{"id":15053,"date":"2023-09-01T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T08:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/?p=15053"},"modified":"2024-06-24T11:54:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T09:54:09","slug":"summer-school-catania-phd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/summer-school-catania-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cREUNICE summer school was a fertile ground for learning new skills\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\r\n

Vincent Stragier, PhD student at\u00a0 University of Mons (<\/strong>UMONS, <\/strong>Belgium), was <\/strong>one of the twelve<\/strong> participant<\/strong>s<\/strong> in the<\/strong> inaugural REUNICE<\/strong> doctoral summer school<\/strong> organized from 10<\/strong>th<\/strong> to 14<\/strong>th<\/strong> July <\/strong>2023 <\/strong>b<\/strong>y <\/strong>the University of Catania (UNICT, <\/strong>Italy). <\/strong>He <\/strong>is sharing hereunder <\/strong>the feedback of <\/strong>his experience.<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

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In July, I attended the first REUNICE Doctoral Summer School<\/strong> on Sustainable Science\u00a0at the Universit<\/em>\u00e0<\/em> di Catania, Italia<\/em>. I applied to this doctoral summer school since one of the main topics, alongside sustainability, was explainable artificial intelligence (AI)<\/strong>.\u00a0This fitted with my learning path, as I\u2019m currently working on an AI research project and have been constantly taught about environmental responsibility throughout my whole time at UMONS.<\/p>\r\n

As an electrical engineer, it was truly enlightening to explore topics in and outside my field<\/strong> of expertise with quality speakers<\/strong>. I am pleased I got to discover subject\u00a0matters\u00a0which I wouldn\u2019t have explored otherwise,\u00a0like ecosystem services and ecological sustainability,\u00a0or sustainable mobility.<\/p>\r\n

I was fascinated\u00a0by how we can estimate the environmental impact and energy consumption of each means of transportation using quantifiable metrics. In addition to learning,\u00a0and more concretely, AI could help to greatly reduce the amount of taxis (from, 13\u00a0000 to 3,\u00a0000) in New York, as long as the clients would agree to share the rides.<\/p>\r\n

Diving deeper into\u00a0topics such as explainable AI and techniques we may use to build more explainable AI models was instructing.\u00a0Moreover, this topic is getting more\u00a0important as the European Commission is working on the Artificial Intelligence\u00a0Act<\/strong>, which is pushing towards more explainable AI systems.<\/p>\r\n

We also had the occasion to join the students of\u00a0the Contamination Lab Summer School, with whom we participated in two workshops.\u00a0One of them empowered us with tools for collaborative decision-making, a must-have nowadays<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_style” images=”15016,15017,15019,15018″ onclick=”link_no”][vc_column_text]\r\n

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Furthermore, this\u00a0week abroad was the opportunity to explore\u00a0Catania<\/strong>, which as the students taught us, had a crucial role during the Renaissance with artists like the composer Vincenzo Bellini. Thanks to the members of the EUNICE Student Board, we spent some time visiting the town center and tasting\u00a0regional dishes<\/strong>.\u00a0Besides, the Italian language is quite poetic.\u00a0This week was also the opportunity to practice Italian with the inhabitants of the island.<\/p>\r\n

On the last day of this adventure, we hiked\u00a0to\u00a0Mount Etna<\/strong>, where we were able to relax after this\u00a0intensive week while still learning the\u00a0geological specificities of Sicily with two interesting guides, professors at UNICT.<\/p>\r\n

Overall, this summer school was a fertile ground for learning new skills<\/strong>, connecting with, and meeting students, researchers, and professors from all over the EUNICE network. We are eager to potentially work on common projects.\u00a0Thanks to Gabriella Ventaloro for reviewing this article.\u00a0E <\/em>g<\/em>razie<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>a<\/em> tutti<\/em>!<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_style” images=”15020,15021,15022,15023″ onclick=”link_no”][vc_column_text]\r\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/4″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15025″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”3\/4″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\r\n

Vincent Stragier is a PhD student at the University of Mons<\/strong> (UMONS). He is working on an interactive assistant for visually impaired and blind individuals within the ISIA Lab<\/strong>, a department of the Faculty of Engineering. His project is funded through a PhD grant<\/strong> from the \u0152uvre f\u00e9d\u00e9rale Les Amis des Aveugles et Malvoyants ASBL \u2013 The Friends of the Blind and Visually Impaired Federal Charity -, Ghlin, Belgium and la Loterie Nationale. His research interests are mainly focused on NLP, large language models and computer vision related topics<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\r\n

In 2021, he obtained his master\u2019s degree in electrical Engineering<\/strong>, specialized in Signals, Systems and Bioengineering from the Faculty of Engineering in Mons. In 2020, he worked on improving an epilepsy detection pipeline as an intern at CETIC. During his studies, he participated in the electronic student association, electroLAB, and the Erasmus Student Network of Mons, ESN\u00a0Mons. In his free time, he likes photography, fixing various things<\/strong> (hardware and software related), learning new skills.<\/p>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vincent, PhD student at UMONS, was one of the twelve participants in the REUNICE doctoral summer school and shares his feedback of this experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":15026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[252],"tags":[699,464,2206,30,554,142],"class_list":["post-15053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-blog","tag-ai","tag-customised-education","tag-doctoral-summer-school","tag-european-universities","tag-reunice","tag-students"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-300x225.png",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-768x576.png",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"portfolio-thumb":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-600x403.png",600,403,true],"nectar_small_square":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-140x140.png",140,140,true],"portfolio-thumb_large":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-900x604.png",900,604,true],"portfolio-thumb_small":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-400x269.png",400,269,true],"portfolio-widget":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-100x100.png",100,100,true],"wide":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-1000x500.png",1000,500,true],"wide_photography":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-900x600.png",900,600,true],"wide_small":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-670x335.png",670,335,true],"regular":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-500x500.png",500,500,true],"regular_small":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-350x350.png",350,350,true],"tall":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-500x750.png",500,750,true],"wide_tall":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"large_featured":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD.png",1000,750,false],"medium_featured":["https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Blog-Preview-PhD-800x750.png",800,750,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"susiliesegang","author_link":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/author\/susiliesegang\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Vincent, PhD student at UMONS, was one of the twelve participants in the REUNICE doctoral summer school and shares his feedback of this experience.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15053"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18777,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15053\/revisions\/18777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eunice-university.eu\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}