Confirmed Invited Speakers & Organizers

  • Alexandra Paxton University of Connecticut
  • Annie Bryant University of Sydney Online
  • Travis Wiltshire Tilburg University
  • Babajide Owoyele Radboud University/HPI Potsdam
  • Davide Ahmar Max Planck Institute for Human Development Berlin
  • Šárka Kadavá ZAS Berlin
  • James Trujillo University of Amsterdam
  • Andrea González SánchezMax Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthethics Frankfurt
  • Tiffany Matej Hrkalović JADS
  • Anna Palmann University of Amsterdam
  • Wim Pouw Tilburg University
  • … more to come

Preliminary Schedule

⚠ Preliminary program. Topics, times, and speaker assignments are indicative and subject to change. Watch this space for updates as the school approaches.

Time Mon · July 13 Datasets, Data Collection & Multimodal Capturing Tue · July 14 Multimodal Data Analysis Wed · July 15 Multiscale Intra- & Interpersonal Coordination Dynamics Thu · July 16 Masking Day Fri · July 17 Final WG Presentations
09:30 Registration
10:00 –
10:30		 Introduction to Summer School & Working Groups
Wim Pouw & Travis Wiltshire		 Talk 4: Overview of State of the Art of Multimodal Analysis
Alex Paxton		 Talk 5/Tutorial: Overview of Multiscale Theory and Methods (WMS, MFDFA)
Travis Wiltshire 		Talk 8 & Tutorial: Masking Audio and Video
Babajide Owoyele		 Working Group Project (Final)
10:30 –
11:30		 Talk 1: How to Build a Mobile Multimodal Lab
Davide Ahmar & Šárka Kadavá		 Tutorial: Specific Analysis Tools (e.g. ALIGN r package)
Alex Paxton
11:30 –
12:30		 Talk 2: Overview of Datasets and Measures
Organizers		 Talk 6: Empirical Mode Decomposition
Wim Pouw
12:30 –
13:30		 — Lunch — — Lunch — — Lunch — — Lunch — — Lunch —
13:30 –
14:00		 Use Cases Talk (15 min)
Tiffany Matej Hrkalović — Using ML to extract Facial & Acoustic Features to predict Person Perceptions		 Use Cases Talk (15 min)
Šárka Kadavá		 Use Cases Talk (15 min)
Andrea González Sánchez — Multimodal audience & performer coordination during live music		 Recap: Masking
Babajide Owoyele		 Working Group Final Presentations
Use Cases Talk (15 min) Use Cases Talk (15 min) Use Cases Talk (15 min)
Marijn Hafkamp — Motor learning in a collaborative ball-on-board task: a complex systems perspective
14:00 –
15:00		 Talk 3/Tutorial: A Closer Look at Tools and How to Apply them
Šárka Kadavá, Davide Ahmar, James Trujillo, Anna Palmann — Kinematics, Acoustic Features, Transcription & Gesture Detection		 Work in Project Groups Work in Project Groups Work in Project Groups
15:00 –
16:00		 Work in Project Groups
+ Sharing, Q&A & stage-setting		 Work in Project Groups Talk 7: Multi-Scale Dynamical Approach in Analyzing Brain Signals
Annie Bryant (online)		 Work in Project Groups
16:00 –
16:50		 Work in Project Groups
+ Sharing, Q&A & stage-setting		 Work in Project Groups Work in Project Groups Work in Project Groups
16:50 –
17:00		 Closing (10 min) Closing (10 min) Closing (10 min) Closing (10 min)
Evening 17:30 — Borrel @ LOC Brewery (at own expense) 19:00 — Bouldering (at own expense) 18:00 — Social Dinner

Practical Information

Dates

July 13 – 17, 2026

Monday through Friday, 5 full days. Sessions run 09:30 – 17:00 each day.

Location

MindLabs, Tilburg

Tilburg University
Research Center for Cognitive Science & AI
MindLabs ↗

Community/Questions

Join the Discord

Connect with participants and organizers before, during, and after the school.
discord.gg/We4PYPTW ↗

Your week in Tilburg

Everything you need before you arrive — where to sleep, eat, listen to music, stay active, and what to do if you have a free afternoon.

July is festival season — Tilburg fills up fast. Book as soon as you register.

Budget

Hostel
★★★★½
Hostel Roots
Stationsstraat 41 · 2 min to station
Warm social atmosphere with basement bar. Private rooms + breakfast available (€7). Great for first-time visitors. 641 reviews.
Tiny House
★★★★½
Roots Tiny House
Wagenstraat 11 · Near station
Private tiny house — check in at main Roots hostel (~15 min walk). Cozy balcony overlooking the street. Good for couples or solo travellers.

