FAQ
What?
A 10-day program on applied rationality: how to work things out and make good decisions. More details about the curriculum here.
Who?
Students from any country between 16-19 years old are eligible. Usually around 30 attendees and a dozen staff.
When?
August 15th - 25th 2024
Where?
Oxford, United Kingdom
Price?
Free! (tuition, meals, and lodging). Travel scholarships are available.
What do we actually do?
We run sessions on things like Information theory, cryptography, communication skills, game theory, judgment under uncertainty, and AI. See the Program page for an example of a day at ESPR.
We also help participants design and run their own content! Examples from recent years include: successfully inviting Stephen Wolfram to give an online talk, participant lectures, professional Go tutorials, and ultra-fast language learning.
We have talks by intellectuals from a variety of fields; past ESPR speakers have included renowned theoretical scientist Scott Aaronson and grand futures researcher Anders Sandberg.
Is the camp for me?
At ESPR, we're all about better thinking and how that translates into better doing. We welcome students curious about decision-making and modeling the world. If you're passionate about cognitive science, mathematics, philosophy, economics, logic or history, we'll probably love to have you!
How to apply?
See the Apply page. The first application deadline has already passed and we know have a higher bar for acceptance. The extended and final deadline is Sunday May 26th, end of day anywhere on earth.
What’s the difference between ESPR and PAIR (Program on AI and Reasoning)?
The Program on AI and Reasoning (PAIR) is another workshop run by the FABRIC team, specifically focused on artificial intelligence, cognition, and reasoning in general.
There is some content overlap between the workshops, but the PAIR camp will have more technical and experimental content.
PAIR will run in Cambridge, United Kingdom. We welcome all students who are 16 - 21 years old.
Can I apply to both ESPR and PAIR?
Yes! We expect there to be a large overlap between people who would enjoy PAIR and ESPR. The application form and process is the same for both camps, you can indicate whether you are applying for one of them or both.
However, it will not be possible to attend both of the camps this year as we want to give more people the opportunity to attend our programs.
I’m not 16 yet. Can I still apply?
Unfortunately, we can’t accept anyone younger than 16 years old due to venue restrictions.
I’m older than 19 but still interested in attending the camp!
If you’re 20, you can apply for our other camp, PAIR, we’ll run this summer which is focused on AI, see its website for more information.
You can also subscribe for updates, we might run an event for older students in the future.
What’s the difference between ESPR, FABRIC, ASPR and SPARC?
In the beginning, there were two projects: Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC) which runs camps in the USA, and later the European Summer Program on Rationality (ESPR), which runs in the UK. In the last few year, the activities of the ESPR team expanded outside Europe and in 2023 they were united under a new brand called FABRIC. We usually say that it would be quite funny if one of our other projects, the Asian Spring Programme on Rationality (ASPR), was run by European Summer Program on Rationality!
Who’s funding ESPR?
All our activities are funded by a generous grant from the Open Philanthropy Project.