Call for proposals - Organisation of ELLIS Summer/Winter Schools (2026) or ELLIS Doctoral Symposium (2027)

The ELLIS Society is now opening its yearly call for the organisation of summer/winter schools for 2026, to be held over one week! As a grassroots initiative, the ELLIS network thrives on the distributed efforts of its members and sites and prides itself on offering PhD students and Postdoctorates diverse opportunities to learn as well as connect with their fellow peers.

See examples of past ELLIS Winter & Summer Schools. 

ELLIS Sites willing to organise an ELLIS summer or winter School in 2026 should submit a brief proposal to phd@ellis.eu by November 1, 2025. Proposals will be reviewed by the PhD & Postdoc Committee. 

In parallel, we are also accepting applications for hosting the ELLIS Doctoral Symposium (EDS) in 2027. 

The 2026 edition will take place at the ELLIS Unit Lisbon; previous editions were hosted in Tübingen (2021), Alicante (2022), Helsinki (2023), Paris (2024) and Warsaw (2025). The ELLIS Doctoral Symposium is organised by and for PhD students, in cooperation with the  ELLIS PhD & Postdoc program. The EDS is the cornerstone event in the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc program and gives ELLIS PhDs and postdocs (and other young researchers) the chance to meet, collaborate and interact with each other in person through content-driven poster sessions and presentations, and facilitate interactive moments for networking with each other, but also with more senior researchers who give keynote talks. 

Description 

ELLIS Doctoral Symposium

The ELLIS PhD and Postdoc program will host at least one week-long school or symposium per program-year at alternating ELLIS units focused on research and training in machine learning-driven fields. The ELLIS Doctoral Symposium is organised in collaboration with the central PhD and Postdoc Program coordinators.

ELLIS Winter/Summer schools

ELLIS schools will be organised by the hosting ELLIS site and will focus on deep diving into research topics, showcasing the work at that unit, and providing essential training and networking activities to the program participants.  ELLIS schools are the largest and most significant events for ELLIS students and other young researchers during the year. As such, they offer a perfect opportunity for units to spotlight their own research and achievements, and promote it among ELLIS' network. 

Organisation & Funding 

While units will be given maximum flexibility in organisational matters, general guidelines and support will be offered by the central program coordination and PhD Committee. The ELLIS Society currently does not have a dedicated budget for the organization of PhD events so units contribute their own resources. 

Guidelines for proposals 

The proposal should not exceed 2 pages, and should contain the items below. Proposals will be selected based, amongst other things, on criteria of excellence, topic and geographical diversity; priority will be given to new themes (as compared to previous years) and units that have not hosted a summer/winter school in the past. 

• Contact details and short bio of the main organizer 

• List of members of the organizing committee 

• Local partners (institutions, industry) 

• Proposed dates 

• Motivation for organising the school/symposium at your unit 

• Prior experience in organizing scientific events 

• An outline of the program (incl. proposed format and specific research topics unit faculty aim to cover) 

• Maximum number of participants 

• Venue and logistics (facilities, lecture halls capacity, housing, etc.) 

• Budget overview (estimated costs, expected and/or confirmed funding from the hosting institution and sponsors, estimated student fee if any) 

• Dissemination and outreach activities 

• A brief note on how the unit envisions its contribution to the ELLIS criteria of (1) excellence and (2) diversity, which also apply to our educational activities.