Dmytro Rzhemovskyi
Organisation | Wissenschaftliche Begleitung
AITHYRA Life Sciences School 2026
From August 23 to August 30, 2026 in Vienna
STEM education and the training of future scientists, innovators, and high-tech entrepreneurs play a key role in Ukraine's future recovery. The Ukrainian education system excels at identifying gifted youths and at nurturing them in specialised STEM schools and a highly-developed culture of science olympiads and research competitions. This experience should be studied and supported at the highest level, recognizing it as a national asset. Collaborative projects in STEM education between Ukraine and the EU will be to everyone's benefit and promote Ukraine's further integration into the EU.
The AITHYRA Life Sciences School is a one-week program for Ukrainian high school students who have excelled at science competitions in chemistry, biology and medicine. The goal is to foster the students’ interest in science, to introduce them to potential research careers, and to inspire them to apply their talents to shape Ukraine’s future. During their week in Vienna, participants will engage with leading scientists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), and the TU Wien.
This event is made possible by a generous gift of the AITHYRA, the support of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, our unbelievable volunteers, and the work of Dmytro Rzhemovskyi and his team from Mathematik macht Freude.
MmF
AITHYRA Life Sciences School 2026
AITHYRA
AITHYRA is a young research institute for biomedical artificial intelligence based in Vienna. With a generous donation from the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation it was founded in 2024 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. AITHYRA is led by world-renowned AI expert Michael Bronstein, internationally award-winning life scientist Georg Winter, and experienced science administrator Anita Ender. The institute’s research focuses on applying state-of-the-art AI approaches to problems in the life sciences, bringing together experts from various fields.
Enjoy the highlights of the program!
Program
Sunday, August 23
- 18:00 Arrivals in Vienna
- 18:30 − 19:30 Check-in at Hotel Geblergasse
- 20:00 − 21:00 Dinner at Centimeter bei den Stadtbahnbögen
Monday, August 24
Location:
AITHYRA − Research Institute for Biomedical Artificial Intelligence of the Austrian Academy of Sciences,
Helmut-Qualtinger-Gasse 2,
1030 Vienna
- 07:30 − 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 09:30 − 14:00 Program at AITHYRA (Coordinator: Michaela Herzig)
- 09:30 − 10:00 Greeting and Presentation of AITHYRA by Stefan Berhardt
- 10:00 − 10:30 Talk and by Alex Tong
- ML and Applications
- 10:30 − 11:00 Introductory talk by Elisabeth Heyes
- How Computers Learn
- 11:00 − 12:00 Tour of the robotics lab / Hands-on session with Elisabeth Heyes
- 12:00 − 12:30 Lunch at AITHYRA
- 12:30 − 13:30 Tour of the robotics lab / Hands-on session with Elisabeth Heyes
- 13:30 − 14:00 Talk by Lisa Hoffmann-Haas
- AI in Cancer Research
- 16:00 − 17:00 Visit to the Museum of Natural History
- 19:00 − 19:45 Dinner at Rebhuhn
Tuesday, August 25
Location:
University of Vienna,
Faculty of Chemistry,
Währinger Straße 42,
1090 Vienna
- 07:30 − 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 09:30 − 12:15 Talks and lab tours at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna
- Ellen Backus and the Research Group "Ultrafast and Nonlinear Spectroscopy"
- Freddy Kleitz and the Research Group "Porous Materials"
- Elisa Tomat
- Viktoriia Savchenko and the Böttcher Lab
- Tom Woodward and the Polymer & Composite Engineering Group
- 12:30 − 13:00 Lunch at the University of Vienna's Cafeteria (Kolingasse)
Location:
TU Wien,
Faculty of Technical Chemistry,
Getreidemarkt 9,
1060 Vienna
- 13:30 − 14:45 Talk by Esther Heid
- AI in Chemistry
- 16:00 − 17:00 Visit to Belvedere
- 18:30 − 19:15 Dinner by Radatz at the Faculty of Mathematics
Wednesday, August 26
Location:
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA),
Am Campus 1,
Klosterneuburg
- 07:30 − 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 09:10 − 09:45 Bus transfer to ISTA (Bus No. 400 (PDF, nicht barrierefrei))
- 10:00 − 15:00 Program at ISTA (Coordinators: Ana Rita Cavaco, Maksym Serbyn)
- ISTA Presentation
- Tour of VISTA Science Experience Center
- Jack Bravo and the Research Group "Bacterial immune systems"
- Carolina Camelo and the Research Group "Morphogenesis in Development"
- 13:00 − 13:45 Lunch at ISTA's cafeteria
- 15:10 − 15:50 Bus transfer to Vienna(Bus No. 400)
- 16:00 − 18:30 Free time
- 18:30 − 19:15 Dinner by Radatz at the Faculty of Mathematics
Thursday, August 27
Location:
CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Lazarettgasse 14
1090 Vienna
- 07:30 − 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 09:30 − 13:30 Program at CeMM (Coordinator: Wolfgang Däuble)
- Introduction to CeMM (Wolfgang Däuble)
- Lab tour Chemical Screening Facility (Anna Koren)
- Lab tour Proteomics/Metabolomics Facility (Miriam Abele)
- Lab tour Biomedical Sequencing Facility (Michael Schuster)
- Lunch at the CeMM's cafeteria
- Medical Campus / AKH tour by Christoph Bock
- 13:30 − 14:30 Guided tour of Josephinum by Oksana Musiienko
- 14:30 − 18:30 Free time
- 18:30 − 19:15 Dinner by Radatz at the Faculty of Mathematics
Friday, August 28
Location:
Vienna BioCenter
Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1
1030 Vienna
- 07:30 – 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 09:30 – 13:00 Program at Vienna BioCenter (Coordinators: Semhar Araya, Lauren Alteio)
- Presentation and guided tour of Vienna Biocenter
- Nick Irwin and the Research Group "Horizontal Gene Transfer in Plants and Algae"
- Pizza and Meet&Greet with scientists of the Vienna Biocenter
- 14:00 – 15:00 Guided tour of the Austrian National Library
- 15:00 – 19:00 Free time
- 19:00 – 20:00 Dinner at Sägewerk
Saturday, August 29
- 07:30 − 08:00 Breakfast at Hotel Geblergasse
- 10:00 − 12:00 Tour of Schönbrunn
- 12:30 − 13:15 Lunch by Radatz at the Faculty of Mathematics
- 13:30 − 18:30 Free time
- 18:30 − 19:30 Dinner at Centimeter bei den Stadtbahnbögen
Sunday, August 30
- 07:00 − 08:00 Breakfast and check-out at Hotel Geblergasse
- 10:40 Departure to Ukraine
Coordinator
For any questions regarding AITHYRA Life Sciences School, please feel free to contact Dmytro Rzhemovskyi via email at dmytro.rzhemovskyi(at)univie.ac.at.
