LEAP: Unlocking career potential with CS, Data Analytics and ML

Happy New Year 2026 from the LEAP Erasmus+ team!

We wish you a year full of learning, growth, and new opportunities

As we step into 2026, we’re excited to remind you that our Machine Learning and Applications course starts on 19 January - a great way to begin the year by building in-demand digital skills.

📅 Start date: 19 January 2026
Online • Free • Erasmus+

As 2024 has just closed, we take a moment to reflect on the milestones and achievements that marked this year for LEAP: Unlocking career potential with CS, Data Analytics and ML. One of the standout moments was our participation in CCS’24 (https://ccs24.cssociety.org/) this past September, a pivotal event sponsored by the Complex Systems Society (CSS) (https://cssociety.org/about).

Maria Tsouchnika and Michael Kanetidis from Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης (AUTH), and Cigdem Yalcin from İstanbul Üniversitesi (IU), had the opportunity to showcase LEAP and its results, exchange ideas and insights with peers, and expand LEAP’s network at CCS’24, jointly organised by Northeastern University London and the University of Exeter in September.

With 2025 having just begun, we are excited to build on these conversations and continue contributing to the development of our curriculum, gearing up to offer our completed courses during the upcoming summer and fall.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at CCS’24 and to all our partners and supporters who made this year so impactful. A special thanks to the organisers at Northeastern University London and the University of Exeter for hosting such an inspiring conference. Here’s to continuing our journey of growth and innovation in 2025!

Check out more at: https://www.leaperasmusplus.eu/?p=1512

Erasmus+

We continuously engage with the global academic community to deepen and disseminate insights from LEAP. This past summer was particularly fruitful, starting with our participation at the CCP2024 conference on Computational Physics in Thessaloniki, organised by IUPAP. Representatives from the Greek (AUTh) and Turkish (IU) HEIs met, fostering a collaborative atmosphere. Although LEAP was not directly showcased, the discussions held profoundly influenced our project. The insights and inspirations gathered proved instrumental in shaping our course content ideas.

Consortium representatives Michael Kanetidis (AUTh), Cigdem Yalcin (IU), Maria Tsouchnika (AUTh), and Panos Argyrakis (AUTh) can be seen in the snapshots below.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates from our recent conference participation where we showcased some of LEAP’s initial results!

📢 Last call! ⏳
Don't miss out on the opportunity to join this very interesting upcoming hybrid school on Complexity and Machine Learning. Registration closes tomorrow! Reserve your spot now to dive deep into cutting-edge topics and connect with experts in the field.

🎓 Secure your place today: https://lnkd.in/d4Ww_2hv

lnkd.in

📢 Call for participation in our companies' survey on assessing the ICT skills gap in the Data Analytics and Machine Learning fields! 📊

✨ Does your company operate in Greece, Italy, Sweden, or Turkey and utilise Data Analytics and/or Machine Learning techniques in its operations?
✨ Would you like to play a pivotal role in bridging the skills gap between the demand (ICT labour market) and the supply (candidates) perspectives, in the fields of Data Analytics and Machine Learning?
✨ Would you like to join us in empowering prospective candidates with skills and competencies highly sought after in the ICT labour market, in the fields of Data Analytics and Machine Learning?

🎉 If you answered yes to the above questions, we need your expertise and insights!

📋 We would like to invite you to participate in our survey titled:
"Assessing the ICT Skills Gap in the Data Analytics and Machine Learning fields from the companies perspective"

📈 With your input, we seek to:
💡 Gain a deeper understanding of the current state of the ICT labour market in the consortium countries
💡 Identify the most pressing ICT skills shortages in the fields of Data Analytics and Machine Learning
💡 Develop a targeted and relevant curriculum that meets the needs of both learners and the labour market.

📢 Make an Impact! We would like your input on:
🔧 The general (methodologies and techniques, e.g. Regression Analysis, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Agent-Based Modeling, Optimisation, etc.) and the specific (languages and technologies, e.g. Python, R, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, Tableau, SQL, Hadoop, etc.) skills most commonly used in your company, in the fields of DA/ML. In other words, a listing of the most frequently encountered skills and competencies in your DA/ML job postings. This will help us include the most in-demand skills in our courses.
💼 A listing of some of the most frequently encountered use-case scenarios (e.g. Customer Segmentation and Targeted Marketing, Fraud Detection and Prevention, Personalised Healthcare Recommendations, etc.), within your company, in the fields of DA/ML. This will help us develop hands-on activities that will be more realistic and more relevant to the labour market, to include in our courses.

🎯 Your input will directly shape the development of our courses to make them more targeted, relevant, and effective, thus contributing to bridging the skills gap and widening the pool of prospective candidates for the ICT labour market, in the fields of Data Analytics and Machine Learning.

🌐 Why Participate?
🌱 Shape the development of high-impact educational content
🌱 Connect with a pool of high-performing students
🌱 Join a dynamic community dedicated to driving innovation in Data Analytics and Machine Learning

🎉 Thank you for your commitment to advancing the field of Data Analytics and Machine Learning. For more information please visit LEAP's website: https://www.leaperasmusplus.eu/ or contact us at [email protected].

🚀 Fantastic news! LEAP has officially sprung to life in a vibrant kickoff meeting on 15/12/2023. Faces both familiar and new gathered, filling the room with energy and creativity.

As the meeting unfolded, active participation and fresh ideas marked the beginning of an empowering project that helps individuals reach their full potential in a fast-changing and demanding labour market.

LEAP is a KA-220-HED Erasmus+ project aiming at:
✨ (Helping to) Bridge the skills gap between academia and the dynamic ICT labour market.
✨ Deliver a rich, effective learning experience for diverse learners.

Key LEAP Outputs:
🌐 In-depth insights into ICT-skills mismatches.
🎓 A cutting-edge 3-course curriculum covering Complex Systems, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Statistics.
💻 Online learning opportunities with certification (15 ECTS).
🌍 Multilingual course content available as Open Educational Resources (OER).
📚 Best practices for delivering top-notch digital educational content.
🤝 A thriving Community of Practice fostering collaboration and maximising impact.

Join us for more updates and let’s embark on this exciting journey together! 🌈

We're excited to announce LEAP, a project aimed at reducing the ICT skills gap and increasing the employability of HEI's students and graduates! LEAP provides a 3-course curriculum that is effective in imparting high demand ICT skills, designed with diverse student profiles in mind and available as open educational resources (OER).

But LEAP isn't just for students - HEI's teachers can benefit from the OER, the derived guidelines, and the Community of Practice (CoP), building their capacity and delivering high-quality teaching that is relevant to the needs of the labour market.

Policy makers can also gain valuable insights from LEAP's skills gap analysis and derived guidelines and recommendations, enabling them to develop policies and initiatives that are better aligned with the current and future needs of the labour market.

ICT-related companies can also benefit from LEAP by gaining access to more suitable candidates to fill their vacancies and establishing synergies between academia and industry.

Join us in reducing the ICT skills gap and increasing employability - learn more about LEAP today!