My experience at ICLR 2025

Welcome to my personal recap of attending ICLR 2025 in Singapore! This write-up blends my reflections, highlights from the conference, and a bit of travelogue from one of the most exciting tech and research hubs in the world.

✈️ Day 0: Arrival in Singapore

• Landed at Singapore Changi Airport, an architectural and biophilic marvel. The airport was lush, sustainable, and full of natural light—truly a unique experience.

• Stayed at Village Hotel Changi, known for its serene location and infinity pool.

• Expectations vs. Reality: The pool looked more scenic online than in person, especially at night with fewer views of the beach.
• The hotel was fully booked with conference attendees, which added to the excitement.
• A/C everywhere! A bit too cold at times.
• Grab rides made commuting easy—I used Grab regularly between the venue and hotel.

🧑‍🏫 Day 1: Conference Kick-off

• Arrived early (8:30 AM)—registration was smooth with no queues.

• The halls were massive, like concert venues, and well-organized with badge checks at every entry point.

🧠 Keynote: Building Safe and Robust AI Systems

• A brilliant talk about impactful academic research.
• Reflections on landmark papers: AlphaGo, Adam Optimizer, etc.
• The speaker noted that the true transformative phase of ML was around 2015, and that the current landscape feels more driven by industry than academia.

🎨 Poster Sessions

• Insightful conversations and visual overviews of the latest research.

🏢 Industry Booths

• Tech giants were present in full force—Google, Meta, Salesforce, and more.

🤝 Mentorship Hour

• A great networking opportunity and chance to ask career questions.
• Especially valuable for early-career researchers navigating industry vs. academia.

📚 Day 2: Deep Dives & Discussions

🧠 Keynote: Pursuing the Nature of Intelligence

• A philosophical yet technical exploration of intelligence—both artificial and biological.

🎨 Poster Sessions continued

👩‍🔬 WiML Social (Women in Machine Learning)

• Fantastic to connect with women across the globe.
• Topics ranged from dual-career challenges to transitions between academia and industry.

🏆 Test of Time Award

• Awarded to the Adam Optimizer paper—well deserved!

🌅 Evening at Changi Beach

• Peaceful walk near the hotel post-conference. Much needed!

🤖 Day 3: Training LLMs & Social Events

🔍 Talk: Training LLMs in Academia — Challenging or Calling?

• Eye-opening insights into training large models on limited budgets.
• Emphasis on how constraints in academia can drive innovation.

🎨 Poster Sessions & Town Hall

🤝 Mentorship Hour (again!)

🥂 Salesforce Party

• Exclusive invite via the Whova app.
• Great place to unwind and continue networking.

🧠 Day 4: Re-Align Workshop + Neuroscience Crossovers

🔬 Second Re-Align Workshop

• Presented my paper: Computer Graphics from a Neuroscientist’s Perspective.
• Focused on representational alignment between humans and machines.
• The day included a mix of talks and the kickoff for a hackathon.

🧪 Evening: Society for Neuroscience Singapore Chapter Event

• Traveled ~1.5 hours to attend the Society for Neuroscience Singapore Chapter.
• Rich discussions and poster sessions in a med-tech environment.

🍱 Daily Highlights

• The food was incredible!
• The conference provided diverse, high-quality meals with rotating menus.

💬 Final Thoughts

ICLR 2025 was a perfect blend of rigorous research, engaging discussions, and meaningful networking. From deep technical keynotes to mentorship sessions and cross-disciplinary workshops, this experience reinvigorated my passion for machine learning and neuroscience alike.

Would attend again—100%.