2026 edition · 20 July – 20 August · Craiova
A small school, taken seriously, held each summer in Craiova.
The chen.ist Summer School is the Academy's flagship hybrid programme — an intensive school for people who want to take defensive cybersecurity seriously and learn the working culture around it: open source, project discipline, and the craft of presenting your work in public.
Mornings are for lectures by working researchers and senior practitioners. Afternoons are for small-group workshops and lab time. Evenings are reserved for invited guests, films and conversation. After three weeks of teaching, the school closes with a five-day hackathon in which everything learned is put to use on a single project, judged in public.
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
What we teach
Three weeks of teaching — defensive cybersecurity, the open-source culture around it, and the project and presentation skills that decide whether the work ever gets shipped — closing with a fourth week of hackathon, in which the cohort has to put all of it into practice in front of an external jury.
Threat models, network and host defence, log analysis and incident response — together with the daily hygiene every practitioner should already have, and the social-engineering side that routes around all of it.
The tools serious teams actually use — Suricata, Wazuh, Kali, Sigma, MISP — and the supply-chain side: SBOMs, signing, the OpenSSF baseline. Each participant makes a small but real contribution upstream during the school.
Scoping, lightweight agile, risk registers and security-aware milestones — paired with the discipline of briefing, presenting and defending your work to a technical, non-technical or hostile audience. Rehearsed, recorded, reviewed.
Teams take a realistic defensive brief, ship a working project, contribute upstream where it makes sense, and defend it in a 15-minute talk and 10-minute hostile Q&A in front of an external jury. The school's final exam — and where most of the lasting learning happens.
Programmes
Two for university level and beyond (Senior & Senior Advanced), two for ages 15–18 (Junior & Junior Advanced). Each runs in both hybrid and online formats.
For career changers and first-time learners
Cybersecurity foundations for adults new to the field.
Opens 7 July 2026
Available Hybrid Online
A foundational four-week programme for adults coming to cybersecurity for the first time — no prior coding required. Same six pillars as the flagship, with extended fundamentals and the standard five-day hackathon at the end.
Read more about this programme →Flagship programme
Defensive cybersecurity, taught in the open — closing with a hackathon.
Opens 7 July 2026
Available Hybrid Online
A four-week hybrid programme on the practice of cybersecurity in the open. Three weeks of teaching cover cybersecurity foundations, cyber hygiene and awareness, open-source tooling, project management and public speaking. The school closes with a hackathon week in which teams build, defend and present a working project — putting all of it into use in front of an external jury.
Read more about this programme →For ages 15–18
Digital literacy · Cyber safety · Creative technology
Now accepting applications
Available Hybrid Online
A two-week introduction for younger learners — building digital literacy, online safety and creative confidence with technology through workshops, games, design exercises and small team projects.
Read more about this programme →For high-school CTF veterans
Accelerated cybersecurity for advanced 15–18 year olds.
Opens 1 May 2026
Available Hybrid Online
A compressed, advanced track for high-school students who already write code or have placed in a security CTF. Same six pillars as the flagship programme, paced for a shorter cohort and finishing with a three-day team hackathon.
Read more about this programme →Announcements
7 July 2026
Places are limited and reviewed on a rolling basis. Send your CV, statement of interest and proof of qualifications by email.
20 July 2026
Four weeks in Craiova: cybersecurity, hygiene and awareness, open source, project management and public speaking — closing with a hackathon.
10–16 August 2026
A five-day defensive hackathon held on campus, judged by an external jury. The school's final exam — and where most of the lasting learning happens.
Summer 2026, at a glance
Figures shown above are indicative records from past editions; full reports are published on the chen.ist Academy site after each summer.
The flagship Technology Summer School opens for applications on 7 July 2026. Places are limited and reviewed on a rolling basis.
Begin your application