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 13: Registration opening postponed to (no longer than) Tue, March 17, to allow for settling final details and further tests of the system – we apologize for any inconvenience!
• March 06: Radisson Blu Hotel at Leipzig’s Augustusplatz announced as venue.
• March 05: Program preview and fee scheme online.

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.

As of early and mid of March, the program is tentative and may undergo further adaptation. Abstracts for the individual sessions are currently being collected and will be added to a page with the full program.

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.

Confirmed Speakers

• Vaishak Belle (University of Edinburgh)
• Vincent Derkinderen (KU Leuven)
• Michael Färber (TU Dresden)
• Robert Haase (Leipzig University)
• Pascal Hitzler (Kansas State University)
• Yujita 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)

Registration and Fees

Registration is mandatory and will open soon. If you would like to be notified when registration opens, you can leave us your email address here.

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 Pass for all Types of Attendees	225 €	225 €

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

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.

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.