{"id":996,"date":"2025-04-10T20:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025-new\/?page_id=996"},"modified":"2025-04-10T21:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T21:02:20","slug":"anna-kononova","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/invited-speakers\/anna-kononova\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Kononova"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"996\" class=\"elementor elementor-996\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3e0b8ee e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3e0b8ee\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a3ba736 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"a3ba736\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Explainable Benchmarking of Optimisation Heuristics<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-80ba9f5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"80ba9f5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Anna Kononova<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7088b6b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7088b6b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div><span style=\"font-family: arial, sans-serif;\">Leiden University, The Netherlands<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6af37d1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6af37d1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"120\" src=\"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2025\/04\/Picture-AnnaKononova.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-998\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6e257af elementor-align-center elementor-icon-list--layout-traditional elementor-list-item-link-full_width elementor-widget elementor-widget-icon-list\" data-id=\"6e257af\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"icon-list.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-icon-list-items\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.universiteitleiden.nl\/en\/staffmembers\/anna-kononova\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-globe\" viewBox=\"0 0 496 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M336.5 160C322 70.7 287.8 8 248 8s-74 62.7-88.5 152h177zM152 256c0 22.2 1.2 43.5 3.3 64h185.3c2.1-20.5 3.3-41.8 3.3-64s-1.2-43.5-3.3-64H155.3c-2.1 20.5-3.3 41.8-3.3 64zm324.7-96c-28.6-67.9-86.5-120.4-158-141.6 24.4 33.8 41.2 84.7 50 141.6h108zM177.2 18.4C105.8 39.6 47.8 92.1 19.3 160h108c8.7-56.9 25.5-107.8 49.9-141.6zM487.4 192H372.7c2.1 21 3.3 42.5 3.3 64s-1.2 43-3.3 64h114.6c5.5-20.5 8.6-41.8 8.6-64s-3.1-43.5-8.5-64zM120 256c0-21.5 1.2-43 3.3-64H8.6C3.2 212.5 0 233.8 0 256s3.2 43.5 8.6 64h114.6c-2-21-3.2-42.5-3.2-64zm39.5 96c14.5 89.3 48.7 152 88.5 152s74-62.7 88.5-152h-177zm159.3 141.6c71.4-21.2 129.4-73.7 158-141.6h-108c-8.8 56.9-25.6 107.8-50 141.6zM19.3 352c28.6 67.9 86.5 120.4 158 141.6-24.4-33.8-41.2-84.7-50-141.6h-108z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text\">Webpage<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-89d48db elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"89d48db\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">ABSTRACT<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dd1252a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"dd1252a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In the landscape of black-box optimisation, benchmarking plays a crucial role in understanding algorithm behaviour and guiding algorithm design. Yet, much of current practice remains focused on surface-level comparisons, offering limited insight into why certain algorithms perform well and how specific components contribute to their success or failure.<\/p><p>This talk explores a new direction: explainable benchmarking. Drawing on techniques from explainable AI, it becomes possible to move beyond performance tables, towards uncovering the underlying mechanisms that drive algorithmic behaviour. The IOHxplainer framework demonstrates how performance data\u2014collected across a broad range of configurations and problem instances\u2014can be analysed to attribute outcomes to individual components and hyperparameters, especially for highly modular and parameterised algorithm designs. Examples from recent studies on modular CMA-ES illustrate how these methods reveal evolving module contributions over time, quantify sensitivity to random seeds and problem instances and identify design choices that genuinely matter. Being robust and scalable, this approach opens up new possibilities for principled algorithm development, configuration and selection.<\/p><p>The talk concludes with reflections on the future of benchmarking: how to make it more representative, more insightful and ultimately more useful for building optimisation methods that are not only powerful but also better understood.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8c706e9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8c706e9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">SHORT BIO<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0b87dae elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0b87dae\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Anna V. Kononova is Assistant Professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University (The Netherlands) where, since December 2019, she has led her group on Efficient Heuristic Optimisation (EcHO) within the Natural Computing cluster and acts as a member of the cluster management team. Her research concentrates on identifying and delivering order-of-magnitude efficiency improvements to solving heuristic optimisation problems with elements of machine learning.<\/p><p>She received her MSc degree in Applied Mathematics from Yaroslavl State University (Russia) in 2004 and her PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Leeds (UK) in 2010. After 5 years of postdoctoral experience at Technical University Eindhoven (Netherlands) and Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK), Anna spent 5 years working as an engineer and a mathematician in industry, before returning to academia in December 2019. Dr Kononova is the author of over 75 peer-reviewed publications, she serves as an editorial board member of the Evolutionary Computation journal and is an active contributor to the organisation of conferences like PPSN, EMO, FOGA and GECCO.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explainable Benchmarking of Optimisation Heuristics Anna Kononova Leiden University, The Netherlands Webpage ABSTRACT In the landscape of black-box optimisation, benchmarking plays a crucial role in understanding algorithm behaviour and guiding algorithm design. Yet, much of current practice remains focused on surface-level comparisons, offering limited insight into why certain algorithms perform well and how specific components [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"parent":226,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-996","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1008,"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/996\/revisions\/1008"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synasc.ro\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}