ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig is pleased to dedicate its 12th International Summer School on AI and Big Data, which will take place in Leipzig from June 22 to 26, 2026, to the theme of Neuro+Symbolic AI, focusing on an emerging paradigm that combines the strengths of neural learning and symbolic reasoning, augmented with foundations in each of these.

This annual summer school aims to bring together PhD students, graduate students, researchers as well as practitioners from across the field of Artificial Intelligence. Participants can expect a rich program of short courses taught by leading experts, complemented by hands-on tutorials, interactive formats, and invited talks that provide a comprehensive overview of recent advances and key achievements in Neuro-Symbolic AI.

NEWS

• March 27: Hint on applying for fee reductions added under Registation and Fees.
• March 24: Call for participation distributed.
• March 19: Scientific Program online initially.
• March 18: Registration open at https://pretix.eu/infai/SummerSchool2026/, more details below.

Program

Over the course of the program, participants will follow a structured curriculum combining foundational and advanced courses in neural methods and symbolic reasoning, designed to prepare them for in-depth study of neuro-symbolic integration.

During March, the program is still tentative and may undergo further adaptation.

The Scientific Program comprises abstracts of the individual sessions together with information on their speakers.

Social program

Summer school participants will be able to take part in social activities in the afternoons and evenings. These will be offered on Monday through Thursday and are intended to give participants the opportunity to get to know each other better and exchange ideas, as well as to explore Leipzig, the venue of the summer school.

Venue

The school will take place at the

Radisson Blu Hotel Leipzig, Augustusplatz 5-6, 04109 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: +49 341 2146-0       Reservation: +49 341 2001 8422
E-Mail: info@radissonblu-leipzig.de     See it on Google Maps.

located at a central square of Leipzig, together with the Gewandhaus concert hall and the Opera, as well as to the opposite of prominent main buildings of the University in the inner city.

Registration and Fees

Registration is mandatory to attend the school (via ticket purchase; no formal application required).

• It includes access to the sessions, lunch, coffee breaks, social dinner and some other social items.
• It does not cover accommodation, breakfast, dinner (except for Tuesday) nor any transportation.

As in previous years, several ticket options are available; besides the default of the whole week, also to enable participation on individual days.

Full Week Tickets by Attendee Type	Early = by April 22 (Wednesday)	Late = by June 14 (Sunday)
ScaDS.AI Member	490 €	600 €
Student (PhD, Master, Bachelor)	510 €	620 €
Academic	640 €	750 €
Non-Academic	800 €	910 €
Day Tickets for all Types of Attendees	225 €	225 €

Deadlines apply in an Anywhere-on-Earth (AoE = UTC-12) reading.

Terms of Cancellation       (refunds: 100% by April 22, 50% by June 06, then 0%)

All cancellation requests of paid orders need to be approved by an organizer.
There are percentual cancellation fees and we reserve the right to retain any incurred financial services fees in addition.

• • 0% fee by April 22: Until the early registration deadline on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 (AoE), no cancellation fee applies (100% refund unless service fees are retained).

• • 50% fee by June 06: From April 23 on and until Saturday, June 06, 2026 (AoE), 50% cancellation fee apply (50% refund unless service fees are retained).

• • 100% fee from June 07 on: A cancellation fee of 100% applies (no refund).

Fee reduction

We consider offering a very limited number of partial fee reductions for students who are unable to cover the full participation fee.

You may apply for a fee reduction by submitting a statement of motivation (at most ~250 words) and a brief recommendation by your supervisor (a signed letter or an email sent from your supervisor’s account).

Please send both documents by Sunday, April 12 (AoE) to scads.ai.school@uni-leipzig.de.
The decision on all applications will be announced by Friday, April 17.

Speakers

• Vaishak Belle (University of Edinburgh)
• Vincent Derkinderen (KU Leuven)
• Michael Färber (TU Dresden)
• Robert Haase (Leipzig University)
• Pascal Hitzler (Kansas State University)
• Yujia Hu (TU Dresden)
• Filip Ilievski (VU Amsterdam)
• Moa Johansson (Chalmers University Gothenburg)
• Lalith Manjunath (TU Dresden)
• Giuseppe Marra (KU Leuven)
• Alessandra Mileo (Dublin City University)
• Ostap Okhrin (TU Dresden)
• Simon Razniewski (TU Dresden)
• Tobias Schreieder (TU Dresden)
• Daria Stepanova (Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence)
• Marco Valentino (University of Sheffield)

Organizing Committee

The summer school is organized by ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, one of five AI centers in Germany funded under the federal government’s AI strategy.

Scientific

• Filippo De Bortoli
• Parvaneh Joharinad
• Frank Loebe
• Paramita Mirza
• Iryna Okhrin

Local

• Lucy Sonnet
• Nicole Spieß

Steering Committee of the Summer Schools

• Jens Meiler   Scientific Director, ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, Leipzig University
• Wolfgang E. Nagel   Director, ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, TU Dresden
• Gerik Scheuermann   Managing Director, ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, Leipzig University

Contact

Please address your questions directly to scads.ai.school@uni-leipzig.de.