September 2020 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Up to 6 PhD fellowships in Cognitive Neuroscience at SISSA, Trieste, Italy, to start Oct, 2020
by Alessandro Treves 12 Oct '22

12 Oct '22

SISSA is an elite postgraduate research institution located in Trieste, Italy, and focused on Maths, Physics and Neuroscience. It operates in English: many among its students and faculty are not Italian. The Cognitive Neuroscience Department hosts 6 research labs that study the neuronal bases of time and magnitude processing, visual perception, motivation and intelligence, language and reading, tactile perception and learning, and neural computation. The Department is very inter–disciplinary; our approaches include behavioural, psychophysics, and neurophysiological experiments with humans and animals, as well as computational and mathematical models. Students with diverse backgrounds (physics, math, medicine, psychology, biology) are most welcome to apply. The Department has an exceptional track record with highly competitive funds (recent funding includes 4 ERC and 3 Human Frontiers grants) and publication in top journals (Nature, Science, PNAS, Current Biology). Recent placements after PhD include Harvard, MIT, Columbia and Princeton in the US; the NTNU, Manchester and Radboud in Europe; and Sydney University, Australia. Our alumni have been awarded 4 ERC grants, the 2015 Kandel Young Neuroscientist Prize and the 2017 ICTP Prize. More information about the Department is available at our website https://phdcns.sissa.it. The selection procedure is now open; to learn how to apply, please visit https://phdcns.sissa.it/admission-procedure. Please contact the PhD Coordinator (davide.crepaldi(a)sissa.it) and/or your prospective supervisor for more information and informal enquiries. -- Alessandro Treves SISSA, Cognitive Neuroscience, http://people.sissa.it/~ale/limbo.html if in, rm 241, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy: +39-040-3787623

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Postdoc in neural data analysis
by Mark Humphries 26 Jun '22

26 Jun '22

A 3 year postdoc post is available in the lab of Prof Mark Humphries, at the University of Nottingham (UK) In this project, our aim is to test the overarching hypothesis that movement transitions are encoded by the same neural population reconfiguring its joint activity, for both rhythmic and discrete movements. We will tackle this question using newly-available population recordings during rhythmic movement transitions in Aplysia and discrete arm movement transitions in monkeys, The Humphries’ group researches fundamental insights into how the joint activity of neurons encodes information about and actions in the world. For more see: https://www.humphries-lab.org Queries: mark.humphries(a)nottingham.ac.uk Deadline: 5th September Full details, and to apply: https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2 [http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/org/images/socialmedia.png]<https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2> Job Vacancy at the University of Nottingham: Research Associate/Fellow (Fixed term)<https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2> Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research fellow to join the Humphries’ group on the MRC-funded project “Uncovering the neural basis of movement transitions”. The Humphries’ group researches fundamental... jobs.nottingham.ac.uk Professor Mark Humphries | MRC Senior non-Clinical Fellow | Chair in Computational Neuroscience Lab: humphries-lab.org<https://www.humphries-lab.org/> Twitter: @markdhumphries Public blog: https://medium.com/the-spike 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.

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Explainable AI: Overcoming problems of Deep Learning problems with Adaptive Resonance
by Grossberg, Stephen 09 Apr '22

09 Apr '22

Dear Colleagues, There's currently a lot of interest in AI, notably Deep Learning, and in achieving autonomous adaptive intelligence. The following new article summarizes foundational problems of reliability and trustworthiness of Deep Learning, explains how Adaptive Resonance overcomes them, and outlines a blueprint for achieving autonomous adaptive intelligence: Grossberg, S. (2020). A path towards Explainable AI and autonomous adaptive intelligence: Deep Learning, Adaptive Resonance, and models of perception, emotion, and action. Frontiers in Neurobotics, June 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2020.00036 Best, Steve Grossberg

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Postdoc at the University of Leicester to work on human single cell recordings
by Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo (Prof.) 23 Nov '21

