Application for UEF Summer School courses will begin February 1st, 2025. The application deadline is June 1st, 2025. .
NB! All courses are held on-site only.
Upcoming courses are listed below. Descriptions TBA.
Courses 2025
Philosophical Faculty
Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education:
Peppi code:
Course dates: 11-22 August 2025
Learning outcomes
After completing the study unit, the student will be able to
- understand concepts and perspectives underlying diversity in educational settings
- apply theoretical knowledge in observing and understanding learners' diversity in education
- recognize and value cultural diversity and its significance in education, training, pedagogical activities as well as in individuals and their behaviours
- evaluate the significance of education and pedagogical activity for developing cooperation and mutual understanding between individuals in operational environments of education, in-school and out-of-school
The study unit develops the following generic skills/generic competence:
Internationality, Critical thinking, Interaction and communication, Ethics
Content
- Key concepts: cultural iceberg, linguistically responsive teaching, multilingualism and multiculturalism in education, intercultural sensitivity.
- Cultural traditions and diversity in educational encounters. Communication styles and values in teacher-student relationships.
- Diversity and equity in education. Differentiated education, inclusive education
- Responding to diversity in education and the role of special education.
- Teacher collaboration in developing diverse education.
The maximum number of participants is 16.
The course is aimed at Finnish and international Master’s level students of Education in particular. Bachelor and Doctoral level students are also welcome given that they have a suitable background related to the field of education. Applicants from around the world are welcome.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Peppi code:
Course dates: 18-22 August 2025
The nature-based crafts and making -course will explore how nature is interwoven with the craft-making process, including its role as a source of inspiration, cultural influences, and material resources. Through this intensive course, we will examine the human-nature interaction, explore the cultural and artistic expressions manifested in craft-making and craft artifacts, as well as investigate the pedagogical potential of nature-based crafts and making practices. Concurrently, participants will learn basic craft techniques, become familiar with materials and their manipulation. The course will integrate theoretical and practical approaches, providing viewpoints on nature-based crafts. The course activities will include hands-on exercises, a field trip, and reflective components. Preparatory work will consist of a 2-hour video introduction and learning tasks to be completed prior to the intensive study week taking place from Monday, August 18th through Friday, August 22nd, with sessions scheduled daily from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Taitola Building, on the UEF’s Joensuu campus. Following the intensive week in Joensuu, the participants will be required to submit a reflective learning assignment summarizing their experiences by the end of September 5th. An online learning management system (eLearn) will be utilized throughout the course. Participants will receive enrollment information for the LMS upon acceptance to the course.
Applicants are required to submit a motivation letter as a part of the application process.
- The letter should concisely convey your interest in and motivation to participate in the Nature-Based Crafts and Making course by addressing the following: Provide an overview of your academic background and current level of studies.
- Describe any previous experience you have with crafts and making. If you do not have any such experience, please indicate that as well. Lack of prior experience in is not a barrier to participation.
- Explain your reasons for applying to the Nature-Based Crafts and Making course
- Outline what you hope to learn and gain from participating in this course.
- Discuss how you plan to apply the insights, knowledge, and skills acquired from this course in the future.
The Nature-Based Crafts and Making course has a maximum enrollment of 20 participants.
The participants will be selected and notified no later than June 1st, 2025. Those accepted into the course will receive an information letter along with the LMS enrollment key and a preliminary assignment to be completed prior to the start of the program.
The course is primarily aimed at Finnish and international Master’s level students in the field of Education. Bachelor’s and Doctoral level students from diverse academic backgrounds are also welcome to apply, provided they have some background related to the field of education or another closely aligned discipline (i.e. psychology, design and visual arts, sociology…). Applicants from around the world are welcome.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology
School of Computing:
Peppi code:
Course dates: 11-22 August 2025
Learning Analytics (LA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been increasingly integrated in education over the past decades. Both LA and AI have provided innovative ways to enhance teaching, learning, and improve decision making processes. Over the past years, they helped offer personalized learning, predictive analytics, automated assessment and feedback as well as supported teachers and administrators to offer innovative educational solutions. The recent rise in AI capabilities introduced several advancements that have changed how educational materials are developed, personalized, and delivered. Furthermore, AI is also changing the ways students’ data is collected, analyzed, assessed or researched.
