Bocconi Students for Machine Learning

Connecting minds, not only layers

Bocconi's first Machine Learning project-incubator

A community centered around publishing projects, where

members can nurture ideas , develop skills , and

find collaborators to pursue their ambitions.

Our Values

Credibility

Our North Star. We work on projects to build credible skills, which gives us internships and success.

Meritocracy

We welcome everyone from any background and let the best members stand out through their projects.

Ownership

Our members are free to work on any project, with no deadlines, and with full recognition for the work they do.

No-Fuffa Policy

We are pragmatic, work on real projects, and celebrate concrete accomplishments over arrogance.

Join us! Together we will bring your ideas to life.

If you don't have them yet, contribute to our ongoing projects.

Become a member by taking one of these roles

Deliverable

Complete and publish your project with us.

Mission

Turn your idea into a project and publish on our channels.

Description

Do you have an idea about an application of Machine Learning? Are you already working on a project but want to get feedback from peers? Do you need help to publish your work? At BSML you will find a community of talented people who are motivated to help. We will support you in anything from coding, to converting your project in a compelling story and publishing your work.

Approximate workflow

Propose your project at one of BSML's events or on the members' chat.
Work in collaboration with other associates to achieve your goals and create compelling content.
Publish the content on BSML's channels to reach a wider audience, always receiving full recognition.

Examples

You are really passionate about finance and have developed your own trading strategy. However, you need help in writing the code to automate it and would love to leverage advanced machine learning models to improve it.
During the summer you do an internship. You have permission to publish your work, but don't know where to start writing. BSML's associates will guide you in drafting the report.
You are working on your thesis but got stuck with a bug in the code. BSML's associates will help you in debugging, as well as provide feedback on the general methodology.

Requirements

Personal project idea
Looking for collaborators

Your role is essential for having fresh ideas and projects, the backbone of BSML.

Deliverable

1 partnership with a company per semester.

Mission

Connect BSML and its members with real-world companies.

Description

You will scout LinkedIn and use your network to get in contact with companies. Then, you will organise some sort of partnership. A partnership can be anything: a presentation, a hackathon, a project, an interview with the CEO, or any other similar activity.

Approximate workflow

Research companies in Milan, look for ML/AI/Data Science departments, look if they have open positions, and look for interesting profiles.
Contact key profiles in the company, listen carefully and understand what they need. Then, find a way that BSML can offer value.

Examples

Company X has an open position as Data Analyst. You will contact the HR department and offer a way to select someone from our pool of associates. The selection can happen through a competition, hackathon, or interview.
Company X has a data science department. You will contact the Head of Data Science, ask what daily challenges they face, and offer to help for free as a project for BSML’s associates.

Requirements

Succinct communication skills
Understanding of how companies work
LinkedIn and other business communication channels nerd
Passion aboout social engineering

Your role is essential for networking BSML with real-world companies.

Deliverable

1 event per semester.

Mission

Convert partnerships and projects into events.

Description

Different things will be happening around the association. Your goal is to proactively imagine and organise events. An event can be: a professor presenting their research, a partnership with a company, an aperitif where associates present their work, a dinner where the CEO of a company comes to share ideas, or any other similar.

Approximate workflow

Be aware of what is happening in the association, what projects people are working on. At the same time, look for opportunities outside the association.
Organise the event. This involves finding a location, choosing a date, designing a schedule, marketing the event.

Examples

One associate interviews a professor. You will contact the associate and the professor and propose to organise an association event where the professor presents his research to many people.
A company agrees to host a hackathon for our members. You will organise the event where the hackathon will be announced and explained.

Requirements

Orgnisation and time management skills
Desire to have under control all the details of an event

Your role is essential for BSML to meet in person and thrive.

Deliverable

1 piece of content per month.

Mission

Boost the credibility of the association by producing tangible content.

Description

The associates will work on projects. You role is to work closely with the associates, understand their requirements, and together publish their work as compelling content. Compelling content can be: medium article (inspo: Towards Data Science), YouTube video, presentation, or any other similar.

