Functional programming conferences split into two kinds that rarely share a schedule. Language communities like Elixir run practitioner events with training days and talks from teams in production. Research venues like ICFP run on accepted papers. Both are useful, and old lists that mix them with obscure “international conferences” make it hard to book either.
Three events have firm 2027 dates on the organizer’s site today. Several strong ones, including Lambda World, Code BEAM Europe, Scala Days and ElixirConf US, have just run and have not posted 2027 dates. They are listed further down with what their sites say now.
Everything here comes from the organizers’ own pages. The method is on How we review tools.
BOB 2027
BOB is a one-day Berlin conference with a strong functional programming program. The fee covers lunch, and tutorials are part of the day.
Best for: Developers in or near Berlin who want one affordable day of functional programming talks and tutorials. Students on a tight budget.
Dates and city: Friday, February 26, 2027. Scandic Hotel Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. In-person.
What you actually get: One conference day. The fee includes snacks, beverages and a buffet-style warm lunch. Tutorials are included, with a separate tutorial registration to be announced.
Notable limitations:
- The 180 EUR price ends November 29, 2026. After that it is 205 EUR until January 8, then 255 EUR.
- Students must show a valid student ID on the day, or pay the full fee.
- Tutorial seats need their own registration, which has no opening date yet.
Tickets: Regular 180 EUR until November 29, 2026, then 205 EUR until January 8, 2027, 255 EUR until February 25, and 315 EUR on the day. Student 100 EUR until November 29, 125 EUR until February 25, and 150 EUR on the day. Grants include a 30% discount for participants from groups under-represented in tech. The page does not mention VAT.
ElixirConf EU 2027
ElixirConf EU is the European conference for the Elixir community. The 2027 edition is in Lisbon and online, with a training day before two conference days.
Best for: Elixir and Phoenix developers, and teams running Elixir in production who want a training day plus two days of talks.
Dates and city: Training April 21, conference April 22-23, 2027. Altis Grand Hotel, R. Castilho 11, Lisbon. In-person and virtual.
What you actually get: One training day and two conference days. Three ticket types are listed so far: Early Bird In-Person, Early Bird Virtual and Group Early Bird In-Person.
Notable limitations:
- Prices will exclude VAT and fees, so the published figure will not be the total.
- No student ticket type is among the three listed.
- The group discount is listed for in-person tickets only.
Tickets: Not announced. Sales for 2027 are not open, and the site offers a waiting list.
ICFP 2027
ICFP is the ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming, the research side of the field. The 2027 edition is in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands.
Best for: Researchers, PhD students, language and compiler engineers, and practitioners who want to see typed functional programming ideas as they are first published.
Dates and city: Sunday, September 26 to Friday, October 1, 2027. Van der Valk Hotel Nijmegen, Netherlands. In-person. Paper submission deadline February 25, 2027. Conditional acceptance May 7, final notification June 11.
What you actually get: A six-day week, Sunday to Friday, built around the accepted papers.
Notable limitations:
- The site does not yet say which days are the main conference and which are co-located events.
- The program is built from accepted papers, and final notifications go out June 11, so the full program comes late.
- The important-dates page lists no registration deadline yet.
Tickets: Not announced. Registration runs through the ICFP 2027 site.
Is ICFP worth it if I am not an academic?
It depends on your work. ICFP is where new research is presented first. Go if your team builds languages, compilers or type systems, or hires people who do. For production case studies, ElixirConf EU or BOB fits better.
Other functional programming conferences worth considering
Lambda World ran October 29-30, 2026 at the Palacio de Congresos de Torremolinos, Málaga. The 2025 edition was in Cádiz. 2027 dates are not posted yet.
Code BEAM Europe ran October 21-22, 2026, with training on October 20, at PHIL in Haarlem, in-person and online. The site says the 2027 edition is to be announced. The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation has invited students to attend the virtual conference for free.
Scala Days ran October 12-13, 2026 with workshops on October 14-15, at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin. No 2027 edition is listed.
ElixirConf US ran September 10-11, 2026 at voco Chicago Downtown, with a virtual option. 2027 dates are not posted.
Clojure/conj ran September 30-October 2, 2026 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
ZuriHac is held at the Rapperswil-Jona campus of OST in Switzerland, and the organizer says all its events are free. The next dates are not listed.
How we picked these conferences
We listed functional programming conferences, practitioner and research, whose 2027 edition has exact dates on the organizer’s site, and applied the same rule to every candidate. A missing price did not exclude an event. Dates, prices and deadlines were checked on the organizers’ sites on 5 November 2026. Not announced in the From column means the organizer has not published 2027 prices yet.
FAQs
What happened to Lambda Days?
The official lambdadays.org address redirects to the 2025 edition page. No 2026 or 2027 edition is listed there.
Which 2027 events have published prices?
Only BOB so far. Regular tickets are 180 EUR until November 29, 2026, and students pay 100 EUR. ElixirConf EU and ICFP have dates but no prices yet.
Are there virtual options?
ElixirConf EU 2027 lists an Early Bird Virtual ticket type, with the price still to come. Code BEAM Europe ran online as well as in Haarlem in 2026, but its 2027 edition is not dated.
Should Scala or Clojure developers wait for 2027 dates?
Yes. Scala Days and Clojure/conj both ran in autumn 2026, and neither site lists 2027 yet. Hold the budget and check again in the new year.
Is ElixirConf EU only for Elixir developers?
It is built around the Elixir community, so the program is aimed at teams on Elixir and the Erlang VM. Haskell, Scala or OCaml developers will find more at BOB or ICFP.
Bottom line
Choose by format. For one practitioner day in Berlin with prices already out, BOB in February. For a community event with training and a virtual option, ElixirConf EU in April, once tickets open. For research, ICFP in September, with papers due February 25. If your community is Scala, Clojure or the wider BEAM, wait for their 2027 dates. For more developer events, see the top conferences list.