Mid-range

Hotel · €€
★★★★
Het Wapen van Tilburg
Spoorlaan 362 · Next to station
Inn-style hotel right beside the station. Unbeatable location for a short stay. Bring earplugs for street noise.
Hotel · €€
★★★★
City Hotel Tilburg
Heuvelring 128 · City centre
Spacious rooms in the heart of the city. Walk to restaurants, MindLabs bus stop, and music venues. Paid parking nearby.
Hotel · €€€
★★★★
ibis Tilburg
Van Doorneweg 105 · West Tilburg
Reliable and clean. Free parking. 15 min by bus to MindLabs — good choice if driving from abroad.

Special stay

Boutique · €€€€
★★★★½
Auberge du Bonheur
Bredaseweg 441 · Wooded park setting
Tucked in the Oude Warande forest park. Exceptional breakfast, beautiful grounds, proper restaurant. Rent a bike from the hotel — worth the splurge for the week.
Book early July is festival season in the Netherlands — Tilburg fills up fast, especially around the Tilburg Ten Miles race. Lock in accommodation as soon as you register.
Afghan · €€
★★★★★ · 1180 reviews
Sarban
Besterdring 2 · Tue–Sun 17:00–22:00
The most-loved restaurant in Tilburg. Family-run Afghan kitchen — stunning lamb, dumplings, and vegetarian options. Order the chef's menu. Book ahead.
Modern NL · €€€
★★★★★ · 250 reviews
GIST
Langestraat 65 · Mon–Sun from 17:00
Creative farm-to-table cooking, celebrated for fish and vegetarian dishes. Locally sourced, changing menu. Book well ahead.
Silk Road · €€
★★★★½ · 452 reviews
Silk Road Tilburg
Heuvelring 112 · Tue–Sun 17:00–22:00
Asian, Iranian and Afghan fusion. Chef's tasting menus — great group option, excellent for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.
Lunch · €€
★★★★½ · 1110 reviews
De Burgerij
Noordstraat 87 · Daily 11:00–23:00
Not burgers — "bourgeois" Dutch lunch. Artisan sandwiches, charcuterie boards, great house wine. Perfect after a long session day.
Bistro · €€€
★★★★½ · 659 reviews
Rosalie
Heuvel 2 · Tue–Sun from 17:00
Lively bistro on the main square. Great for the Friday farewell dinner. Pre-concert drinks welcome too.
Harbour · €€
★★★★½
Piushaven waterfront
Piushaven · Evening district
Tilburg's former industrial harbour turned lively waterfront. Ring of bars and restaurants around the water — ideal for informal group dinners or after-session drinks. Try Villa La Vida or Biergarten Albatros.
Social dinner (Monday borrel + Tuesday dinner) Both are on the schedule. For other evenings, Sarban and GIST are top picks — groups of 6+ should call ahead.
Groceries & budget eats Albert Heijn (Heuvelstraat), Lidl, and Jumbo are all within 5 min of the station. The market at Heuvelplein runs Wednesday and Saturday mornings — excellent Dutch cheese and fresh bread.
Jazz · Bar
★★★★½ · 465 reviews
Paradox Tilburg
Telegraafstraat 62 · Tue–Sat from 19:30
Intimate jazz club with weekly live sessions. Tables around the stage — arrive before 20:15 for a good spot. Tuesday jazz nights are unmissable.
Live Rock · Bar
★★★★½ · 1009 reviews
Little Devil
Stationsstraat 27 · Tue–Sun from 17:00
Legendary small venue covered in stickers. Friendly crowd, affordable drinks (3 beers for €10 on Tuesdays), live gigs almost every night.
Main Stage
★★★★½ · 10,679 reviews
013 Poppodium
Veemarktstraat 44 · Event-based
Tilburg's iconic concert hall. Top acoustics, great sight-lines. Check the July calendar now — major international acts play here all summer.
Club Stage
★★★★½ · 218 reviews
Next Stage (at 013)
Veemarktstraat 42 · Event-based
The smaller sibling of 013. Intimate feel with great acoustics. Perfect for mid-sized touring bands. Lockers available outside.
013 is one of the best mid-sized venues in the Netherlands Check 013.nl for the July lineup and book early — shows sell out fast.
After the borrel (Monday evening) Little Devil is a 5-minute walk from MindLabs. Paradox is 10 minutes. Both are ideal for winding down with new colleagues after opening day.

