September 2019 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Two PhD positions in Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience
by Alireza Soltani 17 Sep '19

17 Sep '19

The Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (CCNL) at Dartmouth has openings for two enthusiastic graduate students to work on exciting projects on reward-based learning and decision making. One of the projects (funded by NIH) involves close collaboration with Alicia Izquierdo's lab at UCLA to investigate circuit-level neural mechanisms of adaptive learning. Starting date for one of the positions can be as early as Jan 2020 and the other position begins Sep 2020. A few recent relevant papers include: 1. Soltani A􏰀, Izquierdo A􏰀 (2019). Adaptive Learning under Expected and Unexpected Uncertainty. Nature Reviews Neuroscience <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-019-0180-y>. 2. Farashahi S, Donahue C, Hayden B, Lee D, Soltani A􏰀 (2019). Flexible Combination of Reward Information across Primates. Nature Human Behaviour <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0714-3>. 3. Stolyarova A, Rakhshan M, Peters MA, Lau H, Soltani A􏰀, Izquierdo A􏰀 (2019). Contributions of Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Basolateral Amygdala to Learning and Choice under Perceptual Uncertainty. Nature Communications (accepted) [available on bioRxiv, 655860 <https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/655860v1>] For more recent publications from the lab please visit http://ccnl.dartmouth.edu <http://ccnl.dartmouth.edu/> Interested students please contact Alireza Soltani (soltani(a)dartmouth.edu).

1 0

[jobs] Ph.D. positions in Neuromorphic Hardware and Robotics at KTH Stockholm
by Jörg Conradt 16 Sep '19

16 Sep '19

Here a call for open Ph.D. positions in Neuromorphic Hardware and Robotics (algorithms and systems), exact project flexible. Application deadline September 26. https://www.kth.se/en/om/work-at-kth/lediga-jobb/what:job/jobID:287447 Would you know of anyone interested? Please forward. Any information needed? Please inquire informally by brief email. Information on our work here (“old and somewhat outdated” pages from my former group): http://tum.neurocomputing.systems/en/research/index.html Thank you! I am very much looking forward to increasing the group at KTH. Jörg Jörg Conradt Prof. Dr. KTH Royal Institute of Technology Computational Science and Technology School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Lindstedtsvägen 5, SE-114 28 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46-8-790 6231 Email: conr(a)kth.se<mailto:conr@kth.se>, Web: www.kth.se<http://www.kth.se/>

1 0

Job opening in computational neuroscience in Juelich, Germany: Scientific Writer (user-level documentation of NEST)
by Martina Reske 13 Sep '19

13 Sep '19

The Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM) at Research Center Jülich, Germany, investigates the structure and function of the human brain on different spatial and temporal scales within the research program “Decoding the Human Brain”. The Supercomputing Centre is home of one of the most powerful machines and has a leading role in the European exascale strategy. Basic neuroscience connects the two research areas as it heavily relies on modeling and simulation, which are necessary to approach the brain’s immense complexity, manage the huge amount of resulting data, and develop reliable control techniques. The department INM-6, Computational and Systems Neuroscience (www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de>), develops mathematical models of neuronal dynamics and function. Model-driven analyses of brain activity and structure as well as simulation of biologically realistic models form the core of our work. Among others, the INM-6/IAS-6 is actively involved in the EU flagship project „Human Brain Project“ (HBP, https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/). Together with its partners, INM-6 develops analysis tools and the leading simulation code (NEST) for brain scale networks with cellular resolution in an open source approach (http://www.nest-initiative.org/). NEST has been under continuous development for 20 years and is serving a worldwide community. We are looking to recruit a Scientific Writer Your Job: * Production and maintenance of the user-level documentation of NEST in English, in dialog with software developers and neuroscientists. Depending on the agreed upon working hours, the task extends to a second software tool (Elephant). * Production of short videos supporting the documentation * Production of scientific texts, especially in English, for the institute’s website or institute reports in close collaboration with scientists and the heads of the institute * PR activities: Supporting the creation of PR material in English (e.g. flyer, brochures) * Communication with the internal communications department * Close collaboration with heads of the institute and project partners, especially within the Human Brain Project * Regular organization of and attendance of project meetings and videoconferences together with or substituting the task or workpackage leader Your Profile: * Completed study in natural sciences, ideally with PhD * Experience in neuroscience, physics, or computer science * Skilled in text processing software (Latex, Word) * Good knowledge of C++ * Excellent competence in German and English, especially with regard to drafting technical and administrative texts * Excellent communication skills and ability to work in a team * High ability to work in an interdisciplinary, international team * Proactive attitude * Willingness to travel Beneficial: * Work experience abroad * Expertise in Computational Neuroscience * Professional experience in above-mentioned areas of responsibility Our Offer: * International, interdisciplinary working environment on a green integrated campus located in the triangle of 3 major university cities Cologne-Duesseldorf-Aachen * High visibility through participation in an Open Source community project and work on key technologies of the European Human Brain Project * Responsibility in world-class science environment at the interface between neuroscience and technology on the most complex known systems * A comprehensive further training programme * Flexible working hours and various opportunities to reconcile work and private life * Limited until 30.04.2021 with possible longer-term prospects * Possibility, to apply for the desired level of working hours from 50% to a full position * Salary and social benefits in conformity with the provisions of the Collective Agreement for the Civil Service (TVöD) Forschungszentrum Jülich aims to employ more women in this area and therefore particularly welcomes applications from women. We also welcome applications from disabled persons. We look forward to receiving your application, preferably online<https://www.hrecruiting.de/obf2/bewerbermanagement.php?kunden_nr=t5ChjatkIf…> via our online recruitment system on our career site until 06.10.2019, quoting the reference number 2019-335. Questions about the vacancy? Contact us by mentioning the reference number 2019-335: career(a)fz-juelich.de<mailto:career@fz-juelich.de?Subject=Questions%20about%20the%20vacancy%202019-335&body=You%20can%20use%20this%20field%20to%20send%20us%20questions%20about%20the%20job%20advertisement%20you%20have%20selected.%20If%20you%20would%20like%20to%20apply%20for%20the%20position%2C%20please%20note%20that%20this%20is%20only%20possible%20via%20our%20online%20application%20portal.> Please note that for technical reasons we cannot accept applications via email. -- Dr. Martina Reske Scientific Coordinator Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neuroscience Jülich Research Centre and JARA Jülich, Germany Work +49.2461.611916 Work Cell +49.151.26156918 Fax +49.2461.619460 www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de> Office hours: TU & FR 9.00-17, WE & TH 9.00-13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Volker Rieke Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Multiple Postdoctoral Positions at Indiana University
by Franco Pestilli 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

Post-doctoral fellow position(s) to the study of the natural visual environments of infants and young children and their implications for visual, cognitive and language development and machine learning at Indiana University. The larger collaborative project involves analyses of the properties of a very large corpus of head camera images (500 million) collected by infants 1 to 24 months of age with respect to low, mid and higher level properties, the examination of the statistical structure of early learned visual categories (and their in-home naming by parents), the design and implementation of computational experiments using machine learning and computer vision models, as well as experiments with infants testing novel predictions from these analyses and models. The post-doctoral fellow(s) will take part in the intellectually rich cognitive science, computational neuroscience, vision, developmental, and computer science communities at Indiana University under the Emerging Areas of Research Initiative titled Learning: Brains, Machines and Children. Collaborators on the larger project include Linda Smith, David Crandall, Franco Pestilli, Rowan Candy, Jason Gold, and Chen Yu. This is an excellent opportunity for individuals with past training in one or more of the following: infant statistical learning, infant visual development (including face and object perception), visual neuroscience, adult vision, computer vision. Other areas of training with computational and/or experimental backgrounds will be considered. Please apply to Linda Smith, smith4(a)indiana.edu <mailto:smith4@indiana.edu>, with Visual Environments in the subject heading by sending a cover letter stating your interest in this project, your cv, and a research statement. References will be requested after initial contact. The filling of these position(s) are open in their timing; although we hope to appoint one position this fall, January or this spring are also possible start dates. Linda B. Smith Distinguished Professor Psychological and Brain Sciences www.iub.edu/~cogdev <http://www.iub.edu/~cogdev> Franco Pestilli, PhD Associate Professor Psychology <http://psych.indiana.edu/>, Neuroscience <http://www.indiana.edu/~neurosci/> and Cognitive Science <http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/> Engineering <https://www.engineering.indiana.edu/people/profile.html?profile_id=528>, Computer Science <https://www.cs.indiana.edu/>, and Optometry <http://optometry.iu.edu/> by courtesy Midwest Big Data Hub <http://midwestbigdatahub.org/> | brainlife.io <http://www.brain-life.org/>

1 0

Postdoc position: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin
by Sprekeler, Henning 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

A postdoc position is now available in the lab of Henning Sprekeler at TU Berlin. If you’re interested in modeling neural circuits, their computational functions and their plasticity, please apply. The position is fully funded for 5 years. Salary is commensurate with experience, but should allow a comfortable life in Berlin. Starting date asap. Applications will be considered until the position is filled. For more information about the lab and on how to apply, check out our website: http://www.sprekelerlab.org. I’ll be at the Bernstein Conference next week, so if you’re around and interested, please talk to me. Best wishes, Henning --- Henning Sprekeler Technische Universität Berlin & Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin Email: h.sprekeler(a)tu-berlin.de<mailto:h.sprekeler@tu-berlin.de>

1 0

Tenure Track Professorship in Machine Learning
by Robert Legenstein 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

The Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering at Graz University of Technology is offering a tenure track professorship in Machine Learning. We are looking for outstanding candidates with a research focus in the field of Machine Learning methods. Specific research topics include, but are not restricted to, the development and analysis of machine learning algorithms and the development of neuromorphic learning algorithms. The professorship will be part of the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science. The institute is an internationally renowned research environment engaged in fundamental research at the intersection of the fields of Computational Neuroscience and Machine Learning with an emphasis on brain-inspired principles of computation and learning. The successfully candidate will complement the existing strengths at the institute with his/her own expertise and build an internationally visible group. He/she will be an engaged teacher in the Computer Science programs at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD level and will actively participate in academic self-administration. Application deadline is 26 November 2019. For details see: https://www.tugraz.at/fakultaeten/infbio/news/jobs-grants-calls/tenure-trac… -- Dr. Robert Legenstein Associate Professor Institute for Theoretical Computer Science Graz University of Technology Inffeldgasse 16b/I, 8010 Graz, Austria http://www.igi.tugraz.at/legi/ Follow @CompLegenstein on Twitter. ++43/316/873-5824 ----------------------------------

1 0

HFSP-funded post-doc position
by Gergo Orban 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

A postdoctoral position is available at the Computational Systems Neuroscience Lab (Department of Computational Sciences, Wigner Research Center for Physics, Budapest Hungary) to work on a project focussing on integrating prior information with current evidence in early vision. The project is an HFSP-funded collaboration between four labs: Peyman Golshani's (UCLA, mouse electrophysiology and imaging), Máté Lengyel’s University of Cambridge, theory), and Wolf Singer’s Lab (ESI, Frankfurt, monkey electrophysiology). The focus of the research project is how acquired knowledge can be integrated with incoming information during visual perception. Joining team members will work on novel population analysis techniques and/or develop computational theories of hierarchical computations. The position offers a chance to work actively with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, to access advanced computing architectures and to get involved in cool experiments right from design of experiments, to develop predictions, and analysis of data. The ideal candidate has a strong mathematical background, preferably with a PhD in physics, computer science, or mathematics or other quantitative disciplines. Besides mathematical skills, the position requires competence in programming (e.g. matlab, R, python, or C++). Candidates with training or research experience in statistics, machine learning, computational modelling, dynamical systems, systems neuroscience are especially encouraged to apply. Training in neuroscience is not required but the applicant has to demonstrate his/her willingness to acquire the necessary background for the project. For informal inquiries please contact me by mail (orban.gergo(a)wigner.mta.hu <mailto:orban.gergo@wigner.mta.hu>) or by arranging a meeting at CCN19 in Berlin (our posters are PS-1B.35, PS-2A.19, PS-2A.40, PS-2B.44). Please send applications, including CV, a research statement and contact information of two references by email to Gergo Orban before 20 October. For more information about the lab visit our home page: http://golab.wigner.mta.hu <http://golab.wigner.mta.hu/> or sample our recent papers: Gáspár ME, Polack P-O, Golshani P, Lengyel M, Orbán G (2019) Representational untangling by the firing rate nonlinearity in V1 simple cells eLife, 8:e43625 doi: 10.7554/eLife.43625 Bányai M, Lazar A, Klein L, Klon-Lipok J, Stippinger M, Singer W, Orbán G (2019) Stimulus complexity shapes response correlations in primary visual cortex Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 10.1073/pnas.1816766116. Orbán G, Berkes P, Fiser J, Lengyel M (2016) Neural variability and sampling-based  probabilistic representations in the visual cortex. Neuron, 92:530–543 ______________ Gergo Orban, PhD Computational Systems Neuroscience Lab MTA Wigner Research Centre for Physics 13-106, 29-33 Konkoly-Thege St Budapest, 1121, HU T: +36 1 392 2732 E: orban.gergo(a)wigner.mta.hu <mailto:orban.gergo@wigner.mta.hu> W: http://golab.wigner.mta.hu <http://golab.wigner.mta.hu/>

1 0

COSYNE 2020: Meeting announcement and Call for workshop proposals
by Tomas Hromadka 11 Sep '19

11 Sep '19

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2020 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING 27 February - 01 March 2020 Denver, Colorado WORKSHOPS 02 March - 03 March 2020 Breckenridge, Colorado www.cosyne.org ==================================================== ---------------------------------------------------- MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks is selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. For details on workshop proposals please see below or visit Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural basis of behavior, sensory and motor systems, circuitry, learning, neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. This year we would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. IMPORTANT DATES Workshop pre-proposal deadline: 06 October 2019 Workshop proposal deadline: 10 November 2019 Abstract submission opens: 01 October 2019 Abstract submission deadline: 31 October 2019 COSYNE INVITED SPEAKERS Matthew Botvinick (Deepmind/Princeton) Megan Carey (Champalimaud) John Cunningham (Columbia) Gul Dolen (Hopkins) Rainer Friedrich (FMI Basel) Sam Gershman (Harvard) Lisa Giocomo (Stanford) Christopher Harvey (Harvard) Mehrdad Jazayeri (MIT) Wei Ji Ma, (NYU) Hendrikje Nienborg (Tuebingen/NIH) Linda Wilbrecht (Berkeley) Marta Zlatic (Janelia) When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Eugenia Chiappe (Champalimaud) and Christian Machens (Champalimaud) Program Chairs: Anne-Marie Oswald (U Pittsburgh) and Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris) Workshop Chairs: Catherine Hartley (NYU) and Blake Richards (McGill) Undergraduate Travel Chairs: Angela Langdon (Princeton) and Robert Wilson (U Arizona) Diversity Chairs: Eva Dyer (Georgia Tech, Emory) and Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Publicity Chair: Adam Calhoun (Princeton) Development Chair: Michael Long (NYU) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PRE-PROPOSAL DEADLINE: 06 October 2019 FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: 10 November 2019 A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting. The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. - There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. - Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people. - The workshops will be split into morning (8.00-11.00 AM) and afternoon (4.30-7.30 PM) sessions. - Workshops will be held in Breckenridge, CO, a ski village 80 miles west of Denver. Buses from the main conference will be provided. - Workshop speakers do *not* receive free registration, travel expenses, or accommodation for either the main meeting or the workshop sessions. Organizers should let invited speakers know that they are expected to pay for workshop registration fees Workshop organizer responsibilities include coordinating workshop participation and content, scheduling all speakers, submitting a final schedule for the workshop program, and moderating the discussion. Organizers can, but need not, be speakers. One complimentary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with two organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. Any required multimedia resources beyond a projector, screen, and microphones will be the responsibility of the workshop organizers to coordinate with Cosyne and Breckenridge staff. EVALUATION CRITERIA As stated above, the goal of Cosyne workshops is to provide an interactive, informal forum for discussions. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. Workshop proposals will be evaluated by the Cosyne Workshop Chairs, and a subset of the proposals will be selected. The proposals will be evaluated according to the following six metrics (which will be weighted equally): 1. Relevance to the Cosyne community 2. Integration of experimental and theoretical issues 3. Current interest in the topic in the scientific community 4. Potential for new research directions and interactions to emerge 5. Distinctive scope/approach compared to other workshops (including previous years’) 6. Diversity and equity in the proposed speakers PRE-PROPOSALS In an effort to coordinate submissions, workshop organizers are *strongly encouraged* to submit a pre-proposal by *06 October 2019.* Submission instructions for workshop (pre)-proposals are available at Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Pre-proposals may be shared among submitters to reduce topical overlap or facilitate merging of workshops. Pre-proposals are not mandatory, but workshops with a pre-proposal will have priority. In order to foster discussion within Workshops and reduce overlap between workshops, organizers should inform invited speakers that a speaker can take part in no more than two Workshops. PRE-PROPOSALS should include: - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. - A title. - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted group of participants. - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with confirmed speakers. - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs two days, please explain why. - A brief resume of the workshop organizer(s) along with a short list of workshop-relevant publications (about half a page total). Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. We recommend keeping the number of talks small (i.e., fewer than 10 talks per day). FULL PROPOSALS should include the list of confirmed speakers in addition to components required for a pre-proposal. WORKSHOP COSTS Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. Organizers should let invited speakers know that they are expected to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One complimentary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. COSYNE 2020 WORKSHOP CHAIRS Catherine Hartley (NYU) and Blake Richards (McGill) QUESTIONS email: workshops [at] cosyne.org COSYNE MAILING LISTS Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

1 0

PostDoc position: Indianapolis-Paris
by Alexey Kuznetsov 11 Sep '19

11 Sep '19

*POSTDOCTORAL POSITION* *Indianapolis, Indiana, United States; Paris, France* A one-year postdoctoral position is available for a project on computational modeling of the influence of alcohol on the cortico-striatal signaling. The post-doc will design a biophysical model of the cortico-striatal brain circuitry affected by alcohol. The position is available beginning December 2019 for one years. The post-doc will work with Prof. Kuznetsov (Mathematics Dept. IUPUI) and collaborate with experimentalists Prof. Atwood (IUSM) and Prof. Lapish (Psycology Dept. IUPUI). For the first part of the project the fellow will have the opportunity for an extended stay in Paris France together with the PI to collaborate with Prof. Gutkin (ENS Paris). The locations provide an excellent environment for collaborative research in quantitative biosciences. *Qualifications*: Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Mathematics, Physics, or a related field, a background in Dynamical Systems, programming experience and working knowledge in Computational Neuroscience. *How to Apply:* Send your CV, list of publications, research statement, and contact information for three references to Prof. Alexey Kuznetsov via e-mail: askuznet(a)iupui.edu, or by regular mail: 402 N. Blackford Street, LD 270, Indianapolis, IN 46202. IUPUI is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution. Individuals who require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application process must notify Cindy Ritchie at 402 N. Blackford Street, LD 270, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202 or call (317) 274-6920, a reasonable time in advance. IUPUI strongly encourages applications from women and underrepresented minorities. Additional information about IUPUI and the Department is available at www.iupui.edu and www.math.iupui.edu. -- Alexey Kuznetsov Associate Professor Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, IUPUI Science Building, LD 270, 402 N. Blackford St., Indianapolis, IN

1 0

Two PhD Positions in Machine Learning/Neuroimaging at Charité Berlin
by Stefan Haufe 11 Sep '19

11 Sep '19

Dear all, The Brain and Data Science Lab of Stefan Haufe at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is looking to recruit two highly motivated PhD students. Appointments can be made for four years starting immediately. 1. Theory and practice of interpreting machine learning models Machine learning systems have recently set new standards for solving a wide range of problems by leveraging vast amounts of training data. But they have remained “black boxes” whose internal workings are too complex to be comprehensible by a human. Especially in the health domain, it is desirable to explain and visualize the decisions of ML models. Recently, it has been shown that many existing explanation methods can be misleading even when using simple linear ML models [Haufe et al., 2014; Kindermans et al., 2018]. In this PhD project, a bottom-up approach will be performed, in which correct interpretation will be defined axiomatically. The resulting definition will be used to benchmark novel and existing explanation methods using synthetic ground-truth data. The resulting methodology will also be applied to clinical use cases. 2. Estimating and characterizing EEG/MEG functional connectomes in aging and dementia The study of functional brain interactions promises to greatly enhance our understanding of mental diseases. EEG and MEG make it possible to brain dynamics at high temporal scales but suffer from low spatial resolution, which often leads to false detections of brain connectivity. While the problem has been overcome for linear connectivity metrics [Nolte et al., 2004; Haufe et al., 2013] it still persists for non-linear interactions such as phase-amplitude and amplitude-amplitude coupling, which have been postulated as possible mechanisms of brain communication. This PhD project will establish a best practice to reconstruct non-linear connectivity from EEG/MEG data. The developed pipeline will be applied to study brain connectivity in aging and neurological conditions (dementia) using big EEG/MEG datasets. Interpretable machine learning will further be used to relate functional connectomes to behavior and relevant clinical variables. The Brain and Data Science Group at Charité develops machine learning and signal processing methods for the analysis of non-invasive brain signals in health and disease. We are located at the Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging (BCAN) on the beautiful historic Charité Campus Mitte in the center of Berlin, and are embedded in a stimulating inter-disciplinary research environment. The group is funded by an ERC starting grant of the European Union. Requirements: Candidates are expected to hold a very good MSc or equivalent degree preferably in a technical field (machine learning, computer science, statistics, mathematics, computational (neuro) science, data science, physics, electrical/biomedical engineering, etc.). All positions require a solid math/statistics background, proficiency in written English, and good coding skills (e.g., Matlab, Python, C++, Java). Prior experience with functional neuroimaging data is a plus. Applications should include a letter of motivation, a CV, transcripts and degree certificates, as well as (if available) references, an English-language writing sample, and a coding sample (e.g. link to a github project). Applications should be sent to stefan.haufe(a)charite.de until Oct 15th 2019. All attached documents should be contained in a single pdf. See braindata.charite.de for further information on the positions and our group. With best wishes, Stefan Haufe -- Stefan Haufe ERC Research Group Leader Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging (BCAN) Charitéplatz 1 Sauerbruchweg 4 10117 Berlin Tel: +49 30 450 639 639 Fax: +49 30 450 539 951 Web: braindata.charite.de

1 0