This year's Summer School at CISPA- Helmholtz Center for Information Security will be supported by ELLIS and ELSA.
When: August 4-8. 2025
Where: CISPA - Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Saarbruecken, Germany.
We are inviting applications from graduate students and researchers in the areas of Computer Science and Cybersecurity with a focus on AI. During our annual scientific event, students will have the opportunity to follow one week of scientific talks and workshops, present their own work during poster sessions and discuss relevant topics with fellow researchers and expert speakers. The program will be complemented by social activities.
Application Process: Please fill in the application form and upload your CV, a Motivation Letter, University Certificate of Transcript of Records.
Notification of Acceptance: Several rounds of acceptance, roughly 3 weeks after application at the latest.
Fee: 200,-€ (includes full program, food and beverages during the week, weekly local bus ticket, and social activities)
Deadline for Regular Application: June 30, 2025.
Deadline for Late Application (wait list) to be announced
Travel Grant: We are offering travel grants for students who participate actively in the whole event and present their work during a poster session. With your application, you can apply for a grant for accommodation, train/plane tickets and locl transport (actual travel cost spent, economy flight, train ticket 2nd class). Please do not book any travel arrangements before you have been selected by our jury and accepted to our Summer School. After acceptance, please send your travel arrangements to cysec-lab@cispa.de for approval prior to booking anything. We will confirm if/that your expenses will be covered and you will be reimbursed after completing the Summer School successfully.
Presentations: There will be several sessions, during which participants can present their own work / a scientific poster. The presentation is not mandatory to receive a certificate of attendance, but we are highly encouraging you to contribute your work to this session and as it will provide you with valuable feedback from an expert audience and might kindle interesting discussions.
The Summer School will kick off Monday morning around 11am with a Welcome Session and the first talks. Tuesday - Thursday will be full-day programs from 9 am to the evening (ending with socializing at dinner). There will be 2 coffee breaks and a lunch and dinner break daily. There will be roughly 4 content sessions + poster sessions during dinner per day. Wednesday afternoon, we will have a bus excursion involving some local sightseeing, a walk and a joint dinner. The school will end Friday early afternoon, so you can start your trip back home.
Andrew Paverd (Microsoft)
Antti Honkela (University of Helsinki)
Battista Biggio (University of Cagliari/Pluribus One)
Borja Balle (DeepMind)
Jamie Hayes (Google Deepmind)
Jenia Jitsev (LAION)
Joacquin Vanschoren (TU Eindhoven)
Mathias Lecuyer (University of British Columbia)
Matthew Jagielski (Google Deepmind)
Om Thakkar (OpenAI)
Mario Fritz
Franziska Boenisch
More details will follow soon. We are publishing the program schedule during the month of April.
Please have a look at last year's Summer School on Usable Security , last year's Summer School on Privacy-Preserving CryptographySummer School 2023, Summer School 2022, or our Digital Summer School 2021 to get a general idea of the event.
If you have any questions or queries for any of our summer schools, our Summer-School team will be glad to help via summer-school@cispa.de.
Please note that we are always publishing speakers and topics/titles on our website, as soon as they are confirmed. Please refrain from requesting titles and detailed topics etc. via e-mail. If you want to wait with your application until the detailed program is finished, that is perfectly fine. We just want to give interested students this opportunity to register early and secure their spot ahead of time.
Yes, if you attended one of our Summer Schools, of course you are welcome to apply for any of the following years. If there are two Summer Schools in one year, you can apply for both Summer Schools. It is advisable to mention a specific research focus in your application that aligns with your interests and your prior education.
Our jury selects the participants of the Summer Schools. We have strict criteria for selecting participants for our Summer School due to the high number of applications compared to the limited available spots. We give priority to those currently studying or with a background in the Summer School's topic. A foundational knowledge in the field is required, and participants should have reached a certain academic level. For instance, individuals in the early stages of a Bachelor's degree may not qualify. This is important because the Summer School is interactive, and having prior knowledge is crucial for active participation.
You can apply for a travel grant during your application if your travel costs are not reimbursed by your employer. Our jury will select participants and approve the travel grant within availability. You will only receive reimbursement after successful completion of the Summer School which means actively attending every day of the event. Another requirement for reimbursement is that you actively participate in the Summer School by presenting a poster during the poster session. There might be additional requirements for a specific Summer School which will be mentioned on the event’s website. If your travel grant was approved you need to hand in receipts after completion of the Summer School for all expenses in connection with your travels. The participation fee secures your spot for the event and covers catering, drinks, course materials and the full program. Thus it cannot be refunded via the travel grant. Only receipts dated within one day before the start of the event until the last day are eligible for reimbursement. Exceptions require prior approval via email. Please book accommodations from our recommendation list when possible or contact us for approval prior your booking.
Your poster should be in portrait format, A0 size, please bring your printed poster with you. If you don’t have the possibility to print it yourself, send it as a PDFX file via email to us within the deadline mentioned being accepted to our event. Each presentation will be limited to 5 minutes, followed by a short discussion.
If you have specific dietary restrictions, please include that information in your application. We strive to accommodate all dietary needs to the best of our ability. Additionally, rest assured that there is always a vegetarian option available for individuals with restrictions concerning meat.
Bring your own laptop. Course materials and catering during the event will be provided and is included in the fee. You will receive handouts and presentations after the event of every speaker who agreed to distribute them.
Yes, a certificate will be provided if you successfully attend all days of the Summer School.
We can only reimburse costs for participants. If you bring your partner or a friend to share your hotel room, please provide receipts and comparison prices for the expenses that would have occurred if you traveled alone, and we will reimburse accordingly.
Both individuals should ensure the hotel receipt includes both names. Submit this receipt, and each of you will receive half the reimbursement for the hotel room cost.
If you cancel at short notice after confirming and paying the participation fee, refunds cannot be issued. You can, however, name a substitute participant with similar qualifications. Refunds are contingent on having enough time to rearrange event planning (e.g. transport and catering).
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