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