There are different tracks within the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program. These tracks have separate requirements for admission and criteria for activity during the appointment (e.g., research exchange), but otherwise offer the same benefits, network and resources to the applicant. Normally, in all tracks, the research exchange is partially sponsored by the exchange institution; students can also apply for an ELIAS mobility grant to support their visit.

Academic track

PhD students and postdocs in the academic track strive for international collaboration as they partner with two European academic institutions in their research. These candidates are supervised by two advisors from different European countries: one of the advisors must be an ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty; the other advisor should be an ELLIS fellow, scholar, unit faculty or member. PhDs and postdocs in the program visit the exchange institution for min. 6 months (the partitioning of this time is flexible). 

Industry track

The industry track is open to PhD and postdoc candidates that will be part of a collaboration between an academic institution and an industry partner, and will spend time conducting research at the industry partner during their PhD or postdoc. The candidate will spend a minimum of 50% of their time at the academic institution, and at least 6 months (cumulative) with the industry partner. 

For this track, both advisors may be located in the same country. One advisor will represent the academic institution and the other the industry partner. One advisor must be an ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty. The second advisor can be an ELLIS fellow, scholar, member, unit faculty OR it is also possible for the second advisor to join if they have co-authored a paper with the applying student as a result of their collaboration, in a top-tier venue in machine learning or related sub-fields (details here).

Interdisciplinary track

The interdisciplinary track supports PhD students and postdocs aiming to foster collaborations in two different research fields, one of which is not traditionally associated with machine learning/AI (e.g., law, biology, social sciences & humanities). The candidates will spend a minimum of 50% of their time with their main advisor (an ELLIS fellow/scholar) and at least 6 months (flexible partitioning) with the second advisor whose main expertise is unrelated to machine-learning/AI. This second advisor should further hold a tenured faculty position within their research field (if they are not an ELLIS fellow/scholar themselves).

Both advisors are based in Europe (or associated countries with ELLIS units, e.g. Israel) and may be located in the same institution/city. If that is the case, no 6-month visit is required but the PhD student/postdoc should regularly meet with their second advisor. Additionally, the candidate is then encouraged to spend at least a month abroad during their thesis/postdoc.

There are two ways to become an ELLIS PhD student or postdoc: (1) via our central application process (if you want to start a PhD with one of the ELLIS fellows/scholars or unit faculty); (2) via a nomination process (if you’re already working with one of the ELLIS fellows/scholars or unit faculty as a PhD or postdoc). Admission to the program is competitive.

1. Central application

Prospective students may apply through the central ELLIS application portal to become a PhD student within the ELLIS network (deadline once a year on November 15). In their application, applicants choose from a set of ELLIS research areas and indicate preferences for ELLIS fellows, scholars or unit faculty they would like to work with. Candidates will be centrally reviewed for excellence by a pool of experts; the best candidates will be eligible for the ELLIS program and may be invited for interviews by individual advisors. If an offer is made, an agreement is signed which specifies the main supervisor, the co-supervisor, the funding as well as the exchange and graduation plan. Students will be funded through the advisor’s resources and get their degree from the home institution. Please read our FAQs and see our slides above for more information.

Currently, the central application process is only for new PhD students. Postdocs are only recruited non-centrally via the nomination process described in 2. 

Calls and admissions: There is a yearly central call for applications in fall, which will be announced on the ELLIS website. Typically the portal opens in October and the deadline for application is around November 15. Admission to the program is competitive. For reference, about 5-10% of eligible applicants are accepted via the central call. Nomination to the program (for students who already started their PhD with ELLIS faculty) is possible year-round (see 2). 

Timeline for the central recruitment:

• October: Application portal opens
• November 15 (23:59 CET): application deadline
• November/December: review phase
• January/February: interviews
• Late February/March: decisions
• Program start: there is no common start for the PhD (depends on the advisor/institution)

2. Nomination

ELLIS fellows, scholars or unit faculty may nominate PhD students or postdocs who are working with them to become ELLIS PhD students or postdocs in the academic or industry track. Note that postdocs of either track are currently only recruited via nomination. Please see this page for more details about the requirements and the nomination process.

