Probability in Computer Science (PICS) 2024

PICS is the 5th school in the series of Foundations of Programming and Software Systems schools, an initiative of ACM SIGLOG, ACM SIGPLAN, the European Association on Theoretical Computer Science, and ETAPS (European Conference on Theory and Practice of Software Systems). PICS is not an ordinary PhD school. It crosses many disciplines, asking speakers from diverse research areas to deliver their favorite stories battle on use of probability in computer science. We have outstanding lecturers from different areas of computing such as security, AI, randomized algorithms, probabilistic databases, robotics and so forth. We invite attendees primarily from Computer Science and Mathematics, mostly PhD students, and exceptional MSc students from research-based programs.

The school will take place at IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark) from October 14–18, 2024. This location is in the near vicinity of the international airport of Copenhagen and close to the picturesque city centre.

The participants from overseas will be offered the opportunity to use the ETAPS association extended stay program.

Venue

PICS2024 will take place at IT University of Copenhagen, in the award-winning building designed by Henning Larsen architects. The university is located in the new part of the city, close to the city center and the airport. Denmark is not part of the euro zone, thus one needs to use Danish Kroner (DKK) for paying cash. However, a majority of stores and shops accept major credit cards.

Address

The IT University of Copenhagen is located at Rued Langgaards Vej 7, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.

Accommodation

Zoku (recommended)

Hotel ★★★★

Zoku Hotel is next to the IT University of Copenhagen and it is the preferred hotel by most people visiting or attending events at the IT University of Copenhagen. The city center and airport are easily reachable by metro. Use the code MORETHANAHOTEL in your booking to get a 15% discount.

Wakeup Copenhagen

Hotel ★★

Wakeup Copenhagen is located in Borgergade in the heart of Copenhagen and designed by the famous Danish architect Kim Utzon. All main attractions in Copenhagen are easily reachable by foot, bike or public transport, and there are plenty of restaurants and bars close by. You can easily get to the IT University of Copenhagen and the city center using the always-available Metro trains.

Imperial Hotel

Hotel ★★★★

Imperial Hotel is a quality hotel with modern Danish design. It is close to The Lakes in Copenhagen and has the largest cinema in all of Northern Europe. All main attractions in Copenhagen are easily reachable by foot, bike or public transport, and there are plenty of restaurants and bars close by. IT University of Copenhagen is reachable by public transport.

Budget-friendly options

Danhostel Copenhagen City

Hostel with private rooms ☆

Within walking distance to the IT University of Copenhagen, this hostel provides a good budget-friendly accommodation for the school. It is also close to the town square and attractions such as Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Tivoli Gardens.

Steel House Copenhagen

Hostel with private rooms ☆

A self-described luxury hostel in the trendy Vesterbro area with plenty of facilities: game room, gym, pool, cinema, green work space, etc. With a bit of walk, you can get to the IT University of Copenhagen using Bus or Metro in under 30 minutes.

CABINN Metro

Hotel ★★

Low priced hotel with modern design. Close to the Field’s shopping center, which includes a modern cinema with state of the art technologies and plenty of restaurants. You can easily get to the IT University of Copenhagen and the city center using the always-available Metro trains.

Traveling to Copenhagen

By train

Copenhagen can be easily reached by train either from Germany or from Sweden. There are multiple direct trains from these countries to Copenhagen, and the train station is centrally located, making it easy to quickly access any part of the city.

By plane

Copenhagen is very well-connected to many cities in Europe as well as to North America and Asia. There are direct flights from Toronto, New York, Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, as well as Tokyo, Bangkok and many others. From the airport, it takes 5EUR + 15-20 min by metro to reach the city centre of Copenhagen. The IT University of Copenhagen is easily reached from the airport in 20-30 minutes.

By car

Denmark can be reached either on land or by taking a ferry from Germany. Note that there is no free parking at the venue. It is best to arrange parking with your hotel if planning to come by car. Otherwise, the car park in front of the building is charged per hour.

