Program and Participant Information

Detailed program

As PDF: https://vldb.org/summerschool/2024/doc/schedule-2024.pdf

Program

Participant information

1) Getting to the City from the Airport

When you land in Cluj-Napoca, you will not have to go through border control (Romania is in Schengen when arriving by air). Still, please make sure you have a suitable travel document with you.

Romania uses the RON (1 EUR = 5 RON). Cards are widely accepted and it is possible that you will not need cash at all during your visit.

Once you are in the arrivals part of the airport, there are several options to get to downtown Cluj:

Buses:

The express airport line, A1E, leaves every 30 minutes (04:00 to 24:00) from outside the Arrivals terminal of the airport. You can buy a ticket on the bus (6RON). More information: https://ctpcj.ro/index.php/en/timetables/express-line/information-a1e-express-line/1617
Bus 8 is a “regular” line has its stop outside the airport complex (https://goo.gl/maps/jLWqeUypXGWeFnvq9), called “Aeroport Sud”. It has several stops, in the center: “Regionala CFR“ and “Piata Mihai Viteazu”. For detailed route see: https://ctpcj.ro/index.php/en/timetables/urban-lines/line8
Bus 5 has a similar route to Bus 8 but, after “Regionala CFR”, it heads to the Train Station (“Piata Garii”).

Taxi and ride hailing:

A ride from the airport should cost around 10-20 euros depending on the destination (City Center or more western part of the city). Taxi drivers will sometimes add the cost of short-time parking inside the airport to the ride (1-2 euros) but beyond this, there is no special fee for rides starting at the airport.
Card payment in taxis is typically possible, but ask beforehand if they have a POS. Make sure that the taxi clock has been started.
Ride sharing apps (Bolt and Uber) are also good alternatives. Typically, the prices are identical to the taxi but in the 22:00-01:00 time period, when many flights land, their cars can be in high demand and surge-pricing is often applied.

2) Location of the summer school and lunch/dinner

The scientific program of the Summer School will take place at the HUB UTCN Conference Center (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Esgav2E1HdFFGGRx6) of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Lunch and dinner will take place at the Maimuta Plangatoare restaurant: https://goo.gl/maps/Y1Ank42NXwyyg6eAA – the cost of these meals, as well as the coffee breaks, are included in your registration.

3) About the poster session

All student participants of the Summer School will present their ongoing/future research work in a poster session on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. You can find the distribution over the days here: https://vldb.org/summerschool/2024/doc/postersessions.pdf. For the poster session, please prepare and bring with you a printed poster in size A1. We will not have the opportunity to print posters at the summer school.

The goal of the poster session is for you to receive feedback and advice on both the technical aspects of your research, as well as career development. The speakers are all senior researchers in Data Management and related fields, so they will be well positioned to give you advice. If you have not prepared a poster before, think about “What problem are you solving?”, “Why is this problem relevant?”, “How do you propose to solve the problem?”, and “How will you evaluate your solution?”.

As part of the Summer School, we will have a social event on Wednesday late afternoon / evening. The location is outside of the city (we will have a bus shuttling us) and it will take place outdoors. The weather in July can be quite warm and possibly humid (https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine,Cluj-Napoca,Romania). Mosquitos and ticks would be “in season”, so please dress in airy clothes, and use sun and insect protection.