This special issue of the International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, is devoted to selected contributions from SocProS 2015, the annual International Conference on Soft Computing, Intelligent System and their Applications that took place at the Saharanpur Campus of IIT Roorkee in December 2015. As the name indicates, this conference is interdisciplinary in character and brings together scientists from a wide range of fields for brainstorming on advances in computational techniques and the humbling variety, adaptability, as well as sophistication of the nature around us for inspiration and applications based on such techniques and algorithms. The guest editors feel privileged and honoured for being able to produce this very high quality special issue volume of this very highly regarded journal.

The event was attended by some of the world class researchers and scientists from India and abroad. The papers presented during the conference provided an insight on the latest trends and developments in the area of soft computing techniques like fuzzy logic, neural networks, and nature inspired algorithms like particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, genetic algorithms etc. the papers presented not only touched the theoretical aspects of soft computing but also laid emphasis on the different areas where soft computing techniques can be applied. The areas of applications included problems related to bio-medical and health issues; education system; industrial problems. The areas of applications also included hot topics like sustainable development, development of smart homes and smart cities. Overall SocProS 2015 was a conglomeration of ideas and thoughts presented by young scientists and experienced researchers on application and development of soft computing techniques for the betterment of the society.

The objective of this special issue has been to make available recent results and report in-progress research in the field and we much hope that this publication will become an important reference source to many students, researchers, and academics in their educational, research, and professional activities.

As guest editors, we would like to express our deep thanks to the Editors-in-Chief, Prof. P.K. Kapur; Prof. A.K. Verma and Prof. U. Kumar, for providing us with the opportunity to host this special issue in International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management. We also thank the authors for their contributions, including those whose papers were not included. Last but not least, we express our sincere gratitude for the thoughtful work of the reviewers who provided invaluable evaluations and recommendations that have helped maintain the quality and clarity of presentation of the papers.