PhD student at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France (YSC’2020 participant)

I have participated in the School because it represented a great opportunity to learn about Machine Learning and Big Data Analysis techniques that I will employ to conclude my PhD project and in my future research projects. I am extremely satisfied with how much I have learnt in such a short period, thanks to the practice-based approach of the lectures as well as the possibility of working on a real case-study since the very beginning of the training period.

Before starting the school, I was worried about the difficulty of working in a newly-formed team without the possibility of meeting in person. However, the communication with Manuk and with our supervisor Peter was very easy and we managed to organize our objectives and tasks in an efficient way. This is also thanks to the huge effort made by the organizing committee in praoviding us all the necessary resources for collaborating in real time despite the thousands of kilometers of distance. It has been really satisfying to be able to acquire new skills and obtain some relevant results in a short time, and this is thanks to Peter's guidance on techniques and dataset we were not familiar with, as well as the great quality of the school lectures. Of course, online events suffer from a lack of the social aspect that is typical of this kind of scientific meetings, but for me YSC2020 was proof that online collaborations can work very well!

PhD student at University of Crete, Greece (YSC’2020 participant)

I have attended the school, because I am interested in learning about data analysis and Machine learning. So, this school was a great opportunity and it was also very useful because I have learnt how interesting data analysis is as well as I have learnt some "new tools" during school. It was the first time that I had to work with a teammate that I did not know and also work online, so I was very anxious about it. But I have really enjoyed the collaboration and I think I have learnt more that way. Eventually, working online was very convenient in terms of me.

PhD student at XAMK, Finland (YSC’2019 participant)

This isn’t my first time at YSC. I took part in the 2017 conference, which was held at my own university, XAMK, in Kotka. Even then I had understood that this was a good place to acquire feedback on my research. Now I’m back to present the research that formed the basis of my PhD thesis. The conference has changed greatly in recent times. This time, for instance, it lasted for five days and was, therefore, closer in format to a summer school. This change gave me enough time to reflect on others’ reports and compare their work to mine. I also enjoyed the cultural program, which had us visit various landmarks on the island of Crete.

Associate Professor at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (YSC’2019 participant)

Conferences for young scientists give you the amazing opportunity to learn about actively developing fields as well as the most popular methods and tools. Our research team has recently run into the need to use machine learning in the computational modeling of mechanical processes in organic tissue, and this conference has allowed me to learn more about this subject.

In my opinion, the most valuable aspect of YSC2019 is its informal, but still highly productive atmosphere. Being able to speak the same language and at the same level has let me and my colleagues talk about the specifics of the scientific process more openly than at other conferences I’ve been to. People enjoyed the presentations and I personally was pleased by one news agency staffer’s report on the use of machine learning in tracking articles. Perhaps because our team is in a similar situation right now: we have a practical issue and the need to solve it, one way or another. It was great to learn that someone has succeeded at that.

PhD student at ITMO University, Russia (YSC’2019 participant)

As a first-year PhD student, I found the Young Scientists Conference an opportunity to become part of the international academic community and to try my hand not only at writing articles but also presenting the results of my research. Here, you can get some useful feedback on your work and speak to legitimate scientists from around the world. For instance, a reviewer from the University of California gave me some great notes on my article about predicting people’s psychometrics based on social media. It allowed me to look at my research from a different point of view and improve my results.

I enjoyed the fact that this year’s conference included a two-days-long school with lecturers from the US, the UK, and Poland. Its main topic was the analysis of social networks and text data for the purpose of identifying moods on social media. This is a very hot topic right now. In addition to the scientific part, we had an extensive cultural program. The staff of the University of Crete gave us a tour of all of their labs and told us about their research.

Master student at ITMO University, Russia (YSC’2019 participant)

I decided to take part in YSC2019 because the conference is a great opportunity to begin one’s international research activities. There are many things you must do as a participant: write an article, have it reviewed, prepare a report, deliver it and answer the questions, then process the reviewers’ notes. All these things have their own specific quirks that you must learn about through practice.

To me, the biggest benefit of the conference is being surrounded by people who are just as into science as you are. Listening to so many reports has made me less afraid of the language barrier and expanded my scientific horizons. I also got to meet many interesting people. The reviews my article got were, undoubtedly, very useful and helped me improve it and look at my work from different perspectives. Overall, the conference has had a positive effect on my work. When I came home, I felt confident that I am moving in the right direction.

PhD student at the Kurchatov National Research Center, Russia (YSC’2018 participant)

My main line of research lies in developing image analysis computer algorithms and applying them for creating digital models to use in various scientific apps. Participating in the YCS-2018 conference allowed me not only to display and publish my work, but also to meet other scientists and learn from them. Above all, I’ve become much more confident in presenting my research in English, which I’m sure will be invaluable in my future career. Overall, I had a really great time; what I’ll remember most are the friendly working environment and the fascinating sightseeing tour.

Software Engineering. Expert at Codewise and PhD student at AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland (YSC’2018 participant)

I'm doing research in applying data stream processing to real-time analytics. It was my academic supervisor who encouraged me to participate in YSC-2018. I gave a presentation about optimizing Kafka for low latency systems. Thanks to the conference, I met lots of inspiring people who are trying to solve similar problems with different approaches, so I’ll definitely look into their work.

Master student at ITMO University, Russia (YSC’2020 school participant)

I am interested in such events because I am doing a master's degree and research in which I apply machine learning. At YSC, I went for new knowledge. Remote interaction did not cause any problems - we communicated with our teammates in chats, and mentors were in touch even outside the program schedule. While working on the project, we discovered interesting observations that will later be included in our scientific article. We plan to develop them further.