Computer simulations play an essential role in the investigation and understanding of complex non-equilibrium systems such as microswimmers and self-propelled particles, and more general active matter. Self-propulsion, thermal and active noise, hydrodynamic interactions, steric repulsion, and possibly chemical concentration gradients all contribute to the collective dynamics – to name just the most intensively studied contributions. Due to the complexity of the systems and phenomena, different studies have focused on different aspects, for example the hydrodynamic interactions of single microswimmers with surfaces, or the phase behavior and collective behavior of ensembles of self-propelled Brownian spheres. This implies also that many different numerical methods and approaches have been employed.

Thus, the workshop has several important objectives:
(1) Give an overview of the current state of the art and recent developments in a rapidly growing research field.
(2) Address some of the “hot” issues in the field, like the existence of an equation of state in some classes of active suspensions, the importance of hydrodynamic interactions for microswimmers near surfaces, or the importance of hydrodynamic interactions in motility-induced phase separation.
(3) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various simulation approaches, in particular mesoscale hydrodynamics techniques, for active systems.
(4) Intensify the contact of simulation science with experimentalists in the field.