Bouldering & climbing

Bouldering
Block013 Boulderhal
Lovense Kanaaldijk 47 · block013.nl
Tilburg's main dedicated bouldering wall — 150+ problems, constantly reset. Hosts national NKBV Boulder competition series. Serious climbing community. Day pass ~€12–16, shoe hire extra.
Bouldering
Boulder Tilburg (Neoliet)
Jules Verneweg 9 · Mon & Thu 13:00–23:30 · Other days from 09:00
Bright, spacious hall with ~130 routes for all levels plus an on-site café. Beginner-friendly and well-run. Day pass ~€13–15, shoe rental available. Card only.

Parks & outdoors

Urban park · Free
Spoorpark
St. Ceciliastraat 1 · Walkable from centre
7.5-hectare former railway yard turned park. Skate track, pumptrack, outdoor climbing rocks, beach volleyball, urban gym, and water plaza. Park café T-Huis on site. Great for a morning run or group hangout.
Swimming · ~€6
Recreatiebad Stappegoor
Wagnerplein 1 · Seasonal hours
Main recreational swimming facility. Outdoor pool section open in summer plus water slides. Good for a refreshing afternoon break mid-week.
Cycling · Half-day
Loonse en Drunense Duinen
~25 km northeast · "Brabant Sahara"
3,500-hectare national park with open sand dunes — completely unexpected this far north. Cycle out via LF bike paths (~25–30 km each way) or take the train to Drunen. Allow a half-day. Free entry, bike hire from ~€10/day in Tilburg.

Culture

Museum · €20 / free Thu eve
De Pont Museum
Wilhelminapark 1 · Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00 · Thu until 20:00
One of the best contemporary art museums in the Netherlands — Marlene Dumas, Ai Weiwei, Steve McQueen — inside a soaring converted wool mill. Thursday evenings (17:00–20:00) are free for everyone, no booking needed.
Museum · €16
TextielMuseum
Goirkestraat 96 · Tue–Fri 10:00–17:00 · Sat–Sun 12:00–17:00
Set in a former working mill with original machinery. Includes the active TextielLab where designers work with cutting-edge weaving technology. Industrial history meets contemporary design thinking.

Day trips by train

16 min · ~€6
's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch)
Direct IC, every 20 min
Most attractive city in North Brabant. Highlights: Sint-Janskathedraal (stone angel holding a phone — look up), Jheronimus Bosch Art Centre, and Binnendieze boat tours through hidden medieval canals under the city.
13 min · ~€5
Breda
Direct train, very frequent
Compact historic centre with a 97-metre tower you can climb for panoramic views. Grote Kerk, Breda Castle gardens, and the Havenkwartier harbour district with street art and waterfront bars.
30 min · ~€10
Eindhoven
Direct IC
Netherlands' design capital. Van Abbemuseum (Picasso, Mondrian, El Lissitzky), and Strijp-S — the former Philips factory complex now a creative district with design studios, street art, and markets.
📍 MindLabs — Locomotiefboulevard 101, 5041 SE Tilburg
✈
Flying in
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) — best option. Direct NS train to Tilburg ~70 min, ~18 trains/day. No transfer needed.

Eindhoven Airport (EIN) — also convenient. Direct train to Tilburg ~30 min. Budget airlines (Ryanair, Wizz Air) fly here.

Brussels Zaventem (BRU) — trains via NS International, ~90 min journey.
🚆
By train (NS)
~70–90 min from AMS
NS runs Dutch rail. From Amsterdam Centraal: 1 transfer at 's-Hertogenbosch (~1h 20m). From Schiphol: direct services (~1h 10m). Tickets from ~€23 at ns.nl. Tilburg Station to MindLabs is a 2-minute walk.
🚌
By FlixBus
Budget option
FlixBus connects Tilburg from most major European cities. The Tilburg stop is ~5 min from MindLabs. Great if travelling from Germany, Belgium, or France. Book at flixbus.com.
🚲
Getting around Tilburg
Tilburg is very bike-friendly. OV-fiets rental bikes are available at the station with an NS account. Alternatively rent from your hotel. The city centre, MindLabs, and most restaurants are within a 15-min cycle.
Visa requirements Some participants may need a Schengen visa. Organizers can provide an invitation letter after registration — contact them early, as processing can take weeks.
Dutch SIM / eSIM Pick up a prepaid SIM at the airport (KPN, T-Mobile, or Lebara) or activate an eSIM before you travel. Coverage is excellent throughout Tilburg.