diff --git a/utils/yaml_config_hook.py b/utils/yaml_config_hook.py
index edb2e91..c912352 100644
--- a/utils/yaml_config_hook.py
+++ b/utils/yaml_config_hook.py
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ def yaml_config_hook(config_file):
     """
 
     # load yaml files in the nested 'defaults' section, which include defaults for experiments
-    with open(config_file) as f:
+    with open(config_file,encoding='utf-8') as f:
         cfg = yaml.safe_load(f)
         for d in cfg.get("defaults", []):
             config_dir, cf = d.popitem()
             cf = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(config_file), config_dir, cf + ".yaml")
-            with open(cf) as f:
+            with open(cf,encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 l = yaml.safe_load(f)
                 cfg.update(l)