23 Nov '21

The Centre for Systems Neuroscience at the University of Leicester, UK, offers a 3-years postdoc position to study single cell recordings in humans – performed in epileptic patients for curative surgery. The project will investigate concept cells (a.k.a. Jennifer Aniston neurons) – that means, neurons in the hippocampus and surrounding areas that selectively fire to specific concepts, like different pictures and the written or spoken name of a particular person (e.g. Quian Quiroga et al, Nature 2005; Quian Quiroga Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2012), which are involved in declarative memory functions. For more details see: www.le.ac.uk/csn The successful candidate will contribute to performing recordings with patients in collaborating hospitals and the analysis of the data to investigate the role of these neurons in memory. He/She should have very good quantitative skills (data processing, and programing e.g. in Matlab) and a strong background or interest in neuroscience. He/She should be able to work both independently and as part of a research team within the Centre for System Neuroscience at Leicester and with our external collaborators. Informal enquiries are welcome and should be made to Paula Warrington, Research Centre Manager, csn(a)le.ac.uk or 0116 252 3249. To apply, please use this link: https://jobs.le.ac.uk/vacancies/1393/research-associate.html The applications should include a curriculum vitae and a brief description of their scientific interests The closing date for the applications is 21st October 2019. Cheers, Rodrigo Rodrigo Quian Quiroga Centre for Systems Neuroscience University of Leicester www.le.ac.uk/csn

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CFP Frontiers Research Topic: Affective Shared Perception
by Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros 20 Apr '21

20 Apr '21

Call For Papers - Frontiers Research Topic: Affective Shared Perception I. Aim and Scope Our perception of the world depends on both sensory inputs and prior knowledge. This applies in general to sensing and has particular implications for affective understanding. Humans adapt their social and affective perception as a function of the current stimulation, of the context, of the history of the interaction, and as of the status of the partner. This influences their behavior, which in turn modifies the social and affective perception of both partners and the evolution of the interaction. Understanding shared perception as part of affective processing will allow us to tackle this problem and to provide the next step towards a real-world affective computing system. The goal of this research topic is to present and discuss new findings, theories, systems, and trends in affective shared perception and computational models. We are interested in collecting interesting and exciting research from researchers on the areas of social cognition, affective computing, and human-robot interaction, including also, but not restricted to specialists in computer and cognitive science, psychologists, neuroscientists, and specialists in bio-inspired solutions. We envision that it will allow us to tackle the existing problems in this area and it will provide the next step towards a real-world affective computing system. II. Potential Topics Topics include, but are not limited to: - Affective perception and learning - Affective modulation and decision making - Developmental perspectives of shared perception - Machine learning for shared perception - Bio-inspired approaches for affective shared perception - Affective processing for embodied and cognitive robots - Multisensory modeling for conflict resolution in shared perception - New psychological findings on shared perception - Assistive aspects and applications of shared affective perception III. Submission - Abstract - 24 October 2020 - Paper Submission - 21 February 2021 IV. Guest Editors Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy Alessandra Sciutti, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy Ginevra Castellano, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Yukie Nagai, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyō, Japan ---------------------------------------- Dr. Pablo Barros Postdoctoral Researcher - CONTACT Unit Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – Center for Human Technologies Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B 16152 Genova, Italy email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it website: https://www.pablobarros.net<http://www.pablobarros.net><https://www.p> twitter: @PBarros_br

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Postdoc (3 yrs) in dynamical reconfigurations of neural populations during movement
by Mark Humphries 09 Mar '21

09 Mar '21

A 3 year postdoc post is available in the lab of Prof Mark Humphries, at the University of Nottingham (UK) In this project, our aim is to test the overarching hypothesis that movement transitions are encoded by the same neural population reconfiguring its joint activity, for both rhythmic and discrete movements. We will tackle this question by developing new computational algorithms for dynamic systems, and applying them to newly-available population recordings during rhythmic movement transitions in Aplysia and discrete arm movement transitions in monkeys, The Humphries’ group researches fundamental insights into how the joint activity of neurons encodes information about and actions in the world. For more see: https://www.humphries-lab.org Queries: mark.humphries(a)nottingham.ac.uk Deadline: 10th January 2020 Full details, and to apply: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/SCI182819X1 Professor Mark Humphries | MRC Senior non-Clinical Fellow | Chair in Computational Neuroscience Lab: humphries-lab.org<https://www.humphries-lab.org/> Twitter: @markdhumphries Public blog: https://medium.com/the-spike 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.

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Announcing the 1st Brain-Computer Interface Un-Conference (BCI-UC)
by Moritz Grosse-Wentrup 05 Feb '21

