May 2018 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Cognitive Computing Herrenhausen Conference in December 18-20, 2018, Hannover, Germany - submite abstracts by July 31 - www.cognitive-comp.org

by Prof. Dr. Gordon Pipa

We are proud to announce the Herrenhausen Conference on Cognitive Computing, which will take place from December 18-20 in Hanover, Germany www.cognitive-comp.org Confirmed Plenary Lectures and Keynotes: David Wolpert, Santa Fé Institute, USA Chris Eliasmith, University of Waterloo, Canada Joanna J. Bryson, Princeton University, USA (University of Bath, UK) Pieter Roelfsema, NIN Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit), Netherlands Demetri Psaltis, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland Kwabena Boahen, Stanford University, USA Edward A. Lee, UC Berkeley, USA Susan Stepney, University of York, UK Public lecture (Computation and System Autonomy): Ipke Wachsmuth, Bielefeld University, Germany Poster: http://cognitive-comp.org/template/images/files/CognitiveComputing_Conferenc e2018.pdf Call for Abstract: http://cognitive-comp.org/template/images/files/Call4Papers_CogComp2018.pdf The conference has two aims, namely to explore technological options arising from novel computational architectures in unconventional substrates and to work towards a general rigorous theory of computing in non-digital, "brain-like" physical substrates. This is a profoundly interdisciplinary enterprise. For the duration of three full days, we want to bring together researchers from neuroscience, mathematics, machine learning, computer engineering, physics and material sciences in a single-track "think tank" setting with eye-opening plenary and keynote lectures, as well as carefully selected oral presentations and comprehensive poster sessions. The venue, the Castle of Herrenhausen, a heritage of the Kings of Hannover, has been transformed into an award-winning center for scientific events. The Herrenhausen Gardens stretch across hectares of classical French gardening. This unique setting, together with generous break times, will make it easy and natural to engage in stimulating scientific exchange. The organizers: Daniel Brunner (photonics, neuromorphic architectures / Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté/CNRS, France) Herbert Jaeger (machine learning, nonlinear dynamics / Jacobs University, Germany) Stuart Parkin (nano systems, quantum electronic materials / Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Germany) Gordon Pipa (neuroinformatics and cognitive computing / Osnabrück University, Germany) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Professor and Chair of the Neuroinformatics Department Dr. rer. nat. Gordon Pipa Institute of Cognitive Science, Room 50/218 University of Osnabrueck Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany tel. +49 (0) 541-969-2277 fax (private). +49 (0) 5405- 500 80 98 home office. +49 (0) 5405- 500 90 95 e-mail: gpipa(a)uos.de webpage: http://www.ni.uos.de https://de.linkedin.com/in/gordon-pipa-47771539 research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gordon_Pipa/?ev=prf_act Personal Assistent and Secretary of the Neuroinformatic lab: Anna Jungeilges Tel. +49 (0)541 969-2390 Fax +49 (0)541 969-2246 Email: anna.jungeilges(a)uni-osnabrueck.de visit us on http://www.facebook.com/CognitiveScienceOsnabruck https://twitter.com/#!/CogSciUOS

May 9, 2018

PhD position in Slovakia and US

by Norbert Kopco

A PhD position (or a part-time postdoc) is available in Norbert Kopco's Perception and Cognition Lab in the Institute of Computer Science at Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia, for a Marie Curie EU-funded project on adaptation and learning in spatial hearing (http://pcl.upjs.sk/grants/alt/) This is an international collaborative project, combining psychophysical, neuroimaging and computational methods. As part of this project, the student would have the opportunity to work on development of modules for an auditory training game and spend up to 12 months in the US with one or more of the collaborators on this grant (Aaron Seitz's Brain Game Center at UC Riverside, Erick Gallun's lab at the Portland VA / OHSU, Virginia Best or Barbara Shinn-Cunningham at the Boston University Hearing Research Center, or Jyrki Ahveninen at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Boston). Interested candidates please contact norbert.kopco(a)upjs.sk with a CV and a research statement. Information about PhD student application procedures is available at http://www.upjs.sk/en/faculty-of-science/foreign-students/ (deadline is 31 May, 2018).

May 8, 2018

Theory-Experiment postdoctoral position in Paris [coll. Shamma/Boubenec/Ostojic]

by Yves Boubenec

A theory-experiment postdoctoral position is available at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, on a collaborative project between the group of Shihab Shamma & Yves Boubenec and the team of Srdjan Ostojic. We recently investigated (*) the population-level encoding of target stimuli in the primary auditory cortex of behaving animals during discrimination tasks. Following up on this study, we now aim at investigating the neural bases of auditory flexible categorization in behaving ferrets by combining computational modeling, data-analysis and experimental recordings. The successful applicant will be based at the Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives Computationnelles (LNC2), a highly interactive and dynamic environment situated in central Paris (see https://lnc2.dec.ens.fr/fr/teams/network-dynamics-and-computations) The group of Shihab Shamma & Yves Boubenec where the neurophysiological recordings take place is located next door (https://lsp.dec.ens.fr) The ideal candidate should be a computational neuroscientist with strong interest in experimental neuroscience, or the other way round. Starting dates are flexible. The position is for two years. Candidates should send a letter of motivation (2 pages max), the contact information of 2 or more referees and their CVs to boubenec at ens.fr _BEFORE May 23rd, 2018_. (*) Bagur, S. , Averseng, M., Elgueda, D., David, S., Fritz, J., Yin, P., Shamma, S., Boubenec, Y.* & Ostojic, S.* Go/No-Go task engagement enhances population representation of target stimuli in primary auditory cortex. Nature Comm. (in press). doi:10.1101/240556 -- Yves Boubenec, Ph.D. Associate Professor / Maitre de conférences Audition Team, Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (CNRS UMR 8248) École Normale Supérieure, Department of Cognitive Studies 75005 Paris, France

May 8, 2018

REMINDER: NEST Conference 2018 --- Abstract submission closes SUNDAY 13 May

by Hans Ekkehard Plesser

Dear colleagues! I cordially invite you to submit contributions to the NEST Conference 2018 to be held on 25/26 June 2018 (Monday/Tuesday, lunch to lunch) on the beautiful campus of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences at Ås, 30km south of Oslo. ABSTRACT SUBMISSION CLOSES THIS SUNDAY! We are excited to offer the following conference highlights: • NEST 3 — Gain first hands-on experience with the future of NEST • NEST Doc++ — Shape the professional documentation for NEST • Brain Atlases as Tools for Neuroscience (Jan Bjaalie/Trygve Leergaard) • Agricultural Robotics — Meet Thorvald, NMBU's robot for precision farming (sagarobotics.com) • Midsummer conference barbecue dinner on NMBU's beautiful campus • 3-day Hackathon after the conference with focus on improving documentation The NEST Conference provides an opportunity for the NEST Community to meet, exchange success stories, swap advice, learn about current developments in and around NEST spiking network simulation and its application. We would like you to share your experiences made and results obtained with NEST during the conference. You can do so either by a short oral presentation (10–15 minutes), on a poster, through a demo, or by organizing group work. Important dates • 13 May 2018 — Deadline for abstract submissions --- THIS SUNDAY!!! • 17 May 2018 — Notification of acceptance • 25 May 2018 — Deadline for registration For details, abstract submission and registration, please see http://www.nest-initiative.org/conference You are also welcome to contact us at conference(a)nest-initiative.org. We are looking forward to welcoming you to Ås in June! Hans Ekkehard Plesser President The Neural Technology Simulation Initiative http://www.nest-initiative.org -- Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Associate Professor Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

May 8, 2018

Job Opening

by Anna Manelis

*Postdoctoral position* A post-doctoral position is available at the Anticipation, Cognition and Emotion lab (www.ace.pitt.edu) at the University of Pittsburgh ( http://www.pitt.edu) to work with Dr. Anna Manelis and her team. A successful candidate will work on the NIMH funded research project that uses multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, MRI, DTI and fNIRS) to understand the contribution of anticipatory processing to cognitive and emotional dysfunction in individuals with mood disorders. *Required Qualifications*: a PhD degree in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience or a related discipline. A strong research background in the analysis and interpretation of neuroimaging data is required. Excellent writing skills are a must. Candidates with a strong computational background are encouraged to apply. Experience with FSL, Freesurfer and E-prime is preferred. The ability to program in Shell, Matlab, Python and/or R is preferred. Experience with fNIRS, graph modeling and pattern classification analyses is a plus. While prior experience with clinical populations is not necessary, we expect candidates to be interested in neuroimaging research of working and episodic memory in individuals with mood disorders. *Responsibilities*: A successful candidate will collect and analyze neuroimaging data, write manuscripts and present at conferences. This is a 1- to 2-year position that can be extended to 3 years. Start date is September 2018. If you are interested in this position, please send a CV, research statement, preprints/reprints of papers, and the names and contact information for two references to Anna Manelis (manelisa(a)upmc.edu <manelis(a)upmc.edu>).

May 7, 2018

3 PhD positions

by Jean-Pascal Pfister

Applications are invited for up to 3 PhD positions in the Theoretical Neuroscience Group headed by Prof. Jean-Pascal Pfister (jointly affiliated to the University of Bern and to the University of Zurich/ETH). The position is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant entitled "Bayesian synapses”. The Theoretical Neuroscience Group is interested in discovering new computational principles implemented in the brain. The group uses machine learning techniques such as nonlinear Bayesian filtering and apply them at different levels: the single synapse level, the neural network level and the behavioral level. The project aims at proposing a Bayesian perspective to synaptic plasticity and testing this idea in collaboration with experimental labs such as the lab of Prof. Martin Müller (Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich). The candidate should hold a Master degree in Physics, Mathematics, Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science or a related field. She/he should have keen interests in designing experimentally testable models. Preference will be given to candidates with strong mathematical and programming skills. The applicant should submit a CV (including contacts of two referees), a statement of research interests, marks obtained for the Master, and the abstract of the Master thesis in electronic format to Jean-Pascal Pfister (jpfister(a)ini.uzh.ch <mailto:jpfister@ini.uzh.ch>). The position is offered for a period of three years and can be extended. The preferred starting date is before October 2018. Salary scale is provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation ( http://www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/allg_doktorierende_e.pdf <http://www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/allg_doktorierende_e.pdf> ). Deadline for application is the 15th of Mai 2018 or until the position is filled. The interview will take place in Bern on the 25th of Mai. ——— Prof. Jean-Pascal Pfister Theoretical Neuroscience Group Bühlplatz 5 3012 Bern Switzerland http://www.physio.unibe.ch/~pfister/group/ <http://www.physio.unibe.ch/~pfister/group/> and Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 8057 Zurich, Switzerland www.ini.uzh.ch/~jpfister <http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~jpfister>

May 7, 2018

POSTDOC Computational Neuroscience / AI, Nottingham

by Mark van Rossum

We are pleased to announce an opening for a postdoc in the lab of Mark van Rossum at the University of Nottingham. In a EPSRC/ESRC grant on Human-like Computation, we are investigating in the computational role of sleep in cognitive processing and visual reasoning. In particular we are interested in how REM and slow-wave sleep phases map onto processing stages of neurally inspired AI, thereby trying to circumvent some limitations of current deep learning approaches. This theoretical research is complemented by sleep experiments carried out by the group of Prof Penny Lewis in Cardiff. The successful candidate will have a PhD (or submitted his/her thesis) and have research experience in either computational neuroscience or machine learning, or a combination of these. This post is initially a fixed-term contract for a period of 12 months. As Nottingham is currently creating a Centre for Computational Neuroscience, long-term independent research positions will open up next year. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Mark van Rossum. mark.vanrossum-at-nottingham.ac.uk Formal applications should be made via the website: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/SCI146218 -- Mark van Rossum, Professor, Schools of Psychology and Maths, U Nottingham Psych Bldg Rm LG.19, 44-115-951 5316, 44-7722049644 This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored where permitted by law.

