FAQ ESPR 2025
What?
The European Summer Program on Rationality (ESPR) is a 10-day program on applied rationality: how to work things out and make good decisions. More details about the curriculum here. ESPR 2025 is an 8th iteration of this program.
Who?
Students from any country between 16-19 years old are eligible. Usually around 30 attendees and a dozen staff.
When?
August 21st - 31st 2025 (exact dates might change a bit)
Where?
At a stay-on-site venue in Somerset, 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 past 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.
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 is the venue like?
Our venue is a country mansion built in the 16th century, surrounded by beautiful English countryside. We will stay on site, spend the days running activities both inside and outside in the grounds (for those who wish), and eat the food prepared by our chefs in the Great Hall. The venue has around 20 bedrooms.
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 welcome 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.
Who is running this and how is it funded?
ESPR is run by FABRIC, a non profit educational organization based in Prague, Czechia. FABRIC’s activities consist mostly of running multiple camps like ESPR per year in Europe and Asia, and supporting the growing alumni community. All our activities have been funded by a generous grant from the Open Philanthropy Project, which allows us to keep the programs free and available to students from all over the world.
What is the history of FABRIC and ESPR? What’s the difference between ESPR, FABRIC, WARP and SPARC?
The first camp, called EuroSPARC, was established in 2016 and was inspired by and affiliated with the Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC) in the USA. Follow-up camps, renamed ESPR, were held in the UK in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Jan Kulveit became ESPR's new director, and operations moved under a new European legal entity based in Prague, Czechia. Since 2022, increased resources have enabled us to scale up to multiple camps per year. In recent years, the team's activities expanded beyond Europe (ASPR), and in 2023, they were unified under a new brand called FABRIC.
Lastly, the WARP camp is a joint venture between FABRIC and SPARC, alternating between Europe and the US each year depending on which organization runs it.
Who are FABRIC and ESPR alumni?
The alumni community consists of almost 400 people from all over the world, the vast majority of them are either in their university years or younger. They are up to many things from composing music, founding startups, researching AI to writing sci-fi stories and math doodling.
Who are ESPR instructors?
Academics, researchers, jacks of all trades, entrepreneurs, musicians, superforecasters, and others. What connects them is that they enjoy teaching, learning and figuring things out, and like it so much that they leave their normal lives for two whole weeks to attend a camp.
Information for parents and guardians
We understand that for many of our students, attending the camp may be their first experience traveling abroad and independently. Our goal is to make their journey and stay as smooth and comfortable as possible. To ensure this, we provide assistance with travel arrangements to the venue, and all minors are met at the airport by a member of our camp team.
Additionally, we prioritize the proper training of our staff, including having team members certified in first aid and crisis intervention. If you have any concerns about your child’s participation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.