diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd24720c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[submodule "external/emonet"]
+	path = external/emonet
+	url = https://github.com/coloss/emonet.git
+	branch = feature/exposeEemotionFeature
+[submodule "external/SwinTransformer"]
+	path = external/SwinTransformer
+	url = https://github.com/coloss/Swin-Transformer.git
+	branch = feature/emoca
diff --git a/external/SwinTransformer b/external/SwinTransformer
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..ed92e9ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/external/SwinTransformer
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit ed92e9aeb36387447a5193590033b3b0f17e057b
diff --git a/external/emonet b/external/emonet
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..48425dee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/external/emonet
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 48425dee64919ea9a767de1c091ca19567a209d3
diff --git a/gdl/datasets/FaceVideoDataModule.py b/gdl/datasets/FaceVideoDataModule.py
index 89033b8d..5eb0f2aa 100644
--- a/gdl/datasets/FaceVideoDataModule.py
+++ b/gdl/datasets/FaceVideoDataModule.py
@@ -398,8 +398,9 @@ def vis_parsing_maps(im, parsing_anno, stride, save_im=False, save_path='overlay
 
 
     def _get_emonet(self, device=None):
+        from gdl.utils.other import get_path_to_externals
         device = device or torch.device('cuda:0' if torch.cuda.is_available() else 'cpu')
-        path_to_emonet = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent / "emonet"
+        path_to_emonet = get_path_to_externals() / "emonet"
         if not(str(path_to_emonet) in sys.path  or str(path_to_emonet.absolute()) in sys.path):
             sys.path += [str(path_to_emonet)]
 
diff --git a/gdl/layers/losses/EmonetLoader.py b/gdl/layers/losses/EmonetLoader.py
index cd62aa8c..b2d6aa99 100644
--- a/gdl/layers/losses/EmonetLoader.py
+++ b/gdl/layers/losses/EmonetLoader.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 import inspect
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
-
+from gdl.utils.other import get_path_to_externals
 import torch
 
 
 def get_emonet(device=None, load_pretrained=True):
     device = device or torch.device('cuda:0' if torch.cuda.is_available() else 'cpu')
-    path_to_emonet = Path(__file__).absolute().resolve().parent.parent.parent.parent.parent / "emonet"
+    path_to_emonet = get_path_to_externals() / "emonet"
     if not(str(path_to_emonet) in sys.path  or str(path_to_emonet.absolute()) in sys.path):
         # print(f"Adding EmoNet path '{path_to_emonet}'")
         sys.path += [str(path_to_emonet)]
diff --git a/gdl/models/Swin.py b/gdl/models/Swin.py
index 61579801..0c43a520 100644
--- a/gdl/models/Swin.py
+++ b/gdl/models/Swin.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import os, sys
 from pathlib import Path
-# swin_path = (Path(__file__).parents[2] / "Swin-Transformer").absolute()
-swin_path = (Path(__file__).parents[3] / "SwinTransformer").absolute()
+from gdl.utils.other import get_path_to_externals
+swin_path = (get_path_to_externals() / "SwinTransformer").absolute()
 if not swin_path.is_dir():
     raise ImportError(f"Swin repository not found in : '{swin_path}'")
 if str(swin_path.parent) not in sys.path:
diff --git a/gdl/utils/other.py b/gdl/utils/other.py
index abe01cf0..49a0ed1f 100644
--- a/gdl/utils/other.py
+++ b/gdl/utils/other.py
@@ -16,3 +16,8 @@ def class_from_str(str, module=None, none_on_fail = False) -> type:
 def get_path_to_assets() -> Path:
     import gdl
     return Path(gdl.__file__).parents[1] / "assets"
+
+
+def get_path_to_externals() -> Path:
+    import gdl
+    return Path(gdl.__file__).parents[1] / "external"
diff --git a/gdl_apps/EmotionRecognition/training/train_emodeca.py b/gdl_apps/EmotionRecognition/training/train_emodeca.py
index c4229cdd..6079ace6 100644
--- a/gdl_apps/EmotionRecognition/training/train_emodeca.py
+++ b/gdl_apps/EmotionRecognition/training/train_emodeca.py
@@ -421,8 +421,9 @@ def configure(emo_deca_default, emodeca_overrides, deca_default, deca_overrides,
 
     if 'swin_type' in cfg.model.keys():
         if cfg.model.swin_cfg == 'todo':
+            from gdl.utils.other import get_path_to_externals
             swin_cfg = OmegaConf.load(
-                Path(__file__).parents[3] / "SwinTransformer" / "configs" / (cfg.model.swin_type + ".yaml"))
+                get_path_to_externals() / "SwinTransformer" / "configs" / (cfg.model.swin_type + ".yaml"))
             OmegaConf.set_struct(swin_cfg, True)
             cfg.model.swin_cfg = swin_cfg
     return cfg