Topics and Speakers

The KCDS Summer School 2026 focused on Graph Neural Networks, covering both fundamental concepts and practical applications. It took place September 21-25, 2026 at KIT Campus South. 

A mix of lectures and interactive sessions provided insight into the mathematical foundations as well as real-world use cases of graph-based machine learning methods.

Further, the program included:

• a poster session and networking dinner on the first day

• social events including hiking and bouldering

• hands-on tutorials with a focus on applications

• sessions combining theoretical perspectives with practical examples 

Full program: https://indico.kit.edu/event/5562/

We thank our speakers:

• Jan Stühmer (HITS and KIT)

• Ismail Ilkan Ceylan (TU Vienna and AITHYRA)

• Petar Veličković (Google DeepMind and University of Cambridge)

• Joel Oskarsson (ETH Zurich AI Center)

  Arghya Bhowmik (Technical University of Denmark)

Heartfelt thanks also to everyone who made this week special: All participants and supporters behind the scenes!

This course was made possible through Course Funding by HIDA, which supported its development and implementation.