The Estonian IT summer school ESSCaSS brings top machine learning and artificial intelligence researchers to Tartu

Today starts the three-day summer school ESSCaSS (Estonian Summer School on Computer and Systems Science), which brings together 125 researchers, PhD students and representatives from the industry from Estonia and abroad. On 17 August at 15:30, everyone is invited to the Delta Centre for the public lecture by Austrian professor Christoph Lampert titled: "Behind the scenes: How does one become a (machine learning) researcher, and what does it mean to be one?". The summer school is organised by the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science.

The summer school brings top researchers in their field to Estonia to give overview lectures. This year we have Eyke Hüllermeier, Christoph Lampert and Marek Rei from abroad. Raul Vicente, Mark Fišel, Meelis Kull and Jaan Aru from the University of Tartu and Tanel Tammet from Tallinn University of Technology will take the stage. In addition, doctoral students from the University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology and Tallinn University will present posters and give short presentations.

According to Jaak Vilo, the main organiser of the event and Head of the Institute of Computer Science, the summer school series was founded in 2002. "The goal was to create a summer school with a more practical orientation next to theoretical computer science winter schools. It would bring together IT doctoral students and researchers from Estonian universities and encourage younger students to choose a research career. In the last two years because of COVID, we have had to skip the summer school, so this year the event will be held for the 19th time," said Vilo. According to him, it is also new that for the first time, the event will take place directly in the university's study rooms, in the new Delta Centre, and this year there has been a record number of participants.

On 17 August at 15:30, Professor Christoph Lampert will give a public lecture in Delta, where everyone who wants to know what it takes to become a researcher is invited. In his presentation, Lampert talks about how one develops into a researcher through the PhD program. He also shares advice on how to cope in the academic community, publish articles and what to do after the end of their studies. He does this using the example of a machine learning scientist position, which he considers one of the most exciting jobs on the planet.

More information about the summer school can be found on the event's website. ESSCaSS 2022 has been supported by the University of Tartu ASTRA Project PER ASPERA (European Regional Development Fund).