The Mols Laboratory

Summer school participants will get free food and board at the Mols Laboratory research station.

Situated in the beautiful Mols Bjerge National Park, participants will develop new skills while immersed in Danish wildlife. Having recently become a “Nature National Park”, Mols Bjerge is home to a rewilding project in which Exmoor ponies and Galloway cattle are allowed to roam freely across large areas of the estate.

During automated monitoring field tests and extra-curricular excursions, participants will experience these rewilding agents in action, as well as the results of the rewilding process.

Course requirements

The course is designed for early career researchers interested in computational entomology, whether they come from a biological or data science background. Specific requirements are as follows:

• Programming experience – Candidates must demonstrate at least basic programming skills, ideally in python. Otherwise, candidates will be expected to develop those skills by the start of the course.
• Time commitment – You must confirm that, if selected, you will be able to dedicate time to prepare for the course (30h, remotely) and then physically attend the 5-day event.
• Above all, candidates must be excited to apply new technologies and methods to answer interesting biological questions!

Selection process

We will assess the motivation, competence and vision of applicants using this application form. The form requests the following:

• Motivation (Text) – You will need to provide a motivation statement (max 1500 characters) explaining your background, why you are interested in the topic, and what you hope to gain from the summer school. Ensure you explain what you have already done in this direction.
• CV (PDF) – You must provide a CV, which will help us understand your background, seniority and current expertise.
• Project idea (text) – Importantly, this course is project-based. You must describe, in 1500 characters, a specific research question or problem you (or others) have or (will have), related to insect ecology, behaviour, entomology, etc. Ensure you explain both the biological context and how this course would help you address this issue. Do not be afraid of being creative and thinking out of the box: your project could be to monitor behaviour in the field or in the lab; to detect or quantify traits in insect specimens; to build novel hardware or mobile applications; to automate a task you can already do or to obtain new content. We are interested in any project related to computational entomology, and will consider projects related to other terrestrial invertebrates.

Matching process

We will also ask you several additional questions during your application. Should you be selected, we will use this information to form teams of candidates based on complementary skills and interests.

Throughout the project work, you will work within your team to develop an independent project idea rooted in computational entomology. You will be supported throughout the process, both before and during the summer school, by a mentor who will work with you and your team, with multiple opportunities to exchange with other teams and mentors.

To complete your application, please fill out the application form by April 15th, 2025.

Last year we ran the first edition of ACCESS with (ACCESS-2024), which, due to the dedication of the students and mentors, was a huge success, and we learn a lot about from each other. In 2024, we received more than 100 applications, but could only select 20 participants. Therefore, we are thrilled to have an opportunity to run the course again and offer this learning opportunity to more.

More information and material is available on the ACCESS-2024 website.