05 Feb '21

Dear Colleagues: We cordially invite you to the 1st Brain-Computer Interface Un-Conference (BCI-UC)! https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/ The 1st BCI-UC is an entirely virtual event that takes place on July 23rd 2020 from 3 pm to 9:30 pm (CEST). It differs in various ways from traditional conferences in our field: * All presentations are publicly streamed via Crowdcast. * Anybody can apply for a presentation slot by submitting an abstract. All registered attendees can up-vote their favorite abstracts. In this way, the whole community decides which presentations they would like to see presented at the conference. * Voting commences on Monday, June 29th at 8 am (CEST) and ends on Thursday, July 16th at 12 midnight (CEST). The authors of the top-rated abstracts are invited to present their work at the conference. * Registration (free of charge) is required for submitting an abstract and to up-vote submissions. In addition to the contributed talks, the 1st BCI Un-Conference features two keynotes presentations: 1. Mariska J Vansteensel (UMC Utrecht Brain Center): Towards the Daily Life Implementation of ECoG-BCIs 2. Christian Herff (Maastricht University): Decoding Speech from Invasive EEG Please join us in exploring this new way of disseminating research in our community! The BCI-UC Organizing Committee: Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Anja Meunier Philipp Raggam Anita Resch Jiachen Xu -- Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Research Group Neuroinformatics Faculty of Computer Science University of Vienna Hörlgasse 6, A-1090 Wien, Austria moritz.grosse-wentrup(a)univie.ac.at +43-1-4277-79610 http://neural.engineering/

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Funded PhD and Data scientist positions
by Abhishek Banerjee 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

Dear colleagues, Two funded *Ph.D. positions* are available in the newly established Adaptive Decision-making lab as a part of Neuroscience, Neurodisability and Neurological Disorders research theme, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, UK. The research carried out as part of th Ph.D fellowship will investigate the role of behaviourally relevant neural circuits in decision-making and its dysfunctions in neurological disorders using experimental and theoretical approaches (PNAS 2016; BRAIN 2019; bioRxiv 2020). Exciting local and international collaborations will ensure a high standard of training and mentorship. The position is funded (UK/EU rate) for up to 3.5 years and the application deadline is *6th January 2020*. Application details can be found here or by email provided below: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/mrc-dimen-doctoral-training-partnersh… . Additionally, the Banerjee Lab is also hiring a *Data Scientist* to be involved in projects that focus on understanding cortical computation during behaviour by combining large-scale recordings and imaging of neuronal populations. This person will be involved in analysing experimental data, developing software tools, and helping with data infrastructure. The application deadline is *31st January 2020*. Qualifications for the Data scientist position: - M.Sc. degree (or exceptional B.Sc.) in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or related technical field. - Programming experience in MATLAB is required, and additional experience in Python and LABView is preferred. - Background in computational neuroscience, image analysis, or machine learning is a plus. For informal inquiry, or if interested in applying for the Data scientist position, please submit a CV along with names of 3 referees to: Dr. Abhi Banerjee <abhi.banerjee(a)newcastle.ac.uk>. More details here: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/11499/overview and http://neuronic.mit.edu/ Best wishes, Abhi -- Abhishek Banerjee Senior Lecturer Head, Adaptive Decision-making Lab Biosciences Institute Newcastle University United Kingdom I neuronic.mit.edu Skype: amiappu I @abhii_mit

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International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Brain Science 2020 Online
by Kenji Doya 09 Jan '21

09 Jan '21

We are going to hold an online symposium that brings together researchers in the forefront of AI and neuroscience. All talks will be made accessible as pre-recorded movies and we will have two-hour live discussion sessions on October 10-12, 2020. Registration is free and open till September 30. Please register from the web site below. ******** International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Brain Science http://www.brain-ai.jp/symposium2020/ Time below is in UTC (i.e., 10pm-0am Japan, 2pm-4pm UK, 9am-11am EDT, 6am-8am PDT) <Saturday, October 10th> 13:00 Get connected 13:15 Greetings: Kenji Doya (OIST) 13:30 Discussion on Keynote: Josh Tenenbaum (MIT) 14:00 Discussion on Session 1: Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning Chair: Jun Morimoto (ATR) Discussant: Shunichi Amari (RIKEN) Speakers: Yann LeCun (NYU, Facebook), Yutaka Matsuo (U Tokyo), Doina Precup (McGill U) David Silver (DeepMind), Masashi Sugiyama (RIKEN AIP/U Tokyo IRCN) <Sunday, October 11th> 13:00 Discussion on Session 2: World Model Learning and Inference Chair: Hiroaki Gomi (NTT) Discussant: Mitsuo Kawato (ATR) Speakers: Ila Fiete (MIT), Karl Friston (UCL), Yukie Nagai (U Tokyo IRCN) Maneesh Sahani (Gatsby Unit), Tadahiro Taniguchi (Ritsumeikan U) 14:00 Discussion on Session 3: Metacognition and Metalearning Chair: Masayuki Matsumoto (Tsukuba U) Discussant: Keiji Tanaka (RIKEN) Speakers: Matthew Botvinick (DeepMind), Ryota Kanai (ARAYA), Angela Langdon (Princeton U) Hiroyuki Nakahara (RIKEN CBS), Xiao-Jing Wang (NYU) <Monday, October 12th> 13:00 Discussion on Session 4: AI for Neuroscience and Neuromorphic Technologies Chair: Takatoshi Hikida (Osaka U) Discussant: Kunihiko Fukushima (FLSI) Speakers: Jim DiCarlo (MIT), Yukiyaku Kamitani (Kyoto U), Rosalyn Moran (King’s College London) Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute), Hidehiko Takahashi (Tokyo MDU) 14:00 Discussion on Session 5: Social Impact and Neuro-AI Ethics Chair: Masamichi Sakagami (Tamagawa U) Speakers: Anne Churchland (UCLA), Kenji Doya (OIST), Arisa Ema (U Tokyo IFI) Hiroaki Kitano (SONY CSL), Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley) Sponsor: KAKENHI Project on Artificial Intelligence and Brain Science (http://www.brain-ai.jp) Co-sponsors: RIKEN AIP (https://aip.riken.jp/?lang=en) U Tokyo IFI (https://ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/) U Tokyo IRCN (https://ircn.jp/en/) Contact: ncus(a)oist.jp ---- Kenji Doya <doya(a)oist.jp> Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan Phone: +81-98-966-8594; Fax: +81-98-966-2891 https://groups.oist.jp/ncu

