Background of Summer School / Introduction

The Summer School aims to address crucial issues on computer vision techniques with a specific focus on its applications in the agricultural, forestry and agro-food sectors. Participants will have the opportunity to learn and practice machine learning and computer vision techniques, with practical applications including food quality monitoring, occupational safety, and animal and wildlife monitoring. Multispectral and hyperspectral technologies will also be explored, providing a comprehensive overview of the use of computer vision in different natural, environmental and production contexts.

Hosting University

University of Tuscia - Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (DAFNE)

Venue

CREA-AA headquarters - Via della Navicella 4, 00184 Rome

Date

15 June – 20 June 2025

Participants

Min. 10 – Max 25

Previous Knowledge

Students at master or PhD student
Preferably students of an ELLS member or partner university at master and PhD level. Other interested students are welcome to apply as well.
Before the summer school participants are invited to a self-study of the online module: Introduction to Python Programming (edited by Christian Krupitzer)

Course Content

Machine Learning

Fundamental Principles and Techniques of Computer Vision

Computer Vision for Food Quality

Computer Vision for Animal Monitoring

Computer Vision for Plant Disease Detection and Phenotyping

Computer Vision and Wildlife Monitoring

Multispectral and Hyperspectral Applications

Computer Vision for Work Safety and Health

Intended Learning Outcome (ILO)

After completing the course, the participants should be able to:
Knowledge
- understand state-of-the arts AI models for computer vision
- evaluate the accuracy and reliability of AI models (overfitting/underfitting)
Skills
- design datasets for machine learning and deep learning applications.
- designing, training and testing a shallow neural network for regression and classification.
- designing, training and testing a simple deep learning models for computer vision tasks (image classification/object detection/semantic segmentation).
Competences
- solve computer vision tasks (image classification/object detection/semantic segmentation) using state-of-the-art AI-based models.
- analyse the results and make decisions.

Course Schedule

Before the summer school

Self-study online module: Introduction to Python Programming (edited by Christian Krupitzer)

Sunday, June 15, 2025

18.00 Registration and welcome cocktail

Monday, June 16, 2025

9:00-11.00 Introduction to Machine Learning (reference persons Christian Krupitzer and Luciano Ortenzi)
11:30-13.00 Introduction to Computer Vision (reference persons Christian Krupitzer and Luciano Ortenzi)
15:00-18.00 Hands-on Computer Vision (reference persons Christian Krupitzer and Luciano Ortenzi)

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

9:00-11.00 Application of Computer Vision for Food Quality (contact person Christian Krupitzer)
11:30-13.00 Application of Computer Vision for Plant Disease Detection and Phenotyping (contact person Frédéric Cointault)
15:00-18.00 Free time

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

9:00-11.00 Application of Computer Vision for Animal Monitoring (contact person Riccardo Primi)
11:30-13.00 Computer Vision and Wildlife Monitoring (contact person Luciano Ortenzi)
15:00-18.00 Free time

Thursday, June 19, 2025

9:00-11.00 Multispectral and Hyperspectral Applications (contact person Corrado Costa)
11:30-13.00 Multispectral and Hyperspectral Applications (contact person Corrado Costa)
15:00-18.00 Visit to CREA-IT

Friday, June 20, 2025

9:00-11.00 Application of Computer Vision for Work Safety and Health (reference persons Massimo Cecchini, Leonardo Bianchini and Pierluigi Rossi)
11:30-13.00 Students present result (Exam)
15:00-18.00 Social lunch and Final ceremony

Course Language

English

Course Format / Teaching Methods

In presence

Credits

ECTS Credits and Workload Overview

Number of Credits [ECTS]	5
TOTAL Workload [hours]	42,5
Student's own work [hours]	16
Contact classes [hours]	26,5
Exam [hours]	1,5

Type of Assessment and Assessment Criteria

There are no intermediate tests. The final test will consist of the presentation of individual or group work. It will be held at the end of the course on Friday, June 20, 2025.

Attendance during course lectures
Oral presentation of own research, student discussion on AI and in-literature seminars based on assigned readings
For each literature seminar, a smaller group of students will be asked to formulate and submit questions and topics for discussion based on the lectures and the assigned readings to start off the discussion. The submission of these questions and topics will be a criterion for passing.
Oral and written report of the project-based learning case study presenting a simple application of AI-based computer vision techniques used to classify food, detect pathogens or animals in the forest or similar. In the project an appropriate machine learning or deep learning model should be trained, tested and the obtained results should be analysed to propose possible strategies for improving the results obtained.

Cultural Activities / Social Program

Sunday, June 15, 2025
18.00 Registration and welcome cocktail

Tuesday, June 17, 2025
15.00-18.00 Cultural Activities in Rome

Wednesday, June 18, 2025
15.00-18.00 Cultural Activities in Rome

Friday, June 20, 2025
13.00-15.00 Social lunch and Final ceremony

Tuition Fees

460.00 € (for ELLS and UNITUS students)
500.00 € (students not from ELLS or UNITUS)
The fee includes the cost of participation in the Summer School, overnight stay at the Camplus Roma San Pietro university residence in multiple rooms, transfer in technical visits, weekly season ticket for public transportation in Rome (CIS: Carta Integrata Settimanale), welcome drink, three lunches at CREA-AA headquarters - Via della Navicella 4, 00184 Rome (Monday 16 and Friday 20, packed lunch on Thursday 19 June) and coffee breaks for all days of the summer school.

Additional Costs

Every cost not included in tuition fees

Accommodation

Included in Tuition fees (https://www.camplus.it/citta/roma/camplus-san-pietro/)

Health Insurance

Participants are responsible for their own health insurance

Visa

Participants are responsible to check for themselves if a visa is necessary.

Application Deadline

15 May 2025

Link to online Application form

https://forms.office.com/e/MR0TnQzmbJ

Contact persons for scientific questions

Leonardo Bianchini l.bianchini@unitus.it

Massimo Cecchini cecchini@unitus.it

Luciano Ortenzi luciano.ortenzi@unitus.it

Christian Krupitzer christian.krupitzer@uni-hohenheim.de

Contact person for administrative questions