Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Societies

Creative, visionary, reflective, and technologically interested students will shape the future of our cities, mobility, and well-being by caring for the earth. The programme welcomes students who master the English language, are open-minded, daring, and have a background or strong interest in one of the pillars. We welcome students with various backgrounds iincluding:

• engineering
• information technology
• biology
• geography
• environmental sciences
• design
• social and humanistic studies
• cognitive science
• statistics and mathematics
• business and management

Although having a field related  educational background is a benefit for enrolment, there will be provided harmonization courses which will help candidates to get knowledge about specific areas before starting their studies.

The programme consists of the following academically dependent specialisations, which are studied in 3 different locations throughout the time:

• Enrolling in Tallinn, basic studies in sustainable societies, AI and data and design
• Continuing in Porto with a mix of electives and basic studies
• Arriving at Tampere, studies are in the form of an Interdisciplinary project-based course with real clients
• Last semester focuses on professional placement and master’s thesis and allows students to choose a place between Tampere, Tallinn and Porto for their studies.

Nominal division

This is your chance to experience three excellent universities and three countries, their learning and research culture and become the best in Europe on Sustainable Society design using AI and data-driven approaches in a green way!

The main facilities are the Labs libraries in the three universities; these include but are not limited to VR Lab (Tampere University), wearables (Tallinn University) including simple audio and video recording equipment to a full set of Wi-Fi and static Mirametrix eye-tracker, a set of Tobii eye-tracking glasses, Empatica wristbands, Muse headbands. Further, studies also take place in the schools:

• Software Development Lab, featuring dedicated software development environments and tools
• Hardware and Robotics Lab, featuring a wide range of possibilities for physical prototyping, including a 3D printer
• Virtual Reality and Games Lab, featuring virtual reality and game development hardware and software
• Sports facilities
• Libraries

The students can also use the vast and diverse information resources (including electrical) of the Tallinn, Tampere and Lusófona Universities Academic Libraries. The full list we have is:

• Computer and internet access;
• VR glasses and labs to use for the VR environment courses, for instance, Usability labs, Tampere Complexity Lab (for understanding society’s increasing complexity), and Interaction technology laboratory have the latest hardware for multimodal interaction research. For example, we have different haptic and tactile feedback devices for haptic applications and cameras for computer vision applications. Such as Ultrasound haptic devices, Reachin Display, Touch X (3D Systems), HaptikFabriken Polhem, Falcon (Novint), Omega Haptic Device, HaptX Glove DK2, TeslaSuit, Interaction devices, XR Devices: Varjo XR-3 headset, Varjo VR-2 headset, Nreal Light smart glasses, Logitech VR Ink stylus, Hololens 2 headset, Commercial consumer lvl HMDs, Ultrasound haptics interaction, Advanced visual display devices: Mid-air FogScreen see https://research.tuni.fi/mmig/research-equipment/ and https://research.tuni.fi/tauchi/); TLU: Robotics Lab, Interaction Design Lab (see: https://hci.tlu.ee/facilities/); Softwares: Python software environments, Data Scientist's Toolbox.
• Library and digital library access;
• Lounge areas and cafeterias;
• Sports facilities, Sports clubs and teams that can be joined. Each country has its own emphasis, reflecting its culture on sports. In addition, all participating countries have a focus on increasing bicycling and providing safe routes for such commuting. TLU: https://sport.tlu.ee/en/; TAU: https://sites.tuni.fi/sportuni-en/ and UL: At Universidade Lusófona-Centro Universitário, there is no excuse not to practice sport. Discover the Exercise and Health Club, Lusófona Volleyball, Surf Academy, Judo Club, Lusófona Academic Adventure Club;
• Culture courses related to the country and region;
• The study materials include online courses in the form of MOOCs and multiple mandatory and suggested literature.

Each applicant is required to submit:  

• A transcript of previous studies, issued by the academic institution where the applicant acquired their previous degree, with an official English translation 
• CV 
• A situated motivation video (accepted format is a document with the link to the video)
• A proof of English language proficiency 
• A design or research portfolio for applicants with an artistic or urban or mobility design background or Github for applicants with a programming background

1. Motivation video 

The motivation video (max 2 min 30 s) should provide a clear overview of the applicant’s intention to study in the AISS joint master’s programme. The motivation video positions the applicant's interests within the current research topics. The video is an opportunity to connect the applicant's skill set and academic and/or professional background with the preferred topic. Applicants are encouraged to situate themselves within current academic and/or industry developments and to envision possible projects and outcomes for their potential Master thesis.

