FAQs

What?

A 10-day immersive workshop for mathematically talented students with an interest in AI and reasoning in general. PAIR 2025 will be a third iteration of this program.

Who?

Our primary audience are students from any country who are between 16-20 years old. Students who are 16 or 21 years old are eligible to apply, however the bar might be higher as we aim to create a cohort of balanced skills and experiences.

Unfortunately, we can’t accept anyone who is at the beginning of the camp younger than 16 years.

We expect around 30 attendees and a dozen staff.

When and where?

July 28th - August 7th 2025, at a stay-on-site venue in Somerset, United Kingdom.

Price?

Free (tuition, meals, and lodging) for accepted students. Travel scholarships are available, we are usually able to cover students’ travel expenses in full.

What will we do?

We will study how current AI systems work, mathematical theories about human minds, and how the two relate. Alumni of previous PAIR described the content as a blend of AI, mathematics and introspection, but also highlighted large part of the experience are informal conversations or small group activities.

 See the curriculum for more information.

What will a typical day look like?

On a typical day during the last two runs, we run few classes in the morning (such as Information Theory, Predictive Processing, Loss Landscapes or Systematically improving your world model) and we spent the afternoon and evening working on projects or attending staff and participant-led activities.

Do I need to know how to code?

We require only basic programming skills, i.e. you should be be able to code things such as a binary search or a stack/queue from scratch in your favorite programming language.

However, we don't want this to be an obstacle to applying - the necessary coding experience can be gained within days if you are motivated!

Is this camp for me?

If you read the curriculum and think that you would enjoy exploring mentioned topics with us, and have basic coding skills (see above), we strongly encourage you to apply!

How to apply?

See the Apply page to learn more about the application process.

I’m not 16 yet. Can I still apply?
Unfortunately, we can’t accept anyone younger than 16 years old due to venue restrictions.

What is the venue like?
Our venue is a country mansion built in the 16th century, surrounded by beautiful English countryside. We will stay on site, spend the days running activities both inside and outside in the grounds (for those who wish), and eat the food prepared by our chefs in the Great Hall. The venue has around 20 bedrooms.

A PAIR Class

What is the the difference between this camp and ESPR?

Both PAIR and ESPR are camps organized by the FABRIC team. The European Summer Program on Rationality (ESPR) is another workshop for mathematically talented students with a desire to understand themselves and the world that we’ve been running for several years.

Similar to last year, we expect that there will be some content overlap between the workshops, but the PAIR camp will have more technical and experimental content.

This year’s ESPR will run in the second half of August in the UK. We welcome all students who are 16 - 19 years old.

Can I apply to both PAIR and ESPR?

Yes! We expect there to be a large overlap between people who would enjoy PAIR and ESPR. The application form and process is the same for both camps, you can indicate whether you are applying for one of them or both.

However, it will not be possible to attend both of the camps this year as we want to give the opportunity to attend our programs to more students.

What is the history of FABRIC and PAIR? What’s the difference between ESPR, FABRIC, WARP and SPARC?
The first camp, called EuroSPARC, was established in 2016 and was inspired by and affiliated with the Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC) in the USA. Follow-up camps, renamed ESPR, were held in the UK in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Jan Kulveit became ESPR's new director, and operations moved under a new European legal entity based in Prague, Czechia. Since 2022, increased resources have enabled us to scale up to multiple camps per year. In recent years, the team's activities expanded beyond Europe (ASPR), and in 2023, they were unified under a new brand called FABRIC. The first PAIR happened in Summer 2023 and was intended as an experimental spin on the ESPR camp with a special focus on AI and cognition - we enjoyed it a lot, received positive feedback, and decided to run a second and now a third iteration.
Lastly, the WARP camp is a joint venture between FABRIC and SPARC, alternating between Europe and the US each year depending on which organization runs it.

Who is running this and how is it funded?
PAIR is run by FABRIC, a non profit educational organization based in Prague, Czechia. FABRIC’s activities consist mostly of running multiple camps like ESPR per year in Europe and Asia, and supporting the growing alumni community. All our activities have been funded by a generous grant from the Open Philanthropy Project, which allows us to keep the programs free and available to students from all over the world

Information for parents and guardians
We understand that for many of our students, attending the camp may be their first experience traveling abroad and independently. Our goal is to make their journey and stay as smooth and comfortable as possible. To ensure this, we provide assistance with travel arrangements to the venue, and all minors are met at the airport by a member of our camp team.
Additionally, we prioritize the proper training of our staff, including having team members certified in first aid and crisis intervention. If you have any concerns about your child’s participation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.