ELLIS Unit Lisbon: Machine Learning Summer School 2025
From July 19 to 25, the annual Lisbon Machine Learning Summer School (LxMLS) brought together over 140 Master’s and PhD students from around the world for a highly enriching week exploring the latest advances in machine learning, with a special focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP). Co-organised by the ELLIS Unit Lisbon, the event combined lectures, hands-on laboratories, and poster sessions, and social events.
Scientific Program
The organising team from ELLIS Unit Lisbon - Ana Saraiva Ayash (Unit Coordinator), Bruno Martins, Mário Figueiredo (ELLIS Fellow & Unit Director), André Martins (ELLIS Fellow), and Isabel Trancoso (ELLIS Fellow) - collaborated on the scientific and logistical program.
Hosted at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, the scientific program featured international speakers who delivered morning lectures on both foundational and advanced topics, including language models, sequence-to-sequence learning, interpretability, low-resource NLP, and recent developments in transformers and attention mechanisms. Afternoon sessions consisted of practical laboratories, delivered by a team of early-career monitors, focusing on specific methods and tools. See the full list of speakers and topics here.
(Afternoon sessions with hands-on training on different methods and tools)
Emphasis on Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Another recurring theme across the lectures was the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration. Many speakers emphasized how working across fields can lead to real breakthroughs and push science forward in meaningful ways.
Poster sessions held during coffee breaks enabled participants to present their research and engage with other attendees, providing a relaxed and open forum for scientific exchange among participants.
(Coffee break with poster session)
Some of the participants joined from industry, reflecting the growing demand for AI tools in applied settings. For example, Lealem Mulugeta from InSilico Labs attended LxMLS to deepen his expertise in natural language processing and language modeling. He aimed to apply the program’s insights to develop an AI-driven system integrating biomechanics analysis, physiological monitoring, and cognitive state prediction to optimise human health and performance.
The program provided a solid foundation in key machine learning methods, supporting applications such as context-aware dialogue generation, real-time decision support, and personalised response modeling.
Relevance for Early-Career Researchers
For early-career researchers, the summer school offered the opportunity to interact with peers and senior scientists, consolidate core knowledge, and consider different career development paths.
Regarding her general support for summer schools, lecturer Adèle Ribeiro (University of Münster) emphasized:
I find summer schools incredibly valuable because they give students not only a concentrated amount of important technical content but also, perhaps even more importantly, the chance to hear directly from researchers who are deeply involved in the field. Meeting other students on the same journey is just as important, as it builds a real sense of community. Altogether, these experiences can boost students’ confidence, strengthen their motivation, and help them feel part of a larger academic network.
ELLIS PhD student Wafaa Mohammed, who is doing her exchange in Lisbon with Chryssa Zerva (ELLIS Scholar), and delivered hands-on sessions as a monitor, observed:
“For me, attending gave a lot of perspective on how one might shape their academic or professional journey. I found all the sessions enriching, but one moment that really stayed with me was from Adele’s lecture. She advised us not to chase the hype, as it tends to fade, but instead to work on what truly matters to us, on problems we find important and are passionate about.”
Impressions from the Banquet Dinner
To make the event even more memorable, social activities included a banquet dinner, providing attendees the opportunity to connect in a relaxed setting outside the research program.
(Reception with drinks at Casa do Alentejo)
(Dinner in the gold room of Casa do Alentejo)
For more details on the Lisbon Summer School, the full schedule and speaker lineup can be found at lxmls.it.pt/2025.
