Invitation and Info about the ELSA General Assembly 2025
The third edition of the ELSA General Assembly will bring together the ELSA Consortium, ELLIS members, EU-funded partner Networks of Excellence, industry representatives and EU policymakers. This year, the General Assembly is organized by the ELSA Coordination Team from CISPA.
What: ELSA General Assembly
When: June 17 – 19, 2025
Where: Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union, Rue Montoyer 47, 1000 Brussels, BE
Deadline for Registrations: June 1st
We are excited to welcome you in Brussels!
Agenda
At the ELSA General Assembly, we not only want to share our network’s progress, but also give our Industry Call Winners as well as latest research insights a platform. This is what you can currently expect to hear and learn about.
June 17, 2025: Keynote and Poster Tuesday
| 8:45 – 9:00 | Registration |
| 9:00 – 9:10 | Welcome by the – Representative of the Representation of the Saarland to the European Union |
| 9:10 – 9:30 | Organisational Details, Agenda, ELSA Update – Mario Fritz. CISPA, ELSA Coordinator |
| 9:30 – 10:00 | Safe and Trustworthy AI at the EU AI Office – Representative of the EU AI Office |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | European Commission initiatives on Artificial Intelligence, including the AI Continent Action Plan – Representative of the European Commission |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break & Poster Exhibition |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Trustworthy AI in European Research: From Policy Vision to Scientific Practice – Helmholtz Brussels |
| 11:30 – 12:30 | ELSA Work Packages Updates |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | ELSA Use Case Session |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | Lunch Break & Poster Exhibition |
| 14:30 – 15:45 | Poster Pitch Session |
| 15:45 – 16:15 | Coffee Break & Poster Exhibition |
| 16:15 – 17:15 | Poster Session & Flex Time |
| from 19:00 | Social Dinner |
June 18, 2025: Industry & Workshop Wednesday
| 8:45 – 9:00 | Registration |
| 9:00 – 10:45 | Presentations – ELSA Industry Call 2 Winners |
| 10:45 – 11:10 | Coffee Break & Industry Call Poster Exhibition |
| 11:10 – 11:30 | Explainable Deepfake Detection for Industry Applications: Challenges and Opportunities – Philipp Dewald, Peter Stolz, Tim Walita. Detesia |
| 11:30 – 11:50 | Exploiting and Securing Real-World AI Agents – Luca Beurer-Kellner. Invariant Labs |
| 11:50 – 12:10 | ModSec-AdvLearn: Countering Adversarial SQL Injections with Robust Machine Learning – Giuseppe Floris. UNICA/PluribusOne |
| 12:10 – 12:30 | On challenges and approaches towards trustworthy AI in industry – Antoine Gautier. QuantPi |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch Break & Industry Call Poster Exhibition |
| 13:30 – 13:50 | “Bringing trustworthy, secure, and safe AI to market to make personalised health accessible” – Sara Okhuijsen. OASYS NOW |
| 13:50 – 15:20 | Workshop I & Workshop II |
| 15:20 – 15:45 | Coffee Break & Industry Call Poster Session |
| 15:45 – 17:15 | Workshop III & Workshop IV |
June 19, 2025: Excellence and Panel Thursday
| 8:45 – 9:00 | Registration |
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Keynote – Delft University of Technology |
| 9:30 – 10:00 | Building Trustworthy AI: Lessons from ELSA and ELIAS – Representatives of ELIAS/ELLIOT NoEs. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | “Making AI more trustworthy – Norwegian University of Science and Technology” – ENFIELD |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | “dAIEDGE: Secure and Safe Neuromorphic Computing” – Haralampos-G. Stratigopoulos. Sorbonne Université |
| 11:30 – 13:00 | Panel Discussion: Towards Best Practices in Secure and Safe AI: From Benchmarking and Auditing to Safety and Security by Design |
| 13:00 – 13:15 | Best Poster Award and Closing Ceremony – Mario Fritz |
| 13:15 – 14:00 | Lunch Break |
| from 15:00 | Social Event (optional): Visiting Choco Story Brussels |
Submit your ideas to the Program
Besides bringing the ELSA network together and opening up a space for collaboration and idea exchange, the assembly will offer you the opportunity to present your research to an audience of leading experts in artificial intelligence. We highly encourage you to apply to:
- present your research in a poster session
- pitch your poster and join the ELSA Best Poster Award competition
- host a cross-functional workshop
Poster Presentation and Pitches
When you register for the assembly, please highlight that you want to present a poster. The event offers two options: You can either only present your poster as part of the poster session or shortly pitch it too. With a four minute pitch, you automatically join the ELSA Best Poster Award!
