Three talented students from Swansea University’s Zienkiewicz Institute recently returned from an inspiring and formative week at the international DataSLO Summer School, held in the picturesque town of Norcia, Italy, from June 23–27, 2025.
Fully funded to attend through the Phoenix project, Eman Alhayki, Rosie Finnegan, and Harry Bevan joined peers and faculty from around the world to explore cutting-edge topics in data science, machine learning, and computational optimisation – the core pillars of modern artificial intelligence.
The event featured lectures by internationally renowned researchers from institutions across the globe, namely New York University (USA), Swansea University (UK), University of the Basque Country (Spain), Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong), and Link Campus University (Italy).
The summer school brought together a truly global cohort, with students attending from four continents and ten different institutions, creating a vibrant and diverse learning environment.
Representing Swansea alongside the students was Dr. Fabio Caraffini, Associate Professor at the Zienkiewicz Institute, who delivered a series of lectures on heuristics for continuous optimisation, touching on topics such as differential evolution, covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategies and algorithmic structural bias. Dr. Caraffini also mentored a student group project focused on combinatorial optimisation, guiding participants through real-world problem-solving techniques.
The Swansea students not only deepened their technical knowledge but also embraced the opportunity to network with global faculty and fellow students, enhance their research skills, and immerse themselves in the collaborative spirit of the summer school. Their group project contributions were met with enthusiasm, and their active participation highlighted the strength and potential of Swansea’s next generation of researchers.
The participation of Eman, Rosie and Harry in DataSLO 2025 aligns with the Zienkiewicz Institute’s ongoing commitment to excellence in research, education, and international collaboration.
Beyond the academic rigour, the week in Norcia also offered moments of fun and cultural exchange, making the experience both intellectually enriching and personally memorable for the students, whose feedback is reported below.
“As someone who comes from a multidisciplinary research background (Human-Computer Interaction) i am always searching for new tools to add to my intellectual kit when conducting research in more quantitative measures. This is why i applied to join the summer school, so I can learn advanced concepts with Data Science and AI. What I got was a plethora of fantastic memories, with fascinating people, incredible venues, and most importantly a wealth of knowledge i can now draw upon to enhance how i approach research. The summer school is something i will remember throughout my life, and i would recommend people to come again to further events with DataSLO.” — Harry Bevan
“The DataSLO Summer School took place in a lovely municipal building in a picturesque small town that had unfortunately been severely affected by the earthquake in 2016. Attendees were from around the world and were working in many different areas of research. The variety of applications of data science that were represented there was truly astounding. In the lectures, which were delivered by world-class researchers, I learned many interesting methods, which I hadn’t encountered before and that I can directly apply to my PhD research in crop yield prediction. These ranged from some advanced statistical methods to heuristics and metaheuristics. The trip to the lentil fields in Castellucio was fascinating and the area was beautiful. However, it was sad to see the effects of climate change on the ecosystem as well as on the local economy (both agriculture and tourism).” — Rosie Finnegan
For more information about the summer school, visit the DataSLO page