The International HPC Summer School on Challenges in Computational Sciences (IHPCSS) began in 2010 and is held annually, originally launched by NSF’s TeraGrid and the EU’s DEISA project. Over the years, the program has expanded to include participants from Japan, Canada, and more recently, Australia. A limited number of seats are also sponsored by organisations in the UK and South Africa. The school selects around 80 graduate students and post-docs each year, representing diverse scientific disciplines and over 20 nationalities. The program aims to immerse top students in cutting-edge HPC, foster networking, provide expert mentoring, and promote international collaboration and career opportunities. More details regarding IHPCSS 2026 are available here. The timeline of locations where IHPCSS has taken place from 2010 to 2026 is illustrated in the graph below.
According to feedback from Summer School 2024, 95.7% of students rated their experience as successful; 88.6% believed the skills they gained would significantly contribute to their research; 98.6% felt the summer school was well-organised; 53.6% found the challenge level to be neutral, while 23.1% found it difficult.
IHPCSS 2024 was held in Kobe, Japan, hosted by the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (RIKEN R-CCS) in July 2024.
From over 500 applications, 84 participants were selected to attend from Australia, Europe, Japan, South Africa and the United States.
IHPCSS 2025 was held in Lisbon, Portugal in July and hosted by FCCN, FCT digital services. The 2025 school brought together 88 students from more than 20 countries across five continents, with a gender balance of roughly one-third female.
Participants represented a wide span of scientific disciplines and research areas, creating a strong environment for international and cross-domain exchange.