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Creating a list of important computational predictions
by Yiota Poirazi 04 Jan '21

04 Jan '21

Dear all, I believe you would agree that, the greatest recognition of our computational work comes with the experimental verification of our computational predictions. To highlight the most important outcomes of our theoretical work and facilitate a closer interaction with experimental labs so as to increase the chances of our predictions being experimentally tested, I would like to encourage you to nominate your favorite prediction at the following google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJZ2RrXJ0nZonIuyNzN0Cl gXDKDb7xTzoJOiqZTGxm9Kh7ow/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link This effort started during the CNS 2017 meeting in Antwerp with the support of the OCNS Board. The resulting list will be posted on the CNS 2017 web site and disseminated in social media, as a reference for experimentalists. Thank you very much for supporting this important effort! Best wishes, Yiota Poirazi -- Panayiota Poirazi, Ph.D. Research Director Computational Biology Laboratory Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) Vassilika Vouton, P.O.Box 1385, GR 70013, Heraklion, Crete GREECE Tel: +30 2810 391139 Fax: +30 2810 391101 Εmail: poirazi(a)imbb.forth.gr Lab site: www.dendrites.gr FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/> -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by *E.F.A. Project* <http://www.efa-project.org>, and is believed to be clean. Click here to report this message as spam. <http://mailgate1.imbb.forth.gr/cgi-bin/learn-msg.cgi?id=4BCD7A00A1.A57D7&to…> -- Panayiota Poirazi, Ph.D. Research Director Computational Biology Laboratory Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) Vassilika Vouton, P.O.Box 1385, GR 70013, Heraklion, Crete GREECE Tel: +30 2810 391139 Fax: +30 2810 391101 Εmail: poirazi(a)imbb.forth.gr Lab site: www.dendrites.gr FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/>

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ANDA 2020 - G-Node Advanced Neural Data Analysis Course, April 14-30, 2020, Jülich, Germany
by Thomas Wachtler 23 Dec '20

