This two-volume set constitutes the proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, IDEAL 2026, which was held in Manchester, UK, during November 19-21, 2026.

The 73 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 108 submissions. The core themes of IDEAL 2026 included Big Data challenges, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Data Mining, Information Retrieval and Management, Bio-/Neuro-Informatics, Bio-Inspired Models, Agents and Hybrid Intelligent Systems, Real-world Applications of Intelligence Techniques and AI. This year, IDEAL teamed up with WSOM+ (Workshop on Self-Organising Maps and beyond), a long-standing workshop dedicated to self-organising learning systems.