About

GeMSS is a European spring/summer school dedicated exclusively to deep generative models, including latent variable models, diffusion and flow-based models, and autoregressive generative models. It primarily attracts PhD students and researchers across Europe with an interest in generative modeling.

The school has a distinctive format: the first three days focus on intensive lectures and tutorials covering foundational concepts, followed by invited talks on state-of-the-art generative models that highlight current research frontiers.

GeMSS is aimed at PhD students working broadly in data science and AI for whom generative modeling is, or may become, an important component of their research. The program is designed to be relevant both for students pursuing methodological research (e.g., machine learning, statistics, and AI) and for those working in applied domains such as bioinformatics, computational physics, computational chemistry, and computational social science. The school is also open to postdocs and senior researchers from academia and industry as part of their continuing training in generative AI.

Lecturers

The first three days will be taught by the main lectures, while there will be invited lectures giving tutorials the last two days.

Tentative Program

Recommended reading

We recommend Deep Generative Modeling by Jakub M. Tomczak (Second Edition, 2024, Springer) as background reading for the spring school. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to the key concepts and methods covered in the lectures. For each lecture, the corresponding chapter from the book is indicated in the program above (e.g., Ch. 1).

Venue

The Spring School will be hosted at the Imperial College London in London, UK. The lectures will take place across the two campuses:

• On Monday to Wednesday, we will be at the South Kensington Campus (Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ).
• On Thursday and Friday, we will be at the White City Campus (Molecular Sciences Research Hub, White City Campus, London W12 0BZ).

The Banquet dinner will be held at White City Campus.

Submission & Registration

Application

Please prepare a single PDF file that contains the following information in the given order:

• one A4 page describing your research, preferably in a poster format;
• a one-page CV;
• students only: a one-page letter of confirmation that you are a PhD student from your supervisor;

Please upload this single file to the following submission system (TBA).

An example of an application could be found here: [PDF].

Application deadline: January 23, 2025 (23:59 Central European Time).

Selection Process

We aim for selecting a group of about 130 participants (the maximal capacity of lecture rooms). The selection process will be based on the submitted material and will be executed by the organisers. We will look into your background (e.g., expertise, relevance) and your experience. We expect from the participants the following: a good familiarity with Python and PyTorch, and a basic knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, probability theory and statistics.

Registration Fee

• PhD students: £400
• Academic participants: £600
• Industrial participants: £1000

The registration fee includes participating in all lectures, coffee breaks, and the banquet. All other costs not specified in the previous sentence (e.g., accomodation, travels, communication, other meals) are NOT provided by the organisers.

Code of conduct

An environment that recognises and respects the inherent worth of every person is crucial for a successful summer school. We, therefore, expect everyone engaged in the summer school to contribute to a safe and inclusive environment and respect the guidelines stipulated below.

This Code of Conduct applies to all participants, including organisers, volunteers, speakers/teachers.

Offensive behaviour

The course must provide an experience for all participants that is free from harassment, bullying, discrimination and inappropriate behaviour, which includes, but is not limited to:

• Intimidation, personal attacks, stalking, following, harassment, inappropriate physical contact or attention, or derogatory mention
• Offensive comments, materials or activities related to age, race, colour, nationality, religion, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, medical condition, disability, or pregnancy
• Disorderly, boisterous, or disruptive conduct, including fighting, coercion, theft, damage to property, or any mistreatment or unprofessional behaviour towards participants

Procedure

Any participant in summer school may contact us about experiences or observations of inappropriate behaviour, regardless of whether they wish to place a formal complaint or merely express a concern or seek advice. Please contact any of the Named Persons, Yingzhen Li or Jes Frellsen, directly at the event or by email.

• The Named Person will support the person reporting an offensive behaviour in deciding if and how to proceed.
• The Named Person has no formal authority but will support the person reporting offensive behaviour by informing the relevant authority if agreed upon.
• The Named Person is not obliged to inform any other authority (unless required by law) and is thus able to handle any complaint or concern in full confidentiality.

Action

In case of a breach of this Code of Conduct, the organiser will respond towards the offender as deemed appropriate according to law and regulations.

Sanctions may be, but are not limited to, a warning, expulsion from the course with no refund, reporting the incident to the offender’s organisation/company, or, in the last instance, reporting the incident to law enforcement authorities.

With permission, this Code of Conduct has been adapted from the DDSA Code of Conduct.

Organisation & Sponsors

The summer school is jointly organised by:

• Yingzhen Li (Imperial College London)
• Benjamin Guedj (University College London, Inria)
• Pierre-Alexandre Mattei (Inria, Université Côte d'Azur)
• Jakub M. Tomczak (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative)
• Jes Frellsen (Technical University of Denmark)

Contact

For matters regarding the summer school, please contact .

Sponsors