23 Dec '20

ANDA 2020 - G-NODE ADVANCED NEURAL DATA ANALYSIS COURSE April 14 - 30, 2020 Haus Overbach, Jülich-Barmen, Germany Techniques to record neuronal data from populations of neurons are rapidly improving. Simultaneous recordings from hundreds of channels are possible while animals perform complex behavioral tasks. The analysis of such massive and complex data becomes increasingly challenging. This advanced course aims at providing deeper training in state-of-the-art analysis approaches in systems neuroscience. The course is addressed to excellent master and PhD students and young researchers who are interested in learning advanced techniques in data analytics and in getting hands-on experience in the analysis of electrophysiological data. Internationally renowned researchers will give lectures on statistical data analysis and data mining methods with accompanying exercises. Students will define and perform their own analyses on provided data to solve a challenge. Participants are required to have a strong interest in data analysis, a background in a mathematical or related field, knowledge of algebra, matrix operations, and statistics, and need to have solid programming experience (preferably in Python). FACULTY · Moshe Abeles, Hebrew Univ. Jerusalem, Israel · Michael Denker, Jülich Research Center, Germany · Udo Ernst, Univ. Bremen, Germany · Sonja Grün, Jülich Research Center, Germany · Adam Kohn, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA · Jakob Macke, TU Munich, Germany · Luca Mazzucato, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, USA · Martin Nawrot, Univ. of Cologne, Germany · Yifat Prut, Hebrew Univ. Jerusalem, Israel · Hansjörg Scherberger, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany · Thomas Wachtler, LMU Munich, Germany TOPICS COVERED Single neuron properties and statistics · Stochastic processes · Surrogate methods · Detection of spatio-temporal patterns · Unitary Events · Statistical analysis of massively parallel spike data · Higher-order correlation analyses · Elephant toolbox · Spike-LFP relationship · Population coding · State space analysis · Machine learning · Data mining · Research data management and reproducibility REQUIREMENTS Applicants should be familiar with linear algebra, probability, differential and integral calculus and experienced using Python or Matlab. Preparatory reading material will be provided. Students should bring their own laptops and should be able to install software on their system. Students that do not have a suitable laptop should indicate this immediately after acceptance to the course. We will be able to provide a small number of laptops for the time of the course. COURSE FEE A course fee of 1000 Euros will be charged to cover costs for accommodation and meals. Limited financial support may be available for students that otherwise would not be able to attend, which is to be indicated in the application. HOUSING Accommodation in 2-bed rooms for students will be provided at the course site. HOW TO APPLY The application should include · a letter of motivation (max 1 page) · curriculum vitae (please indicate the relevant courses you have taken) · description of programming experience · a letter of recommendation. Please send all documents as a single PDF file to <advanced-course(a)g-node.org>. APPLICATION DEADLINE Applications must be received by NOVEMBER 15, 2019. Early application is encouraged. For further information see http://www.g-node.org/anda

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SMILES virtual workshop @ICDL 2020
by Xavier Hinaut 28 Oct '20

