SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURES (SYCO 2) University of Strathclyde, Glasgow 17-18 December, 2018 http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~vicaryjo/syco/2/ The Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO) is an interdisciplinary series of meetings aiming to support the growing community of researchers interested in the phenomenon of compositionality, from both applied and abstract perspectives, and in particular where category theory serves as a unifying common language. The first SYCO was held at the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, 20-21 September, 2018, attracting 70 participants. We welcome submissions from researchers across computer science, mathematics, physics, philosophy, and beyond, with the aim of fostering friendly discussion, disseminating new ideas, and spreading knowledge between fields. Submission is encouraged for both mature research and work in progress, and by both established academics and junior researchers, including students. Submission is easy, with no format requirements or page restrictions. The meeting does not have proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been submitted or published elsewhere. While no list of topics could be exhaustive, SYCO welcomes submissions with a compositional focus related to any of the following areas, in particular from the perspective of category theory: - logical methods in computer science, including classical and quantum programming, type theory, concurrency, natural language processing and machine learning; - graphical calculi, including string diagrams, Petri nets and reaction networks; - languages and frameworks, including process algebras, proof nets, type theory and game semantics; - abstract algebra and pure category theory, including monoidal category theory, higher category theory, operads, polygraphs, and relationships to homotopy theory; - quantum algebra, including quantum computation and representation theory; - tools and techniques, including rewriting, formal proofs and proof assistants, and game theory; - industrial applications, including case studies and real-world problem descriptions. This new series aims to bring together the communities behind many previous successful events which have taken place over the last decade, including "Categories, Logic and Physics", "Categories, Logic and Physics (Scotland)", "Higher-Dimensional Rewriting and Applications", "String Diagrams in Computation, Logic and Physics", "Applied Category Theory", "Simons Workshop on Compositionality", and the "Peripatetic Seminar in Sheaves and Logic". SYCO will be a regular fixture in the academic calendar, running regularly throughout the year, and becoming over time a recognized venue for presentation and discussion of results in an informal and friendly atmosphere. To help create this community, and to avoid the need to make difficult choices between strong submissions, in the event that more good-quality submissions are received than can be accommodated in the timetable, the programme committee may choose to *defer* some submissions to a future meeting, rather than reject them. This would be done based largely on submission order, giving an incentive for early submission, but would also take into account other requirements, such as ensuring a broad scientific programme. Deferred submissions would be accepted for presentation at any future SYCO meeting without the need for peer review. This will allow us to ensure that speakers have enough time to present their ideas, without creating an unnecessarily competitive reviewing process. Meetings would be held sufficiently frequently to avoid a backlog of deferred papers. # INVITED SPEAKERS Corina Cirstea, University of Southampton Matha Lewis, University of Amsterdam # IMPORTANT DATES All times are anywhere-on-earth. - Submission deadline: Friday 16 November 2018 - Author notification: Friday 23 November 2018 - Travel funding application deadline: Wednesday 28 November 2018 - Registration deadline: Friday 7 December 2018 - Symposium dates: Monday 17 December and Tuesday 18 December 2018 # SUBMISSIONS Submission is by EasyChair, via the following link: - https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=syco2 Submissions should present research results in sufficient detail to allow them to be properly considered by members of the programme committee, who will assess papers with regards to significance, clarity, correctness, and scope. We encourage the submission of work in progress, as well as mature results. There are no proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been previously published, or has been submitted for consideration elsewhere. There is no specific formatting requirement, and no page limit, although for long submissions authors should understand that reviewers may not be able to read the entire document in detail. # FUNDING Some funding is available to cover travel and subsistence costs, with a priority for PhD students and junior researchers. To apply for this funding, please contact the local organizer Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg at fredrik.nordvall-forsberg@strath.ac.uk with a short statement of your current status, travel costs and funding required. The application deadline is Wednesday 28 November, in the week after author notifications. # PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Ross Duncan, University of Strathclyde Fabrizio Romano Genovese, Statebox and University of Oxford Jules Hedges, University of Oxford Chris Heunen, University of Edinburgh Dominic Horsman, University of Grenoble Aleks Kissinger, Radboud University Nijmegen Eliana Lorch, University of Oxford Guy McCusker, University of Bath Samuel Mimram, École Polytechnique Koko Muroya, RIMS, Kyoto University & University of Birmingham Paulo Oliva, Queen Mary Nina Otter, UCLA Simona Paoli, University of Leicester Robin Piedeleu, University of Oxford and UCL Julian Rathke, University of Southampton Bernhard Reus, Univeristy of Sussex David Reutter, University of Oxford Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, Queen Mary Pawel Sobocinski, University of Southampton (chair) Jamie Vicary, University of Birmingham and University of Oxford (co-chair) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]