The 25th International Conference on Process Control was organized by the team from STUBA and the Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Control Engineering. The conference was held on June 3-6, 2025, in Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia.
Process Control Conference: 25 First Dates
Foreword by Prof. Miroslav Fikar (STUBA), Honorary Chair of the International Program Committee
I will admit, without torture, I borrowed and adapted the title from my favorite movie. We meet again and again in the beautiful surroundings of the Tatra Mountains. In the beginning, it was also the Low Tatras; later, we stayed in the High Tatras: in Lomnica, Matliare, and Štrbské Pleso. I personally attended my first one in 1991 with a trembling voice. In 2005, I started to organize it, later Michal Kvasnica took over the reins, followed by Radoslav Paulen and Martin Klaučo. We meet again and again, forming a community that seems not to have even noticed the collapse of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, especially in recent years, we have managed to keep in touch with international events with the personalities of plenary speakers and workshops.
Although the content of the papers presented has varied during the 24 previous meetings, it has managed very well to maintain the quality and to follow the main trends in the different areas of automatic control. However, the most important thing was to network, exchange experiences, and compare theoretical and practical approaches. We are meeting for the 25th time, but for many of the participants, it will be the first unforgettable time. I believe that it will not be the last and that they will take away new information, knowledge, and experiences. And not only from the conference premises, but also from the beautiful Tatra nature.
Excellence in Science
As part of our ongoing cooperation within the Horizon Europe project FrontSeat, we are pleased to report on several recent achievements. Our project consortium has published several joint research papers, demonstrating the strength and synergy of our research partnership.
A highlight of our recent activities was the invited session titled “Recent Advances in Model Predictive Control”, organized by the FrontSeat partners and held on June 4. This session brought together leading researchers in the field and showcased the latest developments in model predictive control.
The session was chaired by Prof. Miroslav Fikar (STUBA), the Coordinator of the FrontSeat project. The following papers were presented during the session:
In addition to the invited session, other contributions by members of the FrontSeat consortium were presented across various technical sessions and formats. These contributions spanned a broad spectrum of topics in automatic control, highlighting the thematic and methodological diversity of the research conducted within the project.
As part of the poster session, the following contributions from FrontSeat members were presented:
- Sebastian, L. – Dyrska, R. – Holaza, J. – Mönnigmann, M.: Integrating Levelled-Homomorphic Encryption in a Secure Process Control Application
- Otte, J. – Leonow, S. – Mönnigmann, M.: Assessing rheological properties of fluids through torque dynamics in progressive cavity pumps
- Horváthová, M. – Valábek, P. – Kiš, K. – Galčíková, L.: Experimental Application of Stochastic Approximated MPC
- Dzurková, D. – Kalúz, M. – Čirka, Ľ.: Adversarial Encrypted Data Alternation Detection in Homomorphically Encrypted Process Control
- Koncserová, V. – Wadinger, M. – Kvasnica, M.: Multimodal LLMs for Anomaly Detection and Reasoning
- Fáber, R. – Ľubušký, K. – Klaučo, M. – Paulen, R.: Integrating Linear and Nonlinear Models for Enhanced Process Monitoring
Recognized Outstanding Contributions
Together with the International Program Committee, the organizers of PC25 recognized the excellent research works in four special categories:
- Best Paper Award
- Best Paper by Female Researcher Award
- Best Paper by Young Author Award
- Best Poster Award
See the page dedicated to the Awards for more details.
The FrontSeat project proudly supported the Best Paper by a Female Researcher Award, reaffirming our ongoing commitment to fostering gender equality and promoting excellence in scientific research.
The award was presented to Ana Martinović from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field. The award was presented by Prof. Miroslav Fikar (STUBA), the principal coordinator of the FrontSeat project.
As part of the award, Ana Martinović delivered a compelling Semi-Plenary lecture titled “Optimal Control of Hot Oil Preparation for Natural Gas Fractionation”. The session was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Juraj Oravec. This session highlighted the cooperative spirit and academic excellence that define the FrontSeat initiative.
Conference Spirit and Networking
The conference offered not only a rich scientific program but also numerous opportunities for informal networking and community building. A highlight was the conference banquet, held in a welcoming atmosphere with traditional Slovak cuisine and lively discussions. Social activities throughout the week fostered connections among researchers of all career stages and contributed to the friendly and collaborative spirit that defines the Process Control community.
Communication of the project FrontSeat
Finally, except for other activities, the communication of the project FrontSeat to a broad international audience was also supported by the FrontSeat roll-ups placed in the main conference hall, the distribution of conference materials to participants, including various promotional materials featuring the FrontSeat logo, and other visual elements.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon under grant no. 101079342 (Fostering Opportunities Towards Slovak Excellence in Advanced Control for Smart Industries).
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