Taxis

Taxis are good quality and easily accessible at the airport. The trip from the airport to the city costs around 300-350kr. All taxis accept major credit cards onboard.

How to reach IT University

IT University is easily reachable by metro, bike, foot or car. Almost everybody speaks English fluently, thus do not hesitate to ask for directions in case you are confused. In general, public transport and biking are the preferred ways of transportation. These are heavily used by the locals, and safe to use.

By Metro & Bus

The closest metro station is DR Byen. The Copenhagen metro system has four lines. To reach IT University, you must take the M1 line towards “Vestamager” if coming from the city center and get off at “DR Byen”. Walk near the canal and pass the big building (Danish Radio and TV) and once you reach the first car street—Kaj Munks Vej—, the IT University building is on the right.

Tickets can be purchased from all metro stations (but not bus stops!) using credit/debit cards or using an Android / iOS apps.

Using the bike

Copenhagen is renowned for its extensive bike paths. As anywhere in the city, IT University can be easily reached by bike from anywhere. The bike can be parked either in the building’s basement (which is locked between certain hours), or just outside the building like many people do. Make sure you follow the cycling rules and have proper bike lights if you intend to bike in Copenhagen.

Many hotels have bike rentals, so please check with them in case you wish to rent a bike.

Copenhagen has an extensive bike sharing program. The bikes can be borrowed and parked in many places (including around ITU) using their app.

Register

To register to PICS, please use the registration page.

All participants are encouraged to bring a poster presenting their research to the event. We will have a poster session during an opening reception on Monday. This will help you to introduce your work to other school participants. Furthermore, PhD students can obtain 2 ECTS credits, see below.

Below is information about prices and scholarships. If you have any questions, please contact us at pics2024@itu.dk.

Price

Early registration* (before September 1st, 2024)

• 2,350.00 DKK - Student/Postdoc
• 3,000.00 DKK - Regular Member (ETAPS, SIGLOG, SIGPLAN or EATCS)
• 3,200.00 DKK - Regular Non-member

Late registration** (after September 1st, 2024)

• 2,700.00 DKK - Student/Postdoc
• 3,350.00 DKK - Regular Member (ETAPS, SIGLOG, SIGPLAN or EATCS)
• 3,550.00 DKK - Regular Non-member

* Early registrations include banquet and social event.
** Late registrations are not guaranteed to include banquet and social event. It will depend on availability; we need to make the reservations before the early registration deadline.

ECTS credits for PhD students

The PhD school at the IT University of Copenhagen grants 2 ECTS credits for all PhD students who:

1. Participate in the entire scientific program.
2. Present a poster during the poster session on Monday.
3. Request the credits during the event.

If you comply with the requirements above, the PhD school will issue a diploma attesting the number of credits earned.

Scholarship

PICS has a small number of scholarships available for participating students and post-docs. The scholarship means a free registration (but you still need to fund the travel). Preference will be given to students and postdocs from countries where access to travel funds is difficult.

The deadline for application is 10 August 2024. Applicants are required to submit a short application (max. 1 page) electronically as an ASCII text file. The application should contain the following information:

• your name, affiliation, and e-mail address,
• the name and e-mail address of your research project supervisor (PhD supervisor, or post-doc supervisor)
• a short explanation of the reason(s) why funding is required, indicating whether your university is providing any funding for your trip and to what extent, and any specific information useful for assessing your case,

Please be considerate, the stipends are not meant to simply improve the budget situation of the students’ supervisors, but to enable participants from countries with low research funding to come to the PhD school.

To apply, please send your application with the subject “PICS 2024 Scholarship” to pics2024@itu.dk.

If your application for a registration fee waiver is accepted, you will receive a promotion code to register free of charge for PICS. If your application is rejected, you will still be able to register at the early rate (the notification will come early enough)-deadline rate.

Organizers

• Joost-Pieter Katoen (RWTH Aachen University)
• Andrzej Wąsowski (IT University of Copenhagen)
• Raúl Pardo (IT University of Copenhagen)

Contact

If you have questions, please contact us at pics2024@itu.dk