Each ELLIS PhD student or postdoc is co-supervised by one ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty and one ELLIS fellow/scholar, unit faculty or member based in different European countries, and conducts an exchange of at least 6 months with the international advisor during their degree. One of the advisors may also come from industry, in which case the student will collaborate closely with the industry partner, and spend min. 6 months conducting research at the industrial lab.

If you haven't joined the ELLIS Society yet, please see ellis.eu/fellows and ellis.eu/members for more details.

Note: The term 'unit faculty' comprises ELLIS fellows, scholars and members who have been appointed by a Unit Director to be part of the respective unit. The faculty of a particular ELLIS unit is listed on the unit page >> 'Map of ELLIS Units' >> 'List of ELLIS Units' >> click the unit name to show its faculty. 

Participate as ELLIS fellow, scholar, unit faculty

ELLIS fellows, scholars and unit faculty can participate in two ways:

1. Recruit new PhDs students via the yearly central recruitment round

ELLIS fellows, scholars and unit faculty who are based in Europe (and associated countries) and have open positions can sign up to recruit new PhD students via the yearly ELLIS PhD call, which collects applications from across the world on a central pan-European platform.

Applicants use our platform to find and be found for PhD opportunities in machine learning and related fields offered by fellows, scholars and unit faculty in the ELLIS network. PIs use our platform to indicate to applicants that they are looking for PhD students, and to find talented students that could be a good match for their labs. Our central portal pools hundreds of applications from across the world and provides access to comments and reviews from other PIs in the system. 

In September each year, fellows, scholars and unit faculty will receive an invitation to register for that year's round (PIs need to re-register each year). They are expected to contribute to the reviewing process. 

Since the ELLIS PhD Program is a metaprogram on top of local graduate program, funding for the PhD contracts must be provided by the advisor(s). The hiring process is local and must comply with local regulations and policies.

2. Nominate existing PhDs or postdocs to the program

ELLIS fellows, scholars or unit faculty may nominate PhD students or postdocs who are working with them to become ELLIS PhD students or postdocs in the academic or industry track. Note that postdocs of either track are currently only recruited via nomination. Please see this page for more details about the requirements and the nomination process.

Participate as ELLIS member

ELLIS members can nominate existing students to the program provided the other advisor is a fellow, scholar or unit faculty, and the other nomination requirements are fulfilled.

Within the program's central recruitment process, ELLIS members may be contacted by one of the participating fellows, scholars or unit faculty if they are interested in acting as a co-advisor of a selected student. The student and primary advisor decide on a co-advisor together after an offer has been made; all ELLIS members who are based in Europe qualify as co-advisors as long as the advisor, exchange and time-sharing requirements are fulfilled (for details and exceptions, see the admission requirements for the program's central recruiting).

Note: Members who have been appointed by a Unit Director to be part of a unit are considered to be part of the unit faculty and can participate as recruiting advisors in the central ELLIS PhD recruitment, provided they are entitled to supervise PhD candidates at the respective institution (see the Section 'Participate as ELLIS fellow, scholar, unit faculty'). To check the faculty of a particular ELLIS unit, check the unit page >> scroll to 'Map of ELLIS Units' >> click 'List of ELLIS Units' >> click on the unit to see its faculty. 

The next chance to apply to the ELLIS PhD Program via the central recruiting is in the fall of 2024.

Admission to the program is competitive. In a typical round, less than 5% of all registered applicants, and between 5-10% of eligible applicants are accepted.

• September: call will be announced at ellis.eu/news
• October: application portal opens
• November 15 (23:59 CET): application deadline
• November/December: review phase
• January/February: interviews
• Late February/March: decisions
• Program start: there is no common start for the PhD (depends on the advisor/institution)

For PhD students who are already working as a PhD with an ELLIS Fellow or Member and wish to join the ELLIS PhD program, check out our secondary path to join the program under "How to join ELLIS as a PhD or postdoc", §2. Nomination. Nominations are possible year-round.

