TALES Second Training Event – Petnica Science Center, Valjevo, Serbia, 13-18 September 2026
Between September 13 and 18th 2026 the TALES Doctorate Candidates (DCs) gathered at the Petnica Science Center (PSC) in western Serbia, 7 km from Valjevo, for the second TALES school on advanced data analytics. This time we opted for a different and more exciting learning approach: instead of traditional lectures, the event followed a hackathon format.
Figure Caption: Participants of the second TALES training event @Petnica Science Center.
The DCs were challenged with real-world astrophysical big-data problems, which they tackled by developing their own machine learning models. One project, led by Paula Sánchez-Sáez, focused on hunting for anomalies of any kind, from flares and extreme variability to contaminants and artifacts, among more than 230,000 AGN light curves from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). Another project, led by Paolo Bonfini (Astrostat Academy), asked teams to measure the time delays between the multiple images of gravitationally lensed quasars, a key ingredient for measuring the Hubble constant and shedding light on the Hubble tension.
The DCs were split into four randomly selected teams, which meant working with new people and bringing together different skills and backgrounds. Lecturers and supervisors were on hand throughout, but the ideas, code and solutions came from the teams themselves.
Figure Caption: TALES DCs caught on action while collaborating in groups to tackle their data challenges during the hackathon.
Following the 3-day long Machine Learning Hackathon, the DCs attended a workshop on oral and written presentation skills led by, led by Sofia Facal Belli from Skills4Science. For 1.5 days the DCs were exposed to best practices on how to communicate science and disseminate their results.
Figure Caption: A glimpse of the hackathon lecture (left) and the Oral & Written Communication Skills workshop (right).
The event was put together by the Program Committee:
- Antonis Georgakakis (NOA)
- Andjelka B. Kovačević(UB-Matf)
- Dragana Ilić (UB-Matf)
- Paula Sánchez-Sáez (ESO)
- Paolo Bonfini (Astrostat Academy)
- Giorgos Vernardos (Astrostat Academy)
- Grigoris Maravelias (Astrostat Academy)
It was an intense but rewarding week, full of problem-solving, coding and plenty of good conversations. A big thank you to the Program Committee, to our wonderful local organizers, Dragana and Andjelka, to our lecturers Paula, Paolo and Sofia, and to the Petnica Science Center for hosting us, and well done to all our DCs for their hard work and enthusiasm!
Events organized by the TALES Consortium can be found at the dedicated Indico pages : https://indico.global/category/1450/ . Stay tuned for more exciting TALES adventures!
