School on Machine Learning and AI Methods at LHC

Asia/Karachi
IBA, Karachi, Pakistan
Description

Welcome to the School on Machine Learning and AI Methods at LHC

This school is designed for students interested in learning how modern machine learning and AI techniques are applied in particle physics in the experimental particle physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The School will take place in person at IBA University, Karachi, Pakistan from July 13 to July 17 2026. There is no registration fees.

The program combines introductory lectures, expert talks, and hands-on tutorials to provide participants with both the theoretical foundations and practical experience needed to understand and apply AI methods in high-energy physics. Topics include machine learning fundamentals, anomaly detection, generative AI, transformers, real-time inference, and FPGA deployment for low-latency applications.

The school consists of three main workshop days, complemented by two pre-school sessions covering the basics of particle physics and machine learning. Participants will also take part in practical exercises using real-world physics-inspired problems, including event classification, flavour tagging, jet substructure analysis, and model optimization for hardware deployment.

Whether you are new to machine learning or looking to explore its applications in fundamental physics research, this school offers an excellent opportunity to learn from leading researchers working at the intersection of AI and particle physics.

We encourage all interested participants to register and join us.

Speakers includes:

  • Dr Ashfaq Ahmad (National Centre for Physics, Pakistan)
  • Dr. Jackson Burzynski (Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma, USA)
  • Dr. Pietro Vischia (Senior Researcher, University of Oviedo, Spain) 
  • Dr. Vinicius Mikuni (Associate Professor at the Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute, Japan)
  • Dr. Davide Fiacco (Postdoctoral Researcher at Université de Genève, Switzerland) 
  • Dr. Rizwan Qureshi (Associate Professor at Salim Habib University, Pakistan)
  • Dr. Tommaso Dorigo (Researcher for the Italian institute for nuclear physics)
  • Dr. Davide Fiacco (PostDoc at the ETH Zurich)
  • Mr. Enrico Lupi (PhD Student at the ETH Zurich)
  • Dr. Jesse Thaler (Professor at the MIT Department of Physics)

 

Organizing Committee

  • Dr. Babar Qureshi (Professor at IBA University)
  • Dr. Hamza Hanif (Affiliated researcher at MODE Collaboration)
  • Mr. Muhammad Bilal Khan (PhD Candidate at University of Delaware)
Registration
Registration form
    • 09:00 17:00
      Preschool 8h
    • 11:30 13:45
      Preschool 2h 15m
    • 14:40 15:00
      Opening Remarks 20m
      Speaker: Prof. Shakeel Khoja (IBA)
    • 15:00 16:00
      Physics at the Large Hadron Collider 1h
      Speaker: Dr Ashfaq Ahmad (National Centre for Physics)
    • 16:00 16:50
      Introduction to Machine Learning for Physics 50m
      Speaker: Dr Pietro Vischia (University of Oviedo)
    • 16:50 17:10
      Coffee break 20m
    • 17:10 18:10
      Into the Belly of Transformers 1h
      Speaker: Dr Rizwan Qureshi (Salim Habib University)
    • 18:10 19:10
      Anomaly Detection / Unsupervised Learning 1h
      Speaker: Dr Jackson Burzynski (University of Oklahoma)
    • 10:00 11:30
      Tutorial - Anomaly Detection 1h 30m
      Speaker: Saad Mohiuddin
    • 11:30 12:30
      AI-based Generative Modeling at the LHC 1h
      Speaker: Dr Vinicius Mikuni (Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute)
    • 12:30 14:10
      Lunch break 1h 40m
    • 14:10 15:00
      AI-based Generative Modeling at the LHC 50m
      Speaker: Dr Vinicius Mikuni (Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute)
    • 15:00 16:30
      Tutorial - Generative based modeling in particle physics 1h 30m
      Speaker: Hamza Hanif
    • 16:30 16:50
      Coffee break 20m
    • 16:50 18:20
      Tutorial - Transformers and Self-Attention for Particle Physics 1h 30m
      Speaker: Hamza Hanif
    • 11:00 12:00
      Office hours/Helping Session (optional) 1h
      Speaker: Hamza Hanif
    • 12:00 13:00
      Tutorial - Building GPT from scratch 1h
      Speaker: Dr Rizwan Qureshi (Salim Habib University)
    • 13:00 14:00
      Real-Time Inference at the LHC 1h
      Speaker: Dr Davide Fiacco
    • 14:00 14:40
      HLS4ML — High-Level Synthesis for Machine Learning 40m
      Speaker: Enrico Lupi (ETH Zurich)
    • 14:40 15:00
      Coffee break 20m
    • 15:00 16:30
      Tutorial - hls4ml 1h 30m
      Speaker: Enrico Lupi
    • 16:30 17:30
      Evening Snack/dinner break 1h
    • 17:30 18:30
      AI-assisted design for physics 1h
      Speaker: Dr Tommaso Dorigo
    • 18:30 19:30
      Centaur Science: Adventures in AI+Physics 1h
      Speaker: Dr Jesse Thaler (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
    • 09:30 11:30
      Tutorial help/session 2h
    • 11:30 11:50
      Certificate handouts 20m