Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to invite you to the *Spring School on Machine Learning and Perception for Social Awareness* https://www.sweet.unina.it/sweet-spring-school/*,* taking place on *13–16 April 2026* in *Catania, Italy*.

Organized by the *SWEET* project consortium in conjunction with the TRAIL Conference https://sites.google.com/view/trail-conference, this Spring School offers a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge in *social perception for service robotics, *with a special emphasis on cutting-edge machine learning, sensing technologies, and algorithmic approaches that enable robots to understand and interact with humans in socially aware ways.

The programme features a mix of *lectures and hands-on practical sessions* delivered by* leading figures from academia and industry, such as:*

- Prof. Alessandro Vinciarelli http://vinciarelli.net/- University of Glasgow - Prof. Ing. Igor Farkaš http://cogsci.fmph.uniba.sk/~farkas/ - Comenius University Bratislava - Prof. Lorenzo Baraldi https://ailb-web.ing.unimore.it/~lorenzo/ - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Prof. Gabriel Skantze https://www.kth.se/profile/skantze - KTH Royal Institute of Technology - Prof. Oya Celiktutan https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/oya-celiktutan - King’s College London - Prof. Antonio Chella https://www.unipa.it/persone/docenti/c/antonio.chella - University of Palermo - Dr. Anna Belardinelli https://www.honda-ri.de/people/ - Honda Research Institute - Prof. Angelo Cangelosi https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/angelo.cangelosi - University of Manchester - Dr. Alessandra Sciutti https://www.iit.it/it/people-profile/-/people/alessandra-sciutti- Italian Institute of Technology - Dr. Thomas Weisswange https://www.honda-ri.de/people/ - Honda Research Institute

*Participation in the school is free of charge.* Participants should cover only all logistical costs, including travel and accommodation expenses.

*How to Apply:* To participate, please send the following documents via email to *i*******t@unina.it i*******t@unina.it* by *February 28, 2026*:

- A short Statement of Interest (max 1 page) - Your current CV - A Letter of Support from your Tutor/Supervisor

Acceptance notifications will be sent out by *15 March 2026*.

Don’t miss this excellent opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research and expand your expertise in machine learning, perception, and social awareness for robotics!

Silvia Rossi and Luigi D’Arco on behalf of the *SWEET consortium* https://www.sweet.unina.it/