Approximate workflow

Be aware of what the associates are working on. Be proactive and motivate to publish. Find projects.
Convert the projects into compelling stories, with a clear definition of what is the problem and what is the solution.
Convert the story into content.

Examples

One associate finishes a project for his/her thesis. First, you will help the associate find the key ideas of the project, in particular the issue and the solution. Then, you will decide what type of content format to create, say an article. Finally, you will help the associate in writing the article.
The association has an event. You will help the marketing producer find a story about the event (why is it important, what happened), and then make the video. At last, you will edit the footage and publish it.

Requirements

Content creation skills (any of video editing, image editing, writing stories etc.)
Excellent English
Creativity and desire to bring ideas to reality

Your role is essential for building BSML’s credibility.

Deliverable

1 post on social media platforms every week.

Mission

Provide external people with real-time updates and insights on the association activities.

Description

Many things will be happening in the association. Your role is to find the most relevant information and package it into nice marketing. You proactively come up with content. Relevant information is: an event that will happen, content that is published, projects associates are working on, news about associates, news about a partnership with a company, and other similar.

Approximate workflow

Stay up to date with what is happening in the association. Find interesting things.
Package those things into marketing, which are posts on social media and website.

Examples

An event with a company will happen in two weeks. You will make produce flyers about the event with all the relevant information. Then, you will publish the flyers on all the relevant channels.
One associate participates to a hackathon. You will ask for pictures about the hackathon and make a post about the event and the result the associate achieved. Then, you will publish the content on all the relevant channels.

Requirements

Passionate about social media marketing
Storytelling and communication
Proficiency with an image editing tool

Your role is essential for nurturing an engaging public image of BSML.

Deliverable

Website maintenance and on-demand coding.

Mission

Build the most beautiful business website a student association can have.

Description

We successfully migrated from a third party hosting service to an website fully developed by our members and hosted on GitHub. This is an opportunity to get your hand dirty and write in HTML-CSS-JS to improve the website functionalities, make it even more catchy, add features and fix bugs of any kind.

Approximate workflow

Receive requirements and proposals about changes to the website.
Evaluate their feasiblity.
Implement.

Examples

You browse on the internet and find a beautiful website with similar color schemes to BSML’s that inspires you. You will propose and implement the changes to BSML’s website.
An applicant notifies us that a button is not working. You will fix the bug, and then take the opportunity to improve the look and feel of the application process.

Requirements

Basic knowledge of HTML-CSS-JS
Familiarity with Boostrap5 is plus

Your role is essential for developing and nurturing BSML’s professional public figure.

Apply

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any other question, feel free to reach out!

I would really love to join BSML, but I don't have a project idea yet...what could I do?

Well, that's not a problem at all and we have 2 options for you. You can either join and contribute to one of the other ongoing projects listed above, or you can simply join the association and wait for someone else to propose their idea and if it suits you, propose yourself as collaborator!

I would really love to join BSML, but I worry I won't have enough time to study...what could I do?

First of all remember: we are all full-time student and having a stellar GPA is our top priority. We perfectly understand the struggles of keeping up with classes and we know sometimes is difficult to be consistent with side projects or initiatives. In fact, if we see you are truly making an effort and contributing to the association, we will be more than flexible to accomodate your needs!

I do have a project idea, but it feels trivial and not impactful, should I still apply?

Come ooon, how many people have made substantial impact in the world with their first project or initiative at twenty years old? We are here to learn by doing, and every project which appeals you is worth trying and we urge you to apply!

Is it hard to get into BSML? What is your acceptance rate?

Last year was about 0.005%, we accepted only people with at least 3+ publications at tier 1 conferences. Just kidding, we are a student association whose goal is to connect people sharing the same passion and empower them to succeed: there is no point in having a strict selection process. If you have an idea you are committed to, or we feel like you are in love with what you do and interested in the topics, we will always be more than happy to welcome you onboard and begin this journey together!