ELLIS FAQ

ELLIS is a pan-European AI network of excellence. It builds upon machine learning as the driver for modern AI and aims to secure lasting international leadership of AI made in Europe by connecting top researchers in this field and by creating a multi-centric AI research laboratory. Founded in 2018, ELLIS has quickly grown into a network that counts 41 ELLIS units and 1 associate unit at world-class institutions in 17 countries, 16 ELLIS research programs and a pan-European PhD program. The first ELLIS Institute took up operations in Germany in 2023. The members of ELLIS are committed to shaping the future of AI in Europe by pushing the scientific and technological boundaries for human-centered, beneficial and safe AI.

AI is playing an indispensable role in our everyday life and will have a profound economic and societal impact on a global scale. In 2018, European machine learning researchers identified major barriers with respect to the situation of AI in Europe:

• Europe is not keeping up with North America and China, where investments in AI are significantly higher than in Europe. Many of the top laboratories and places to do a PhD are located in North America, attracting also the most talented European scientists.
   
• The distinction between academic research and industrial labs is vanishing. A significant part of the basic research is now being done by industry with a high level of research freedom, higher salaries and rapid commercialization of results. Academic institutions struggle to retain their best scientists, and most of the leading industrial labs are owned by companies outside Europe.

Academic research in Europe suffers from a lack of competitive salaries, high teaching obligations in universities, rigid environments that do not support a fluid relationship with industry and the creation of startups, and the lack of a critical mass due to a fragmented situation with separate islands of excellence.

ELLIS was founded as a grassroots initiative by European machine learning researchers to counteract this development. It aims to create a research environment which ensures that the highest level of modern AI research can be performed in the open societies of Europe, enabling Europe to maintain its sovereignty in this competitive and rapidly evolving field.

ELLIS focuses on the following areas to connect top AI researchers across Europe and Israel and to create attractive research environments:

1. ELLIS Sites
ELLIS is creating a network of research sites distributed across Europe and Israel with new working environments that enable outstanding scientists to combine cutting-edge research with the creation of start-ups and industrial impact. These sites connect the best AI scientists at a location and are either located at existing research institutions (ELLIS units) or created from scratch (ELLIS institutes). Currently, there are 41 ELLIS units and one associate unit in 17 countries. The first ELLIS Institute took up operations in Tübingen, Germany. ELLIS expects that similar institutes will be set up at other locations in due course, and that each of these institutes will act as the core of a local AI ecosystem. Establishing a multi-centric research laboratory - as opposed to a centralized approach with one single site only - is a key aspect of the ELLIS vision. This official statement explains this position in detail.

2. ELLIS Programs
ELLIS has established 16 pan-European research programs, each focusing on areas with the potential to move the needle in modern AI - from basic research in theory and algorithms to human-centric and trustworthy AI, and applications in health and climate sciences. These programs aim to push the scientific boundaries of their respective areas by fostering exchange and research collaborations among outstanding researchers in Europe.

3. ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program
The ELLIS PhD and Postdoc Program offers outstanding young researchers from all over the world a unique entry point to cutting-edge machine learning research in Europe. Each PhD student is co-supervised by two leading researchers from the ELLIS network and conducts an exchange of at least six months with the international advisor. During the annual central recruitment for PhD students, candidates can apply to many of their preferred labs in Europe with only a single application.

There is significant economic interest in machine learning technologies among high tech regions in Europe, and all European countries should expect economic and societal benefits if they invest in a distributed AI landscape. An ELLIS unit invests at least 1.5 Mio EUR per year for at least five years, and requires a commitment for a contribution of at least 300k EUR annually towards network activities. An ELLIS institute requires more significant resources, i.e. around 100 Mio EUR for infrastructure and an annual budget increasing to 30 Mio EUR during the first ten years. In order to be able to start with a network of several institutes in different countries, ELLIS encourages intergovernmental efforts as well as coordination of major research foundations across Europe.