28 Oct '20

The SMILES (Sensorimotor Interaction, Language and Embodiment of Symbols) Workshop will take place virtually at the ICDL 2020 (International Conference on Developmental Learning). * Call for abstracts and papers: - Deadline: 25th of September 2020 - papers abstracts: 2 pages - long papers: 4-6 pages - Submissions: smiles.conf(a)gmail.com <mailto:smiles.conf@gmail.com> - Papers format: same as ICDL conference https://cis.ieee.org/publications/t-cognitive-and-developmental-systems/tcd… <https://cis.ieee.org/publications/t-cognitive-and-developmental-systems/tcd…> - Workshop dates (coming soon): the days before or after the ICDL conference (26-30 October 2020) * Workshop Short Description On the one hand, models of sensorimotor interaction are embodied in the environment and in the interaction with other agents. On the other hand, recent Deep Learning development of Natural Language Processing (NLP) models allow to capture increasing language complexity (e.g. compositional representations, word embedding, long term dependencies). However, those NLP models are disembodied in the sense that they are learned from static datasets of text or speech. How can we bridge the gap from low-level sensorimotor interaction to high-level compositional symbolic communication? The SMILES workshop will address this issue through -an interdisciplinary approach involving researchers from (but not limited to): - Sensori-motor learning, - Emergent communication in multi-agent systems, - Chunking of perceptuo-motor gestures (gestures in a general sense: motor, vocal, ...), - Sensori-motor learning, - Symbol grounding and symbol emergence, - Compositional representations for communication and action sequence, - Hierarchical representations of temporal information, - Language processing and acquisition in brains and machines, - Models of animal communication, - Understanding composition and temporal processing in neural network models, and - Enaction, active perception, perception-action loop. * More info - contact: smiles.conf(a)gmail.com <mailto:smiles.conf@gmail.com> - organizers: Xavier Hinaut, Clement Moulin-Frier, Silvia Pagliarini, Joni Zhong, Loo CHU KIONG, Michael Spranger, Tadahiro Taniguchi - invited speakers (coming soon) - workshop website (comming soon): https://sites.google.com/view/smiles-workshop/ <https://sites.google.com/view/smiles-workshop/> - ICDL conference website: https://cdstc.gitlab.io/icdl-2020/ <https://cdstc.gitlab.io/icdl-2020/> * Workshop Long Description Recently Deep Learning networks have broken many benchmarks in Natural Language Processing (NLP), e.g. [1]. Such breakthroughs are realized by a few mechanisms (e.g. continuous representations like word embedding, attention mechanism, ...). However, no equivalent finding happened towards the understanding of which mechanisms enable the brain to perform similar functions. Deep Learning does not reproduce learning mechanisms nor the dynamics of the brain. The brain needs to parse incoming stimuli and learn from them incrementally, it cannot unfold time like deep learning algorithms such as Back-propagation through time (BPTT). Thus, we still lack the key neuronal mechanisms needed to properly model the (hierarchies of) functions in language perception and production. Other models of language processing reproducing the behavior of brain dynamics (Event-Related-Potentials (ERPs) [2] or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) [3]) have been developed. However, such model softens lack explanatory power demonstrating the causes of such observed dynamics: i.e. what is computed and why is it computed – for which purpose? We need more biologically plausible learning mechanisms while producing causal explanations of the experimental data modelled. There is converging evidence that language production and comprehension are not separated processes in a modular mind, they are rather interwoven, and this interweaving is what enables people to predict themselves and each other [4].Interweaving of action and perception is important because it allows a learning agent (or a baby) to learn from its own actions: for instance, by learning the perceptual consequences(e.g. the heard sounds) of its own actions (e.g. vocal productions) during babbling [5]. Thus, the agent learns in a self-supervised way instead of relying only on supervised learning, which in contrast, imply non-biological teacher signals cleverly designed by the modeler. Explicit neuronal models explaining which are the mechanisms shaping these perceptuo-motor units through development are missing. The existence of sensorimotor (i.e. mirror) neurons at abstract representation levels (often called action-perception circuits [6]), jointly with the perceptuo-motor shaping of sensorimotor gestures [5], suggest the existence of similar action-perception mechanisms implemented at different levels of hierarchy. How could we go towards such hierarchical architectures based on action-perception mechanisms? Importantly, a language processing model needs a way to acquire the semantics of the (symbolic) perceptuo-motor gestures and of the more abstract representations, otherwise it would consider only morphosyntactic and prosodic featuresof language. These symbolic gestures, i.e. signs, need to be grounded to the mental concept, i.e. signified, they are representing. Several theories and robotic experiments give examples of how symbols could be grounded or how symbols could emerge [7]. However, current neurocomputational models aiming to explain brain processes are not grounded. Robotics have an important role here for the grounding of semantics by experiencing the world through interactions with the physical world and with humans. We need mechanisms that start from raw sensory perception and raw motor commands in order to let emerge plausible representations through development, instead of arbitrary representations. Finally, computational models of emergent communication in agent populations are currently gaining interest in the machine learning community [8], [9]. These contributions show how a communication system can emerge to solve cooperative tasks in sequential environments. However, they are still relatively disconnected from the earlier theoretical and computational literature aiming at understanding how language might have emerged from a prelinguistic substance [10], [11]. We need to conceive communication as the emergent result of a collective behavior optimization process and to ground the resulting computational models into the theoretical literature from language evolution research. The SMILES workshop will aim at discussing each of the questions mentioned above, together with original approaches on how to integrate them. [1] J. Devlin et al., 2018. [2] H. Brouwer and J. C. J. Hoeks, 2013. [3] M. Garagnani et al. 2008. [4] M. J. Pickering and S. Garrod, 2013. [5] J.-L. Schwartz et al., 2012. [6] F. Pulvermüller and L. Fadiga, 2010. [7] T. Taniguchi et al., 2016. [8] S. Sukhbaatar et al.,2016. [9] I. Mordatch and P. Abbeel, 2017. [10] M. Tomasello et al., 2005. [11] P.-Y. Oudeyer and L. Smith, 2015. Xavier Hinaut Inria Researcher (CR) Mnemosyne team, Inria LaBRI, Université de Bordeaux Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives +33 5 33 51 48 01 www.xavierhinaut.com

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Lecture video about brain mechanisms that cause mental disorders
by Grossberg, Stephen 17 Oct '20

17 Oct '20

Dear Colleagues, I gave a pre-recorded keynote lecture on Zoom to the World Congress on Computational Intelligence on July 22 about how particular brain dysfunctions can cause symptoms of mental disorders like Alzheimer's disease, autism, amnesia, and neglect: http://sites.bu.edu/steveg/files/2020/07/Grossberg-WCCI-keynote-Glasgow-vid… The lecture can also be found on my web page sites.bu.edu/steveg along with a pdf of its powerpoint slides. Best, Steve Grossberg Stephen Grossberg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Grossberg http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3BIV70wAAAAJ&hl=en https://youtu.be/9n5AnvFur7I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hBye6JQCh4 Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems Director, Center for Adaptive Systems Professor Emeritus of Mathematics & Statistics, Psychological & Brain Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering Boston University sites.bu.edu/steveg steve(a)bu.edu

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NEURAL COMPUTATION - February 1, 2020
by Terry Sejnowski 02 Oct '20

