ELLIS PhD program to kick off its first cohort with more than 60 students from around the world 

Tübingen, April 27, 2021 - Following a call for applications in the fall of 2020 that attracted more than 1300 applicants from more than 70 countries, the European Laboratory for Intelligent Systems’ (ELLIS) PhD program has successfully completed its first central recruitment round: after a rigorous review and interview process, some 60 students have now accepted offers from the program, most of whom will begin their PhDs in the fall of 2021. They will join the 40 PhD students who were previously recruited at individual institutions.

The ELLIS PhD program aims to offer students the possibility of pursuing doctoral studies in machine learning and related disciplines at a top European institution, with research stays at another institution or industrial research lab within the network. The concept has generated a significant buzz around the world.

“The number and quality of applications we received clearly show that young people in the global machine learning community are keen to pursue cross-border, interdisciplinary research, and that the European research landscape in machine learning and related disciplines is very attractive to the world's best young minds,” said Andreas Geiger. Geiger is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Tübingen, where he also heads the Autonomous Vision Group. He is also chair of the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Committee, which is responsible for the program’s strategic orientation. “Not only does the ELLIS PhD program provide students with an opportunity to work with renowned scientists across Europe. In the long term, it will also help strengthen the networks that contribute to securing Europe’s competitiveness in machine learning and related fields.” 

As they conduct cutting-edge research at Europe’s leading institutions, ELLIS PhD students will benefit from joint supervision by ELLIS faculty and participation in ELLIS events, including bootcamps, summer schools, and workshops, where they can connect and exchange ideas with their peers and prominent scientists from academia and industry. The newly recruited PhD students will be supervised by more than 70 established scientists at 51 different institutions in 13 countries.

“I am keen to pursue an ELLIS PhD because of the broad networking and collaborating opportunities it provides,” said Oishi Deb, who has accepted an offer from the program. She completed her undergraduate studies in Software and Electronics Engineering at the University of Leicester, UK, and subsequently worked at Rolls-Royce as a software engineer.  “I am delighted to have been accepted to one of the most prestigious and competitive PhD programs in machine learning and AI, and I look forward to getting started.”

The next application deadline for the program will be on November 15th, 2021.