About this Event
Agenda
Search Solutions 2026
9:30am - Registration and coffee
9:50am - Welcome
SESSION 1: AGENTS EVERYWHERE
10:00am - Alessandro Benedetti (Sease): “Open Source Agentic Search: the reality behind the buzzword”
10:20am - Farhad Shokraneh (Systematic Review Consultants): “From Claims to Controls: Evaluating LLMs and Agentic Search for Systematic Reviews”
10:40am - Panel Q&A
10:55am - BREAK
SESSION 2: FOCUS ON THE BACKEND
11:15am - Jelena Mitrovic (University of Passau): “Decentralised AI-supported Search and Semantic Web Indexing”
11:35am - Radu Gheorghe (Vespa) & Alessandro Benedetti (Sease): “To Shard or Not to Shard: Scaling Trade-Offs for Retrieval”
11:55am - Mark Stevenson (University of Sheffield) "Needles in Haystacks: Identifying High Value Documents in Large Collections”
12:15pm - Panel Q&A
12:30pm - 13:30 LUNCH
SESSION 3: FOCUS ON THE SEARCHER
1:30pm - Marianne Lykke (Aalborg University): “Workplace user engagement with a semantic AI-based search tool”
1:50pm - Orland Hoeber (University of Regina & Dilex Search): “Cross-Session Searching: Offloading Human Memory with Visual Summaries of Search Activities”
2:10pm - Panel Q&A
2:25pm - 14:45 BREAK
SESSION 4: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SEARCH
2:45pm - Martin White (Independent): “British Search Pioneers”
3:05pm - Charlie Hull (TheSearchJuggler): “Old Dogs and New Tricks: Using Agents to Improve Search”
3:25pm - Adam Roegiest (Zuva): “New Models, Same Old Mousetrap: Why Legal Work Needs Better Processes”
3:45pm - Panel Q&A
4:00pm - BREAK
4:30pm - PANEL SESSION
Taketomo Isazawa (Microsoft Research)
Charlie Hull (The Search Juggler)
Mark Harwood (Independent / Ex-Elastic)
more to be confirmed
5:15pm - BCS SEARCH INDUSTRY AWARDS
5:25pm - Closing words
5:30pm - EVENING RECEPTION
6:00pm - AGM (free to attend; however, please ensure you select AGM attendance ticket to book your place)
9:00pm - Event close
Synopsis
Search Solutions is the BCS Information Retrieval Specialist Group’s (BCS IRSG) annual event focused on practitioner issues in the arena of search and information retrieval (IR). We bring together practitioners, researchers, analysts and end users to discuss the latest developments in the IR community and to share insights between research and practice.
The event consists of a Tutorial Day (24 November) and a Conference Day (25 November), each with a separate registration.
The conference day includes presentations, panels and keynote talks by influential industry leaders on novel and emerging applications in search and information retrieval.
Ticket costs:
(Prices stated are inclusive of VAT and fees)
BCS/ISKO members: £92.00
Non-members: £110.00
Students: £80.00
Refunds/Cancellations:
A refund, excluding fees, will be issued if a cancellation request is received within 14 days of the booking date or by noon on Wednesday, 18 November 2026; otherwise, name substitutions will be allowed after this date.
Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.
BCS is a membership organisation. If you enjoy this event, please consider joining BCS. You’ll be very welcome. You’ll receive access to many exclusive career development tools, an introduction to a thriving professional community and also help us Make IT Good For Society. .
Please familiarise yourself with the Visitor Instructions for the BCS London Office.
Please note, if you have any accessibility needs, please let us know via [email protected] and we’ll work with you to make suitable arrangements.
For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event, please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.
This event is brought to you by: Information Retrieval SG (IRSG)
Event venue & nearby stays
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, London, United Kingdom
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