The Department of Information Technology organized a two-day-symposium on Advances in Computational Intelligence and Heuristic Applications 2021 (ACIHA- 2021) on 10^th-11^th November (Wednesday & Thursday) 2021. The Department collaborated with and invited academicians, young researchers, and students from universities and colleges across Oman to participate in this online activity. This symposium provided a productive discourse to the participants to not only seek excellence in research, but also to recognize the most recent exploration of research innovations.

Dr. Ahmed Ali Ahmed Al Shahri, the Dean of UTAS-A opened the program with a welcome address and gave an introduction about the expediency and necessity of the symposium. This was followed by Dr. Najiba Al Zadjali, HoD – IT who also welcomed the participants.

The symposium included a talk from the key note speaker, Mr. Gandhi Vellasamy, a senior manager-technical consultant for salesforce in the US and a technical presentation by Dr. Satyakam Rahul, a computer scientist in programming and software development from Ethiopia. All the sessions were moderated by highly qualified researchers and resource persons from the IT industry ensuring that topics discussed can lead to better understanding and bring about societal benefits. Further, technically relevant papers from researchers across the globe and innovative outcomes were recorded and shared for the benefit of researchers all over the world. The symposium provided an opportunity for the participants from the academia to familiarize themselves of the various technological innovations happening in the industry.

During the event, the three best projects presented by the students from IT and Engineering departments were awarded.

Dr. Lenin Fernando, HoS - Networking concluded the symposium with a vote of thanks. Overall, it was a wonderful academic venture to cherish and recreate with same zeal in the upcoming years too.