Important Dates
| Wednesday, January 1, 2025 | Application starts |
| Monday, March 31, 2025 | Deadline for applications (including reference letters) |
| Latest by Monday, April 14, 2025 | Notification of acceptance |
| > Please confirm your participation by Thursday, May 1, 2025 < | |
| Thursday, May 15, 2025 | Registration fees due |
| Before Monday, August 11 | Complete the required online introductory course (see below; prerequisite to join the Summer School) |
| Wednesday, August 6 to Friday, August 8, 2025 | Special offer: We are available for questions and preparations on-site |
| > Monday, August 11 to Friday August 22, 2025: Systems Vision Science Summer School & Symposium takes place < | |
| Monday, August 11 to Wednesday, August 20, 2025 | Main part |
| Wednesday Evening, August 20 to Friday, August 22, 2025 | Symposium |
Who can apply?
We are open for everyone to apply. This summer school should be helpful to experimental vision researchers for learning computational methods, vision theorists and modellers for closer links with experimental data, physicist, engineers, and computer vision researchers for learning about biological vision, and, more generally, vision scientists interested in topics and approaches in systems vision science. Our evaluation will be based on your background and how much you are likely to benefit from participating in our summer school. Experience or knowledge in (A) computational methods, (B) visual psychophysics, and (C) vision neuroscience, is not required. However, experience in at least one of (A), (B), and (C), and a readiness to learn, is expected.
How to apply
For application, please
- Download and fill this application form
- Provide a proof of degrees completed and/or transcript of records
- Provide at least one reference letter — sent by the reference writer to svs.summerschool@tue.mpg.de with a subject starting with the name of the applicant using this template. Please note that the reference letters are due also on March 31, 2025. – If you are a faculty member or a postdoctoral fellow with a sufficient publication record, the reference letter may be substituted by your CV or a google scholar page –
Please send us the documents by pdf files by e-mail to svs.summerschool@tue.mpg.de We will inform you about the success of your application by Friday, April 14, 2025. Confirmation of your participation to the summer school should be received by us by Monday, May 1, 2025. Please be aware that incomplete applications will not be considered! After successful application, you are expected to complete these two free online courses (1) “A very brief introduction to what is known about vision experimentally”, (2) “A very brief introduction to simple mathematical methods for computational vision“. Each course is composed of short video segments (each several minutes long), simple quiz questions, and course (2) contains some exercises. The total video content in (1) is about 2.5 hours and that in (2) is currently much shorter. Completing these online courses before the start of the summer school is necessary for attending the summer school. You will get a confirmation e-mail after receipt of your application – if you don’t get a message of receipt within a day, please contact us.
Registration fees
Applicants who are selected to participate at the Systems Vision Science Summer School and Symposium have to pay a fee before the school starts (fees due before Thursday, May 15, 2025). Registration fees are to be paid by bank transfer only. Details will be provided after the selection process. Registration fees are not refundable. Registration fee for the summer school and symposium covers part of the costs including coffee breaks, lunch and dinner on weekdays, amounts to 700 €. Summer school participants should arrange and pay for their own travel and accommodations. Recommendations for accommodation in Tuebingen can be found here.
Possible financial aid
In exceptional cases, we are able to provide a limited amount of financial aid to help towards your participation at our summer school. To apply to this financial aid, please indicate this when you submit your summer school application and attach an additional pdf file named indicatively as “application_for_financial_aid” or similar. This additional pdf file should include the following: (1) a minimum of 2 pages of a summary of the content of the free online course “A very brief introduction to what is known about vision experimentally“, and a minimum of 1 page of a summary on the content of the free online course “A very brief introduction to simple mathematical methods for computational vision“, (2) a motivation letter stating why you want to attend our summer school and what benefit you hope to gain from your attendance, (3) justifications for and the estimated amount of the financial aid needed, and (4) any other information that you consider helpful for your application. You might be invited for an online interview during our processing of your application. !!! Application deadline for the Systems Vision Summer School and Symposium is Monday, March 31, 2025 !!! You will get a confirmation e-mail after receipt of your application – if you don’t get a message of receipt within a day, please contact us.
Poster & laptop
Summer school students are highly encouraged to bring a poster of one of your works (could be about a preliminary or ongoing work) to the summer school and symposium. All posters should be presented on one page and in “portrait” orientation. The posters will be put up during the summer school for exchanges with other summer school participants (students and lecturers) during break times and in the evenings. Each student should also bring a laptop (with a few pre-installed programs such as matlab and phython) for the exercise sessions during the summer school.
Local students
Master Students from the University of Tuebingen are highly welcome to apply to the Summer School like everybody else. They have the additional option of taking the course for credit in the University of Tuebingen. Please have a look at ALMA, where full information including credits, prerequisites, and course work requirements can be found soon. With this option, students join lunch and coffee breaks and registration fee can be exempted due to coverage by Max-Planck-Institute. It is optional to additionally attend dinner and after-dinner discussions. If you are a student of the University of Tuebingen and like to apply to the summer school via ALMA to obtain the university course credits, then your application deadline is April 16, 2025 and information about the application procedure will be listed soon on Alma.