European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems. ELLIS - the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems - is a pan-European AI network of excellence which focuses on fundamental science, technical innovation and societal impact. Founded in 2018, ELLIS builds upon machine learning as the driver for modern AI and aims to secure Europe’s sovereignty in this competitive field by creating a multi-centric AI research laboratory. ELLIS wants to ensure that the highest level of AI research is performed in the open societies of Europe and consists of 43 sites, 16 research programs and a pan-European PhD & Postdoc Program.

History 
The organization was inspired by the Learning in Machines and Brains program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. ELLIS was first proposed in an open letter to European governments in April 2018, which stated that Europe was not keeping up with the US and China. It urged that European governments act to provide opportunities and funding for world-class AI research in Europe.

It was founded on 6 December 2018 at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS).

Board 
The members of the board are: 

 Serge Belongie (University of Copenhagen & Cornell University)
 Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi (Università degli Studi di Milano)
 Florence d'Alché-Buc (Télécom Paris)
 Nada Lavrač (Jožef Stefan Institute)
 Neil D. Lawrence (University of Cambridge)
 Nuria Oliver (ELLIS Alicante Unit Foundation | Institute of Humanity-centric AI)
 Bernhard Schölkopf (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems) Chairman 
 Josef Sivic (Czech Technical University, École Normale Supérieure & INRIA)
 Sepp Hochreiter (Johannes Kepler University Linz) Board guest

ELLIS sites 
ELLIS is creating a network of research sites distributed across Europe and Israel. Currently, there are 43 sites in 17 countries. The long-term goal is to establish a set of world-class ELLIS institutes, each acting as the core of a local AI ecosystem.

Research programs 
In addition to ELLIS units, a European network of top researchers working at locations throughout Europe is being established, organized into 14 ELLIS Programs. These Programs, directed by outstanding European researchers and including leading researchers as Program Fellows, focus on high-impact problem areas that have the potential to move the needle in modern AI.

The ELLIS Programs are inspired by the CIFAR Program model, and closely collaborate with the CIFAR LMB (Learning in Machines and Brains) Program. Each Program has a budget for 2-3 workshops/year to enable meetings of 10-15 Fellows plus guests for intensive scientific exchange. Workshops can be co-located with academic meetings (usually) held in Europe, or organised as stand-alone events, usually at (and with the support of) ELLIS unit sites.

PhD & Postdoc Program 
The ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program supports excellent young researchers by connecting them to leading researchers across Europe and offering a variety of networking and training activities, including summer schools and workshops. ELLIS PhDs and postdocs conduct cutting-edge curiosity-driven research in machine learning or a related research area with the goal of publishing in top-tier conferences in the field.

There are two tracks within the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program: the academic track and the industry track. These tracks have separate requirements for admission and criteria for activity during the appointment, but otherwise offer the same benefits, network and resources to the applicant. 

Academic track

PhD students and postdocs in the academic track strive for international collaboration as they partner with two European academic institutions in their research. These candidates are supervised by two advisors from different European countries: one of the advisors must be an ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty; the other advisor should be an ELLIS fellow, scholar, unit faculty or member. PhDs and postdocs in the program visit the exchange institution for min. 6 months (the partitioning of this time is flexible). Normally, the exchange is partially sponsored by the exchange institution; students can also apply for the ELISE mobility grant to support their exchange.

Industry track

The industry track is open to PhD and postdoc candidates that will be part of a collaboration between an academic institution and an industry partner, and will spend time conducting research at the industry partner during their PhD or postdoc. The candidate will spend a minimum of 50% of their time at the academic institution, and at least 6 months (cumulative) with the industry partner. 

For this track, both advisors may be located in the same country. One advisor will represent the academic institution and the other the industry partner. One advisor must be an ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty. The second advisor can be an ELLIS fellow, scholar, member, unit faculty OR it is also possible for the second advisor to join if they have co-authored a paper with the applying student as a result of their collaboration, in a top-tier venue in machine learning or related sub-fields (details here).

Calls and admissions: There is a yearly central call for applications in fall, which will be announced on the ELLIS website. Admission to the program is competitive. For reference, about 5-10% of eligible applicants are accepted via the central call. The next chance to apply via the central recruiting is in fall 2024. Nomination to the program (for students who already started their PhD with ELLIS faculty) is possible year-round.

References 

Artificial intelligence associations
2018 establishments in Europe
Organizations established in 2018