustworthy computing (Sonia Ben Mokhtar) to modern networks (Naama Ben-David) and efficient concurrent/distributed infrastructures (Erez Petrank, Amanda Baran, Grigoris Tsagatakis).
• Quantum, Physics & Biological Computing: Highlighting new frontiers where distributed computing meets other scientific fields, including quantum and relativistic distributed computing (Siddhartha Jayanti, Fabien Dufoulon) and bacterial distributed systems (Thomas Nowak).

In addition to the lectures, the school hosted a special workshop for doctoral students, offering emerging researchers in the field an opportunity to present their work.

Impact and Added Value

Beyond its strong scientific and educational impact, SPTDC 2026 fostered extensive social engagement and networking among participants from around the world. The curriculum was balanced by a rich social program, including guided tours of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and the Palace of Knossos, followed by a traditional dinner in Skalani Village.

The event was made possible by industry sponsors, including Stellar and Mysten Labs, as well as local sponsors such as the HAR.S.H., ICS-FORTH, Cretan Holidays, AMS, Neurolingo, and MCBS.