FAQ

1. Who can apply to the school? Is the school open to only students? Is the school open to only Eastern European students?

   • Everyone is welcome to apply, regardless of location or whether you are a student or not. We strive to have participants with diverse backgrounds to encourage networking between academic and industry communities from all over the world. The location of the summer school is tied to Eastern Europe to raise visibility of the local Machine Learning community. But we are looking for participants coming from any region of the world.

2. I've attended the previous edition of the school (previously named TMLSS). Can I apply again?

   • The selection will favor candidates who didn't attend the school before; however, this does not mean we will not accept participants who attended TMLSS. So we do encourage you to apply again.

3. What is the required level of knowledge in Machine Learning to apply for this school? I am a beginner in Machine Learning. Can I still apply?

   • Participants are expected to:

     • have experience in programming (preferably Python); knowledge of any modern framework for neural networks (TensorFlow, Keras, Theano, PyTorch, etc.) will come in handy though is not strictly necessary;

     • be familiar with notions of Linear Algebra, Probability Theory, general Machine Learning;

     • be very interested in learning about Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning.

4. What programming language / framework will be used during the labs?

   • Programming language: Python; Deep Learning library: TensorFlow, possibly Sonnet.

5. I am not familiar with TensorFlow; I’ve used other Deep Learning frameworks. Can I still apply?

   • We encourage people to apply even if they don’t have experience with TensorFlow. There will be a list of exercises posted prior to the summer school that participants can work on to get familiar with the environment used during the school.

6. What environment will be used to run the experiments at the labs?

   • The experiments will run in Colab - a framework provided by Google where you can access for free the Google cloud (CPU or GPU) to run ML experiments. You can use Colab on your own as well, independent from the school. All you need is a gmail account.

7. Who can apply for scholarship? Are scholarships available only for students?

   • If you are interested in the topics of the summer school but the fees might prevent you from attending, you can apply for a scholarship. These are open to everyone, not only students. When filling in the Application form, please give a short justification for your request. The funding will vary on a case-by-case basis and will cover fully or partially the costs of attending the school (registration, accommodation, travel).

   • Scholarships are offered on financial considerations only, not on merit.

8. What will I gain from attending this school?

   • During the school, participants will be exposed to both fundamental and advanced topics related to machine learning. By the end of the school, participants are expected to:

     • be familiar with terminology used in the field (e.g., BPTT, off/on policy, etc.);

     • have a good understanding of basic and some more advanced notions in Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning;

     • understand what are the open questions in the field and what are the emergent topics;

     • be exposed to some of the theoretical underpinnings and latest developments in the theoretical study of deep neural networks;

     • be familiar with commonly-used neural networks (e.g., ResNet, etc.);

     • understand good practices for setting up learning experiments (e.g., getting baselines, hyper-param tuning, etc.);

     • be able to design, train and test a neural network for a specific task using TensorFlow;

     • be able to analyse and diagnose network behaviour (e.g., overfitting).

   • The school will offer the opportunity to gain visibility and network with peers and top researchers in the field through social events and poster sessions.

9. Can I bring my own laptop for the practical sessions?

   • Yes, you are encouraged to use your own laptop during labs. There are no specific hardware requirements. Only make sure you have Google Chrome installed, which is used to access the lab environment, Colab. If you can't bring your laptop, we will provide a computer. During registration, you will be asked to specify whether you intend to bring your own laptop.

10. Will I receive a proof of attendance?

    • Yes, participants will receive a certificate at the end of the school that will include details about the number of hours of lectures, lab sessions, poster sessions attended during the school. This information can be used by each university or doctoral school to calculate the corresponding number of ECTS credits.

11. Do I need a Romanian visa to attend the summer school?

    • Participants who don't need a visa: citizens of the countries of the European Union, European Economic Area, Switzerland, US, Canada; holders of Schengen visas with two or multiple entries, national visas or residence permits issued by Schengen Member States; holders of permanent residence permits issued by the UK or Ireland. See here for the full list of visa exemption.

    • To check whether you need a Romanian visa to attend the summer school, please go here and choose, for the "Type of visas", "Other (marked C/ZA)", and then fill in your other details.

    • For more details and official information, please see here.

    • If you get accepted to the school and you need a visa, contact us and we will send you an invitation letter.

Your question is not in the list?

Please write to us at contact@eeml.eu.