02 Oct '20

Neural Computation - Volume 32, Number 2 - February 1, 2020 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/32/2 http://cognet.mit.edu/content/neural-computation ----- Article Face Representations via Tensorfaces of Various Complexities Sidney Lehky, Anh-Huy Phan, Andrzej Cichocki, and Keiji Tanaka Letters Transition Scale-spaces: A Computational Theory for the Discretized Entorhinal Cortex Nicolai Waniek From Synaptic Interactions to Collective Dynamics in Random Neuronal Networks Models: Critical Role of Eigenvectors and Transient Behavior Ewa Gudowska-Nowak, Maciej A Nowak, Dante Chialvo, Jeremi K Ochab, and Wojciech Mateusz Tarnowskic Synaptic Scaling Improves the Stability of Neural Mass Models Capable of Simulating Brain Plasticity Jure Demsar, Rob Forsyth Scaled Coupled Norms and Coupled Higher Order Tensor Completion Kishan wimalawarne, Makoto Yamada, and Hiroshi Mamitsuka Improving Generalization via Attribute Selection on Out-of-the-box Data Xiaofeng Xu, Ivor W. Tsang, and Chuancai Liu ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp MIT Press Journals, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-cs(a)mit.edu ------------

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POSTDOC POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE IN PARIS AND BASEL
by Rava A. da Silveira 30 Sep '20

30 Sep '20

*Several postdoctoral openings in the lab of Rava Azeredo da Silveira **(Paris & Basel)* The lab of Rava Azeredo da Silveira invites applications for *Postdoctoral Researcher* positions at ENS, Paris, and IOB, an associated institute of the University of Basel. Research questions will be chosen from a broad range of topics in theoretical/computational neuroscience and cognitive science (see the description of the lab’s activity, below). One of the postdoc positions to be filled in Basel will be part of a collaborative framework with Michael Woodford (Columbia University) and will involve projects relating the study of decision making to models of perception and memory. Candidates with backgrounds in mathematics, statistics, artificial intelligence, physics, computer science, engineering, biology, and psychology are welcome. Experience with data analysis and proficiency with numerical methods, in addition to familiarity with neuroscience topics and mathematical and statistical methods, are desirable. Equally desirable are a spirit of intellectual adventure, eagerness, and drive. The positions will come with highly competitive work conditions and salaries. *Application deadline:* For full consideration, please apply by 30 October 2020. *How to apply:* Please send the following information *in one single PDF, to * *silveira(a)iob.ch* <silveira(a)iob.ch>*:* 1. letter of motivation; 2. statement of research interests, limited to two pages; 3. curriculum vitæ including a list of publications; 4. any relevant publications that you wish to showcase. In addition, please arrange for three letters of recommendations to be sent to the same email address. In all email correspondence, please include the mention “APPLICATION-POSTDOC” in the subject header, otherwise the application will *not* be considered. *** *ENS,* together with a number of neighboring institutions (College de France, Institut Curie, ESPCI, Sorbonne Université, and Institut Pasteur), offers a rich scientific and intellectual environment, with a strong representation in computational neuroscience and related fields. *IOB* is a research institute combining basic and clinical research. Its mission is to drive innovations in understanding vision and its diseases and develop new therapies for vision loss. IOB is an equal-opportunity employer with family-friendly work policies. *The Silveira** Lab* focuses on a range of topics, which, however, are tied together through a central question: How does the brain represent and manipulate information? Among the more concrete approaches to this question, the lab analyses and models neural activity in circuits that can be identified, recorded from, and perturbed experimentally, such as visual neural circuits in the retina and the cortex. Establishing links between physiological specificity and the structure of neural activity yields an understanding of circuits as building blocks of cerebral information processing. On a more abstract level, the lab investigates the representation of information in populations of neurons, from a statistical and algorithmic—rather than mechanistic—point of view, through theories of coding and data analyses. These studies aim at understanding the statistical nature of high-dimensional neural activity in different conditions, and how this serves to encode and process information from the sensory world. In the context of cognitive studies, the lab investigates mental processes such as inference, learning, and decision-making, through both theoretical developments and behavioral experiments. A particular focus is the study of neural constraints and limitations and, further, their impact on mental processes. Neural limitations impinge on the structure and variability of mental representations, which in turn inform the cognitive algorithms that produce behavior. The lab explores the nature of neural limitations, mental representations, and cognitive algorithms, and their interrelations.

