Submissions related to OCEANS 2026 Sanya Special and IEEE OES Standard Topics will be considered. The special topics include:
· Deep sea exploration and archaeology
· Deep sea mining and environmental evaluation
· Artificial intelligence in ocean science and technology
· Mobile underwater sensor networks: Coordinated communication, localization, and observation
· Underwater soundscapes: Methodologies and applications
· Polar and under ice observing systems
· Offshore wind power technology
· Technologies for monitoring extreme weather events
· Biologically inspired technology for marine applications
· Interactive development of marine science and technology
· Ocean remote sensing
The attendees can take advantage of:
· Professionally reviewed technical papers, including sessions focused on local themes
· Plenary sessions with world-wide leaders from industry, academia and government
· Tutorials, workshops, demonstrations, and social/networking opportunities
· Professional field trips to newest HOV and icebreaker vessel…and much more
Abstracts may be submitted in one of the following categories:
· Regular Technical Program: Technical papers are the core of the OCEANS technical programme. For a selected abstract, it is required to write a paper per instructions for publication in IEEE Xplore.
· Student Poster Competition: Students may submit abstracts to the Student Poster Competition. If an abstract is chosen, the student will then submit a full paper and poster which will be presented in the student poster section and published in IEEE Xplore. This competition is open to any full-time student in an accredited programme. The student must be listed as the lead and corresponding author. Selected students, based on abstract reviews, will have travel and registration expenses subsidised. Those abstracts not selected for the SPC may still be accepted into the regular technical programme.
· Commercial Papers: May only be submitted by conference exhibitors and if accepted, they will be presented in a designated session. They may include commercial content and will not be published as part of IEEE Xplore.
· General Poster Session: During the submission process of technical papers, authors will have the option to request their preference: oral presentation or poster presentation. The final decision on how the paper will be presented will be made by the Technical Programme Committee based on author preference, reviewers' feedback and other factors. Participants in the General Poster session are still required to upload a final paper for publication in IEEE Xplore. Additionally, General Poster participants must prepare and print the poster according to the IEEE poster template. Authors participating in the poster session will present the poster on-site during a dedicated live session at the conference.