This LA and AI in education course will offer a framework for understanding of the new emerging fields and explain how data can be optimally collected and analyzed in education. The course will address the principles of LA and AI, discuss the ethical issues, the main foundational principles and the theoretical background behind LA and AI. The course will also introduce real-life examples with real-data and authentic scenarios and applications where the attendees will practice with hands-on analysis.
More importantly, the course will introduce the tools and methods and train the attendees on using LA and AI methods. For instance, attendees will use process mining to analyze learning processes, practice sequence analysis to trace how learning unfolds, or apply explainable AI to predict students in need of help. Students will use AI to generate learning and assessment materials, analyze data, automate feedback or augment explainable AI.
The course’s main strategy will be building students’ knowledge and skills with an emphasis on hands-on practice with real-life data, tools and methods where the students will not only learn how-to but will also practice to do the analysis and build their skill set in LA and AI. Most importantly, the knowledge and skills acquired in the course can be easily transferable to other fields in which analytics and AI are relevant.
The instructors have vast experience in the field with over 200 publications, two LA and AI and have run the same course nine times with students from over 30 countries. You can look at the profile of them here : and or . All inquiries and questions about the course can be directed to mohammed.saqr@uef.fi.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Peppi code:
Course dates: 1 week option 11-15 August 2025, 2 week option 11-22 August 2025
Basics of machine learning (one day + practical component)
What is a machine learning model? Differences between supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning modes of learning. Focus is on deep learning models, the basics of it will be quickly revised. Recently introduced self-supervised deep learning models will be introduced.
AI agents (two days of lectures + practical component)
The course introduces the basics of reinforcement learning and how autonomous systems can be implemented and trained. In the course we learn how to train software agents (such as playing games, dialog systems, etc.) and how to train physical agents such as robots through simulations. Some of the lectures in this section will be given by Dr. Andrew Melnik from Bielefeld University and Dr. Anssi Kanervisto from Microsoft Research, Cambridge.
Practice component (two days)
During the section, students implement a software agent that can play a computer game by programming (Python). An agent is a statistical model whose parameters are then learned by playing the game. There are many different models and training algorithms, and it is expected that advanced students will be able to try several of these during these two days. During the final day, students’ agents are pitted against each other in a tournament and we will recognize three best performing agents.
Students will gain 3-5 ECTS (1 week: 3 ECTS / 2 weeks: 5 ECTS)
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Peppi code: TBA
Course dates: 11-22 August 2025
Learning outcomes
- Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
Understand the fundamental principles and components of industrial robotics and automation systems. - Analyze and design robotic systems for industrial applications, including kinematics, dynamics, and control.
- Apply programming techniques for robotic manipulators and automated systems.
- Integrate sensors, actuators, and controllers into industrial automation workflows.
- Evaluate and implement modern approaches in robotics, such as machine learning, computer vision, and collaborative robots.
- Critically assess the societal and ethical implications of automation and robotics in industrial environments.
Content
Overview of robotics in industry; historical evolution, core applications, and trends. Social, ethical, and environmental aspects of industrial automation. Robotic programming languages and frameworks (such as ROS 2), simulation environments (Gazebo, MoveIt), and task-specific programming. Fundamentals of forward and inverse kinematics, motion planning, and robot dynamics. Introduction to PID control, trajectory generation, and adanced control strategies. Role of sensors (vision, force, proximity) and perception in robotic systems. PLCs, SCADA, IoT, and their integration with robotic systems for automation. Collaborative Robots and Human Robot Interaction (concepts, safety standards, and applications of cobots in industrial settings). Applications of AI and ML techniques in robotics, including predictive maintenance and adaptive learning. Real-world examples of robotics and automation systems in manufacturing, logistics, and other sectors.
