Now live! Agents, Anomalies, and Visual Analytics

Welcome to the 2026 VAST Challenge!

Each year, the VAST Challenge encourages participants to develop novel and effective solutions that use visual analytics and interactive visualization to analyze scenarios in realistic datasets. Submissions are reviewed by a committee of researchers and practitioners for potential Awards and Honorable Mentions. The Challenge culminates in a workshop in the fall that gives these selected teams an opportunity to present their solutions, and participants with completed submissions may also submit a two-page summary paper for the proceedings. The 2026 VAST Challenge workshop will be held in conjunction with the the IEEE VIS Conference.

This year’s two Mini-Challenges and Design Challenge are now live! The broad theme this year focuses on using visual analytics to understand agentic AI behaviors. Stay tuned to this page for any updates!

Deadlines:

Scientists look out over a factory floor showing a flurry of anthropomorphic AI agent activity

For questions about this year’s challenges or the VAST Challenge in general, please reach out to .