The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) hosted the IMPRS symposium for the Science of Light. The event was jointly organised by International Max Planck Research Schools for the Physics of Light (IMPRS-PL at MPL) and for Advanced Photon Science (IMPRS-APS at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) and the Max Planck – University of Ottawa Centre for Extreme and Quantum Photonics. More than 90 master and PhD students had the opportunity to attend presentations by world-leading experts from different fields in optics, such as photonics, quantum optics, optical imaging and manipulation.