Blog: Our Exciting Summer School Experience in Copenhagen
Day 1: Kicking Off with Inspiring Talks
The event started with a compelling keynote lecture from Randall Balestriero, who passionately discussed the importance of Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) for Earth Observation. He highlighted current open challenges in SSL, setting a motivating tone for the week. In the afternoon, Puzhao Zhang enlightened us on the main challenges and opportunities in Earth observation, providing a solid foundation for the days ahead.
Day 2: Diving Deeper into Geospatial Data
Our second day began with an inspiring talk by Mark Rußwurm on encoding location information from geospatial data into neural networks, resonating with some of our own preliminary thoughts. We then had the pleasure of meeting Konstantin Klemmer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantinklemmer/), co-author of a positional paper advocating for different methodologies for satellite images versus natural images. His session on learning Neural Representations from Earth Observation data was followed by a practical workshop on location embeddings. We also attended an insightful lecture by Xiaoxiang Zhu on Foundational Models for Earth and Climate observation, and a presentation on Multi-Modal Foundational Models using Neural-Plasticity inspired ideas by Zhitong Xiong. The day ended with a memorable canal cruise through Copenhagen and a delightful dinner at Reffen street food market.
Day 3: Hands-On Learning and Mini-Projects
On Wednesday, Jan Dirk Wegner gave a fascinating talk on environmental monitoring projects utilizing deep learning. This was followed by the introduction of our mini-projects, where we applied the knowledge we had gained to investigate the use of augmentations on satellite imagery. We also participated in a poster session, sharing our projects with fellow participants.
Day 4: Engaging Discussions and Cultural Immersion
Thursday featured an informal chat with Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño from Clay AI for Earth. He encouraged us to become 360-degree independent researchers after completing our PhDs. The afternoon included a visit to a nearby museum, just 150 meters from the institute, and concluded with a closing dinner at Spiseloppen, fostering a sense of camaraderie among participants.
Day 5: Wrapping Up with Group Presentations
On the final day, we presented our mini-project findings to the group. It was a fulfilling experience to see the culmination of our efforts and learn from each other’s work. The entire week was a fantastic blend of education, collaboration, and cultural exploration.
We are immensely grateful to the organizing team of SSL4EO for creating such a wonderful and enriching experience. Our time in Copenhagen was both educational and unforgettable, leaving us inspired and motivated to continue our work in Earth observation.
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