Mangaluru:From May 18 to 22, the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) Surathkal ran a specialised five-day workshop named “Emerging Directions in Graph Theory and Graph Neural Networks”.

The entire programme received funding through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of the Government of India.

On the first day of 18 May 2026, the inaugural event welcomed Prof. Pratima Panigrahi, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at IIT Kharagpur, as Chief Guest while Prof. Udaya Bhat, Dean (Research & Innovation) at NITK Surathkal, presided over the gathering.

Participants received comprehensive exposure to the mathematical underpinnings and applied dimensions of graph theory and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). These topics hold growing relevance in areas including social networks, biological systems, recommendation systems, transportation networks, and scientific computing.

The workshop format specifically aimed to link traditional graph theory with up-to-date computational strategies, welcoming experts and learners from mathematics, computer science, data science, and associated disciplines. Attendance reached 52 individuals consisting of faculty members and research scholars representing multiple institutions.