In both cases, please notice that you will have to send your poster as a PDF file to the ELSA Coordination Team by June 8, 2025. The poster format should be max A0 in size and vertically orientated. Posters need to be printed by the presenters themselves.
You changed your mind about presenting a poster? Don’t worry, you can still join after you have already registered. Simply send an email to the ELSA Coordination Team (deadline June 8th).
Workshops
Do you want to contribute your ideas or research to the agenda? Then submit your registration via the button above and note that you want to present a poster or organize a workshop.
To submit your workshop proposal, we require some more details from you. Please use the template which we provide during the registration process. Alternatively, we provide poster and presentation templates upon request. Feel free to message us at elsa-coordination@cispa.de.
Good to know
Hotel
Attendees can book rooms in the B&B Hotel Brussels Centre Louise for a special price. To book, please use the hotel’s booking website and use the code “ELSAGA25” for a reduced price (please note that to use the code, you have to go through the booking process and use it in “Step 4 – Payment”).
Please note that this is only our hotel recommendation. You are free to stay in any hotel you like. There are plenty of other hotels at walking distance from the venue (The B&B Hotel Brussels Centre Louise is a convenient 23 minute walk from the event location.) However, Brussels is very popular, so we advise participants to book sooner rather than later.
Event Location
The General Assembly will take place at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union, located in Brussel’s European Quarter.
How to reach the event location
Brussels is easy to access via different means of transport:
By train
If you are travelling by train, you mostly get off at the station “Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid” In the station follow the white and blue M for metro signs and buy a ticket at the vending machine. You take the line 6, direction „Simonis (Elisabeth)“ and get off at the fifth station “Trône/Troon”. You leave the metro station to the direction “Montoyer”. Follow the rue Montoyer on 200 m. You will find the Representation of the State of North Rhine- Westphalia on the right hand side, number 47.
By car
You arrive in Brussels on the motorway A3/E40 and take the tunnel direction “Centre/Centrum”. After the tunnel, drive right away on the Avenue de Cortenbergh/Kortenberglaan up to the Rond-Point Schuman. On this roundabout, take the second exit and drive the “Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat”. Please keep your left and then turn left (third street) in “Rue de la Science/Wetenschapsstraat”: You will find 47 Rue Montoyer after 400 m.
By plane
You arrive by plane in the Brussels International Airport. You have three possibilities to get into the city:
- You take a taxi. Duration : approx. 30 minutes
- You take a train to “Gare Centrale/Centraal station” (level -1). Up to six trains an hour. Duration: approx. 20 minutes (see online). The ticket can be bought online, at the counter or the vending machine. At “Gare Centrale/Centraal station”, you take the metro of the Line 5 direction “Herrmann-Debroux” or Line 1 direction “Stockel/Stokkel”. You change at the second station « Arts/Loi – Kunst/Wet ». Then you take the Line 2 direction “Simonis (Léopold II)” or Line 6 direction “Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijn” and take off one station further « Trône/Troon”. Take the exit Montoyer. Follow the rue Montoyer about 200 m. The Representation of State North Rhine-Westphalia is on the right hand side at number 47.
- On level 0 (platform C) you can take the bus 12 „Brussels City“ to the station „Luxembourg“. Departure every 20 minutes. Duration : approx. 30 minutes (see online). From Monday to Friday, until 8 pm: bus number 12 operates an express service, only serving the main stops. During the week, after 8 pm and all day on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: bus number 21 operates a regular service, serving all stops. The ticket can be bought at the GO-vending machine before getting on the bus or in the bus itself.
We thank the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union for providing the information above.
Travel with ELSA
ELSA can support your travels to the General Assembly 2025 with its Mobility Fund. Read more about the eligibility criteria and start your application: