About the PhD School
The PhD School explores recent theoretical developments at the intersection of Machine Learning and Optimization, with a strong focus on theoretical and algorithmic foundations of how to exploit ML techniques in the design of algorithms. The school is aimed at PhD students and early-career researchers and combines talks with hands-on group work and collaborative discussions.
As part of the CWI Research Semester on Learning-Enhanced Optimization, we are excited to host a PhD School during the first week of September. This four-day event, running from Tuesday to Friday, is tailored for PhD students interested in the growing intersection of Machine Learning and Optimization, with a strong focus on theoretical and algorithmic foundations of how to exploit ML techniques in the design of algorithms.
The school will feature lectures from world-renowned researchers:
- Anupam Gupta (New York University, New York)
- Ola Svensson (EPFL,Switzerland)
- Michal Feldman (Tel Aviv University), Israël)
Tentative Programme
Each day of the school will be structured in two parts:
- Morning sessions: The invited lecturer of the day will deliver two in-depth lectures (each 1–1.5 hours), introducing key concepts and recent developments. At the end of the lectures, the speaker will provide some assignment questions related to the day’s topic.
- Afternoon sessions: Participants will work collaboratively in small groups to tackle the given assignment questions and solve them. The day will conclude with a joint discussion session, where the solutions will be discussed with the lecturer.
This format is designed to promote both deep understanding and active engagement with the material.
Who should attend:
The school is aimed at PhD students in theoretical computer science, algorithms, machine learning and related areas. Please note that there will be a strong focus on algorithm design exploiting ML (not on designing algorithms for ML). Advanced Master’s students and early-stage postdocs with a strong theoretical background are also welcome to apply.
More details on the schedule and registration will follow soon.