Learning materials
- Industrial Robotics: Theory, Modelling and Control (IntechOpen):
- An Introduction to Ethics in Robotics and AI (Springer Cham):
- Lecture notes and other online materials for self-learning from the UEF Robotics and Robotics & XR courses (getting familiar with the materials before the summer school course is recommended)
- Recommended book to purchase: The Industrial Robot Book (The Robotics Society in Finland),
Maximum number of participants: 20.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Department of Physics and Mathematics:
Peppi code:
Course dates: 18-22 August 2025
Website:
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes in this summer school are to equip students with the skills and mindset needed to drive innovation in the field of photonics. Participants will get insights on trends in photonics, get familiarized with principles like design thinking and problem-solving, and develop techniques for generating and refining ideas. They will enhance collaboration skills and tackle real-world challenges provided by industry partners. A special focus is placed on understanding the importance of multidisciplinarity, as students are encouraged to draw on their prior knowledge of photonics and explore how its expertise drives innovation across diverse fields.
Content
The summer school includes lectures on innovation tools and techniques, such as design thinking and creative problem solving. Industry partners will share real-world insights and offer talks, motivating students with practical examples from the field. Additionally, students will work in smaller teams on real-world challenges strengthening their collaboration skills. This summer school is suitable for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences:
Peppi code:
Course dates: 11-22 August 2025
The course on "Ecology and Climate" change will focus on the interactions of climate change, soils and water in headwatersheds. Climate change will change soil processes quite drastically. As a result, aquatic ecosystems' resilience is also affected because these are closely linked to soils. As an interdisciplinary project the summer school will deal with ecological, socio-cultural and economic aspects of climate change. There will be an important hands-on component where we will learn field and lab methods. The summer school will be organised jointly with the Eco2adapt and Microeco projects as a collaboration of the Universities of Eastern Finland, the University of Belgrade (Serbia), CATIE (Costa-Rica) and the Zhejiang A&F (China) Universities.
NB! Course is organized in Joensuu, Finland. Remote/online participation is not possible.
NB! This course is held in Kuopio campus
Peppi code:
Course dates: 11-15 August 2025
The seminar handles timely topics of environmental modeling. Yearly 2-3 selected application areas of environmental modeling are studied in the seminar presentations. The study unit develops the following generic skills/generic competences: digitalization, internationality, sustainability and responsibility, critical thinking, identification and development of expertise, interaction and communication.
The student is required to attend at least 80% of the seminar sessions. Additionally, they are required to write and submit a report of about 5 pages or give their own presentation in the seminar.
NB!
This course is organized at UEF’s Kuopio campus. Participants should be sure to prepare accommodation and make travel plans for Kuopio accordingly. It is not possible to acquire accommodation from Joensuu and participate in the course in Kuopio, as there is a distance of approx. 150 kilometres between the cities.
As the course is organized separately from other Summer School courses and in a different city, participation fees will not be charged. UEF Summer School is not organizing separate social programme for the course duration in Kuopio.
Course contact person
Social programme
Your stay here at the UEF will not be studying only - although that can be fun, too.
You can enjoy the eastern Finnish nature on your leisure time. Why not try out, for example, canoeing on the river or lake, play beach volley, go Nordic walking in the forest, take a sauna and go swimming in our beautiful lakes? Or you can just relax with your fellow students on the numerous terraces and cafeterias around our campus cities.
We hope you enjoy your stay in Finland. That’s why we will also organise some guided social programme during the weeks and the weekend.
Registration to the social programme is done separately from course application and course registration.
The social programme for 2025 will be published later in summer.
Monday 5 August
Welcome Dinner
Tuesday 6 August
Walking City Tour
Thursday 8 August
Hangout picnic
Saturday 10 August
Trip to Kuopio
Tuesday 13 August
Karelian Pie Workshop
Wednesday 14 August
Sauna Evening
Friday 16 August
Farewell Dinner