At ELLIS we believe that a strong AI research landscape distributed across various locations in Europe is essential for maintaining Europe’s sovereignty in this competitive field. AI research does not require access to centralized, expensive and unique physical facilities (known for example from fields like particle physics). Having a central research body would risk isolating AI research from the sectors, research communities and citizens that it should serve. A multi-centric AI research laboratory with strong institutions in all parts of Europe and well-rooted in the regional ecosystems will generate real innovation for Europe, best leverage Europe’s cultural diversity, and integrate European values in the development of future technology. Read the ELLIS statement “AI Foundation Models - A Roadmap for Europe” which includes a call to establish an intergovernmental multi-centric AI research organization with high-performance computing facilities in Europe.

Machine learning is at the heart of a technological and societal AI revolution with large implications for the future competitiveness of Europe. It is the driver for modern AI and enables us to acquire knowledge from large and complex data sets which humans would not be able to analyze without machine learning methods. Similar to living intelligent systems - and in contrast to classical AI - intelligent behavior is not hardcoded in machine learning, but learned from experience. Machine learning has an impact on all associated disciplines such as computer vision and sensory processing, data science, symbolic and rule-based reasoning, robotics, and human-computer interaction. Virtually all of the dramatic recent progress made in AI is fueled by data-driven machine learning. It is used for autonomous driving, detecting diseases, for the optimisation of industrial production processes and for understanding climate change. Machine intelligence will make further progress as modern forms of deep and reinforcement learning as well as causal inference gain traction. By focusing its activities on machine learning, ELLIS wants to ensure that Europe will be at the forefront of modern AI research.

Depending on your interests and background, there are a range of possibilities to join ELLIS:

Becoming an ELLIS Fellow or an ELLIS Scholar
ELLIS Fellows are high-caliber senior researchers who advance science and act as ambassadors of ELLIS. ELLIS Scholars are outstanding junior scientists - often assistant professors - who do not yet have the seniority of a Fellow but who are on a clear trajectory to reach this level. ELLIS Fellows and ELLIS Scholars need to undergo a nomination and selection process in order to join ELLIS. For more information about this process, check out this page or contact ELLIS.

Becoming an ELLIS Member
If you are a scientist with a PhD or equivalent degree and believe your work is relevant for ELLIS, if you publish regularly at top tier venues in machine learning driven fields, and if you work in Europe, are European (working elsewhere) or have some other relation to Europe, then there is the opportunity to join ELLIS as a member. Find out more here.

Becoming an ELLIS PhD or Postdoc
There are two ways to become an ELLIS PhD student or postdoc: (a) via our central application process (if you want to start a PhD with one of the ELLIS Fellows/Scholars or unit faculty); (b) via a nomination process (if you’re already working with one of the ELLIS Fellows/Scholars or unit faculty as a PhD or postdoc). Find out more here and take a look at the FAQ for our central recruitment for PhD students. 

Becoming an ELLIS Supporter
You can express your support for ELLIS by becoming an individual supporter or by becoming a corporate supporter. You simply need to sign up via our website.

Becoming an ELLIS Sponsor
ELLIS sponsors are often top industry players and key stakeholders in machine learning and AI in Europe. Sponsors work closely with ELLIS units to enrich local ecosystems, guide European policy and regulation, and contribute to developments in innovation. They gain access to the ELLIS network of senior researchers and its talent pool of younger scientists, strengthening the connection between industry trends and cutting-edge research. Find out more here.

ELLIS connects outstanding researchers in modern AI across Europe and Israel. Learn more about them here:  

• ELLIS Board
• ELLIS Fellows and Scholars
• ELLIS Members
• ELLIS PhD and Postdoc Students

Several projects funded nationally or by the EU build on and extend the ELLIS network, and offer funding opportunities for different research activities. In a nutshell, ELLIS provides the network within which researchers can form teams to apply for external funding for research, training, mobility, infrastructure, and policy work. Check out this page for an overview of these projects and learn more about the European Network of AI Excellence Centres (ELISE; the project ended in August 2024), the European Lighthouse on Secure and Safe AI (ELSA), the Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELIZA) and the European Lighthouse of AI for Sustainability (ELIAS).

Find the latest ELLIS news and background information on our website: ellis.eu  

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By joining ELLIS as a Fellow, Scholar or member, researchers get access to a pan-European network of outstanding AI scientists which provides numerous opportunities for professional exchange and collaborations, e.g. through workshops and conferences. You can also participate as a Fellow or Scholar in one of our 16 cross-national research programs which aim to push scientific boundaries by connecting top researchers in a certain field.