26th Max Planck Advanced Course on the Foundations of Computer Science
10–14 August 2026, Saarbrücken, Germany
This year's ADFOCS will address the following question:
What foundational theoretical knowledge should a machine learning researcher have?
Beyond mathematical maturity, this course does not assume any machine learning knowledge.
Speakers
Kasper Green Larsen
Affiliation: Aarhus University
Topic: Theoretical Foundations of Machine Learning
Ankur Moitra
Affiliation: MIT and IAS
Topic: Theory for Large Language Models?
David Woodruff
Affiliation: CMU and Google
Topic: Using CS Theory Research for ML, and Using ML for CS Theory Research
The focus of the summer school will be on the following topics:
- Kasper Green Larsen: Theoretical Foundations of Machine Learning
- Ankur Moitra: Theory for Large Language Models?
- David Woodruff: Using CS Theory Research for Machine Learning, and Using Machine Learning for CS Theory Research
This summer school has an international scope, and its goal is to bring together leading researchers with international participants at the graduate level and above.
Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact us at adfocs@mpi-inf.mpg.de with questions.
ADFOCS is organized by Guy Even, Rex Lei and Danupon Nanongkai as part of the activities of the Algorithms and Complexity Group and the International Max Planck Research School of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.
Logo and T-shirt design by Aryan Agarwala.