EPICS Summer School: training future scientific control system experts

The EPICS Summer School addresses the persistent demand for expertise in control systems for advanced scientific facilities by providing a crucial training platform for university students and young professionals. The highly successful inaugural event at BESSY II in Berlin offered an effective learning experience through a structured two-week program encompassing one week of foundational lectures and one week of practical application in a hands-on group project with real scientific hardware. This approach demonstrated a significant positive impact, empowering a new cohort from these groups with essential EPICS and distributed control system skills. In an effort to make the event sustainable, a collaborative framework has been established with other institutes, paving the way for a future where hosting the summer school cycles between facilities. This aims to make this training accessible to a wider audience of future scientific leaders, ensuring a continuous supply of skilled engineers capable of supporting and advancing groundbreaking scientific research across multiple facilities.