Accepted format is a document with the link to the video. We do not accept videos in the format of TikTok and Instagram social media platforms.

2. Skill set 

1) Applicants from an artistic or design background are expected to submit a design portfolio with a set of selected works, demonstrating their previous experience and skill set on a professional level. The portfolio can include videos, images, sketches, 3D visualisations and graphic or interactive presentations. 

The expected format of the portfolio is as follows: 

• Up to 5 individual works with a brief description. 
• The individual pieces of work should represent and identify the candidate's best skills. 
• Each work’s description should include a summary and relevant background information. 
• In all cases, the applicant should clearly explain the skill set required for the project and their contribution. 

 Accepted formats are PowerPoint, Google Slides, PDF submitted as a link.  

2) Applicants from a technical background are expected to clearly identify their technical skill set in the CV and links to GitHub or similar in terms of the programming languages and frameworks they are most familiar with.  

3) Applicants from a social or behavioural sciences background are expected to submit a research portfolio of the previously conducted studies or projects, demonstrating their capacity to conduct analytical/research work, collect and analyse data, and draw conclusions. Descriptions of each study/project should include: 

• An overview of the research phenomena.  
• An overview and justification of the sample and methods selection. 
• An overview of the research design, including the data collection and analysis procedure. 
• A description of the main outcomes.  

Accepted formats are PowerPoint, Word, PDF submitted as a link.
 

3. Interview
The interview with the admission board is conducted in English. Each candidate is assigned a 15–20 minutes time slot. The order of the interviews is arranged through email. 
The structure of the interview is as follows: 

• A personal introduction of the applicant, focusing on their previous academic and/or professional experience as related to his/her eventual studies in the AISS programme.  
• An explanation of the applicant’s motivation to study in the AISS programme introduces the topics the applicant is interested in exploring in depth during his/her studies. 
• An overview of the skill set that the applicant expects to acquire during their eventual studies in the AISS programme and the relevance of this desired skill set for the applicant’s future career plans.  

• Answers to the follow-up questions from the members of the admissions committee.  

Applicants are evaluated based on: 

• The academic transcript illustrates the relevance and excellence of their academic background. 
• The CV illustrates the relevant professional experience and training. 
• The motivation video illustrates the submitted statement of research intentions. 
• Technical and/or design and/or research skills, as illustrated by the portfolio or results of addressing the technical assignments. 
• English language skills, as illustrated by the English language certification and the interview. 

The admission exam consists of assessment of the documents (50% of the final score), and the interview (50% of the final score).

The good applicant should have:

• Motivation to study in the programme, including a vision of the possible ways of applying acquired knowledge and experience in the future – video format. mpeg size 1280 x 720 pixels. 
• Research interests within the scope of the research group’s research activities 
• Background and/or previous experience in sustainable societies, AI and data and active citizenship. 
• Ability to freely express oneself in English, both in oral and written form.

The purpose of the scholarship is to support and acknowledge students who demonstrate excellence in studies and support students to execute master studies in the program of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Societies.

The scholarship is meant to cover insurance, travelling costs related to the mobility scheme, housing, and food.

The student can't benefit from another EU-funded scholarship scheme to follow the same or another Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s master programme for the entire period of enrolment in the course.

The amount of the scholarship is 1400 euros per month and is paid during the nominal time of studies, 2 years.

The total number of scholarships in the project is 40. The scholarships will be divided equally between four admissions (from the year 2024 to 2027).

No more than 4 of scholarships are granted to students from the same citizenship during the four admissions. In each admission, no more than two scholarships are granted to students from the same citizenship.

The scholarship shall be granted on the basis of the admission exam results. Only student candidates who have specified interest to apply for the scholarship during the admission application process are included in the ranking list for the scholarship. Student candidates shall be excluded from the ranking list if the number of scholarships allocated for their citizenship is exceeded.

Students who have granted the scholarship do not have to pay the tuition fee.

Applicants interested in receiving the scholarship have to mark their wish in the checkbox which can be found in DreamApply application form.

Kristi Oikimus

Study counsellor and specialist of the programme kristi.oikimus@tlu.ee

Narva mnt 29, 10120 Tallinn, (+372) 640 9384

For additional guidelines regarding admission procedure please contact the international admission specialist. admissions@tlu.ee