May 5, 2018

Postdoc @ UCLA: perceptual decision-making, electrophysiology (existing spikes data)

by Hakwan Lau

hello - in collaboration with Michele Basso we're looking for someone to follow up this <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29382765> & this <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29301100> (going into PFC too). the person can focus on analysis and/or theory & doesn't have to want to learn to do the experimental work (though that's more than welcome). Hakwan Lau, D.Phil [my work <https://qualia.psych.ucla.edu/> & blog <https://inconsciousnesswetrust.blogspot.com/>]

May 3, 2018

Deadline extended to May 31st NeuroBridges 2018

by Ahmed El Hady

Notice: deadline extended to May 31st 2018 */NeuroBridges 2018 Summer school , Cluny, France/* */( October 2nd - October 12th, 2018)/* I would like to bring to your attention the *NeuroBridges 2018 Computational Neuroscience School*. <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2018.html> NeuroBridges <https://www.facebook.com/NeuroBridges/>is a one-of-a-kind series of scientific meetings in brain research, which brings together Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scientists, in order to promote international scientific cooperation in system and computational neuroscience. A major goal of this school is to serve as a bridge between experimental and theoretical neuroscientists, addressing system-level questions. The organizers of NeuroBridges also believe that these scientific collaborations can lead to personal relations, which eventually may help alleviate the political distress in the Middle East. Following the success of NeuroBridges 2017 <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2017.html> school, NeuroBridges 2018 <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2018.html> will be a nine day summer school <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2018.html>, which will take place in Cluny, France. The school is organized by Ahmed El Hady (Princeton), David Hansel (CNRS) and Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew University). It will be comprised of lectures delivered by a group of leading neuroscientists, experimentalists as well as theoreticians, which will address the fundamental questions in contemporary neuroscience. We are very excited that Yves Frégnac (CNRS, France ) will be giving the keynote lecture at the school. In addition to the lectures, the students will work in groups on small research projects. The school is intended for graduate students and postdocs, primarily from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, either working in their home countries or abroad. We will consider applicants with some background in applied mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering or physics, interested in theoretical brain and cognitive sciences. We will also consider those with biological or medical background given that they show proof of basic mathematical knowledge. The school will take place between October 2 and October 12, 2018 in Le Centre de Conférences Internationales de Cluny (CCIC). Cluny is a small medieval town in Burgundy, France, located about 400km southeast of Paris (accessible by fast train, TGV). The deadline for application is *May 31st, 2018 *and the following is the website including the link for the online application: http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2018.html For more information, please contact neurobridges2018(a)gmail.com <mailto:neurobridges2018@gmail.com>.

May 3, 2018

Postdoc position in brain modelling at QIMR Berghofer, Brisbane, Australia

by James Roberts

The Brain Modelling Group, led by Dr James Roberts at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, is seeking a postdoctoral research fellow. The role is a key part of an NHMRC-funded project to model large-scale brain dynamics across the lifespan. The successful candidate will develop novel models of large-scale brain dynamics, and use these to model brain activity across the adult lifespan. This will entail: (i) mathematical and computational modelling of brain dynamics at the whole-brain level; (ii) constraining models against empirical neuroimaging data, both structural and functional; and (iii) developing novel analysis tools and implementing them for wide adoption. The role will also include collaboration with Prof Michael Breakspear’s Systems Neuroscience Group. The successful candidate will have: - A PhD in physics, mathematics, computational neuroscience, computer science, or a related field; - A strong track record of high-quality peer-reviewed publications; - Experience in mathematical modelling; - Proficiency in programming (e.g. in MATLAB). And ideally will also have experience in: - Pre-processing and analysis of neuroimaging data, including diffusion imaging and tractography, fMRI, MEG, and/or EEG; - Modelling large-scale brain network dynamics; - Time series analysis and signal processing; and - Handling of large datasets. The position is in Brisbane, Australia, full-time for 2.5 years (with possibilities to extend). Salary range $78,530 - $84,257 p.a. plus up to 15.75% superannuation and attractive salary packing options. More details at: https://recruitment.qimr.edu.au/viewjob.aspx?jobid=1878 Position description: https://recruitment.qimr.edu.au/Public/docs/1878/12797%20Position%20Descrip… Closing date: 1 June 2018. James Roberts Team Head Brain Modelling Group QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

May 3, 2018