ELLIS offers a wide range of activities, including summer schools and workshops. You can find more details about the upcoming and past activities in the ELLIS network on the events page. 

ELLIS Doctoral Symposium (EDS)
The ELLIS Doctoral Symposium is the main program event for ELLIS PhDs and postdocs (and other PhDs in the ELLIS network), organized once a year at a different unit. The EDS is organized by and for PhD students and gives young researchers the chance to meet, collaborate and interact with each other in person through content-driven poster sessions and tooling presentations, while also facilitating interactive moments for networking with each other, with senior researchers and with companies. 

• EDS2024 @ ELLIS Unit Paris, 26-30 August 2024
• EDS2023 @ ELLIS Unit Helsinki, 28 August - 1 September 2023
• EDS2022 @ ELLIS Unit Alicante, 19-23 September 2022
• EDS2021 @ ELLIS Unit Tübingen, 27 September - 1 October 2021

ELLIS Machine Learning Summer Schools
ELLIS aims to host at least one machine learning summer or winter school each year. To coordinate schools across the network, the ELLIS PhD Committee issues a yearly call for units to submit a proposal for the organization of an ELLIS summer or winter school. Upcoming schools include:

• ELLIS Winter School on Foundation Models @ ELLIS Unit Amsterdam, 12-15 March 2024
• More schools for 2024 to be announced soon

Previous ELLIS Schools include:

• ELLIS Summer School on Machine Learning for Healthcare and Biology @ ELLIS Unit Manchester, 14-16 June 2023
• ELLIS Summer School on Probabilistic Machine Learning @ ELLIS Unit Cambridge, 17-21 July 2023
• ELLIS Summer School on Large-Scale AI for Research and Industry @ ELLIS Unit Modena, 18-22 September 2023

ELLIS Reading Groups
As part of its educational activities, ELLIS aims to connect PhDs and postdocs in the network and supports them in creating opportunities to discuss science. Currently, two student-led reading groups on machine learning-related topics meet regularly to discuss a paper the group previously voted on. ELLIS Reading Groups are initiated and organized by ELLIS PhD students and postdocs across Europe.

• Human-Centric Machine Learning (HCML): The HCML reading group aims to gather researchers and students interested in both getting a wide vision of the topic and also deeply diving into it. Reading papers about different topics inside HCML, and also discussing new problem set-ups, different approaches, and sources of bias will lead us to a broad understanding of how algorithmic and human decisions influence each other. (Student chairs: Adrián Arnaiz-Rodríguez, Aditya Gulati, Gergely Németh, Piera Riccio) [Webpage] [Join Google Group]

• Mathematics of Deep Learning: The Mathematics of Deep Learning group wants to discuss the theoretical directions of research on the state-of-the-art neural networks that are aiming at explaining the mechanisms behind the training, generalization, architecture and initialization choosing, etc. This reading group is not restricted by any particular application, so various tasks can be considered, ranging from the purely theoretical linear networks and binary classification to state-of-the-art transformer networks for natural language processing. The group’s main goal is to keep up with the most advanced areas of research in understanding mathematics of deep neural networks. (Student chairs: Linara Adilova, Oishi Deb, Sidak Pal Singh) [Webpage] [Join Google Group]

Several moblity programs build on the ELLIS network, including ELSA, ELIAS and ELIZA. For an overview of current and completed projects, see https://ellis.eu/mobility-programs. 

For general questions about the program, questions about the central recruiting (both tracks) and questions about the academic track, please contact phd@ellis.eu. For questions about the industry track, please contact phd-industry@ellis.eu.

This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under ELISE Grant Agreement No. 951847. The project is also supported and expanded by ELSA (European Lighthouse on Secure and Safe AI, GA No 101070617) and ELIAS (European Lighthouse of AI for Sustainability, GA No 101120237).