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COSYNE 2021: Meeting announcement and call for abstracts
by Tomas Hromadka 29 Sep '20

29 Sep '20

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2021 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING ONLINE 27 February - 01 March 2021 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. Cosyne 2021 will take place online, February 27 - March 1, 2021. The goal of this year’s meeting is to promote early stage investigators. Therefore, there are no invited talks from established researchers. The format will include featured contributed talks and an interactive poster-like presentations (short recorded presentation + live interactions). More details to follow. All abstract submissions will be reviewed as in previous years, but reviewing will be fully double blind. The deadline for Abstract submission will be November 12, 2020. 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. IMPORTANT DATES Abstract submission opens: 11 October 2020 Abstract submission deadline: 12 November 2020 When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting. 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 & Program Chairs: Anne-Marie Oswald (U Pittsburgh) and Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris) 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 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.

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(on behalf of Loren Frank) faculty position @ UCSF
by Peter Dayan 29 Sep '20

29 Sep '20

The Department of Physiology at UCSF is seeking a visionary neuroscientist to join our vibrant and collaborative discovery research community. This open-rank, tenure-track faculty position is part of a multi-year UCSF institutional initiative that began in 2018 to foster equity and inclusion in biomedical research and to promote the success of our diverse student population. Since launching this effort, UCSF has tripled the number of underrepresented faculty in our basic sciences departments and this critical mass will continue to grow. Candidates are expected to hold a Ph.D. and/or M.D., to have demonstrated significant research accomplishment and potential, and to be committed to the mentorship of students, with a particular emphasis on candidates with demonstrated success mentoring students from groups that are historically underrepresented in biomedical science. We encourage outstanding candidates who are early in their postdoctoral research training to apply, even if their main findings are not yet published. The successful candidate will be expected to establish a dynamic and interactive research program focused in the field of integrative neuroscience, which could include molecular, genetic, cellular, systems, behavioral, computational, and engineering approaches. The candidate would become a member of the Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and the Weill Institute for Neuroscience at UCSF. The candidate would be expected to join the UCSF Neuroscience Graduate Program and, if so desired, one or more of our other top-ranked interdisciplinary graduate programs (see https://graduate.ucsf.edu/list-programs) The candidate, like all faculty at UCSF, will also be expected to contribute to graduate teaching, to be a leader in inclusive mentoring practices, and to participate in activities that promote equity and inclusion at our institution and in the broader scientific community. Service and teaching expectations are comparable to those of any other UCSF tenure-track faculty position. Faculty appointment will be made at a professorial rank commensurate with current academic standing. UCSF offers competitive salaries, research set-up funds, and recruitment allowances, and has numerous opportunities for faculty development and further training in mentorship. Applications must be submitted online and include the following documents in a single PDF: (1) cover letter briefly describing how the candidate fits the position; (2) curriculum vitae; (3) 1-page summary of research accomplishments demonstrating the candidate’s scientific leadership through their contribution to their project(s) and describing the potential impact of their work on the field of neuroscience; (4) 2-page description of future research plans that includes both high risk / high reward projects and an NIH-fundable program; and 5) a statement of personal experiences with, and contributions to, issues related to social and racial justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, with particular attention to demonstrated success with formal and informal mentoring of individuals from historically underrepresented groups. We encourage candidates to describe specific mentoring strategies to support the success of all trainees in their research group. Copies of major publications that demonstrate the candidate’s ability to carry out creative and impactful work should be included. Applicants should request three to five letters of recommendation describing how the candidate meets the criteria in this job description. We encourage recommenders to provide explicit examples to illustrate their statements. We expect candidates to provide a letter from their postdoctoral and graduate advisors but will consider candidates who can provide justifications when these will be lacking. Review will begin on December 1, 2020 and continue until the position is filled. Please direct inquiries about the position and suggestions of potential candidates to Dr. Loren Frank (loren(a)phy.ucsf.edu) As an institution that values diversity, UC San Francisco especially encourages application from historically excluded groups, including but not limited to racially underrepresented individuals, women, and individuals with a commitment to mentoring historically excluded groups in the sciences. UC San Francisco seeks candidates whose experience, teaching, research, or community service that has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. Please apply online at https://aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF03083.

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postdoc/PhD students needed
by Alexey Kuznetsov 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

*POSTDOCTORAL POSITION* *Indianapolis, Indiana, United States* A postdoctoral position and/or PhD student positions are available for a cutting-edge project on computational modeling of habit formation. The project takes place in the excellent collaborative environment of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center and studies the influence of alcohol on habits. The post-doc will develop a model of the cortico-striatal brain circuitry affected by alcohol. The post-doc will work with Prof. Kuznetsov (Mathematics Dept. IUPUI) and collaborate with experimentalists Prof. Atwood (IUSM) and Prof. Lapish (Psycology Dept. IUPUI). The position is available beginning December 2020 for one year. The continuation is contingent upon the availability of funds. *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. Experience in modeling the basal ganglia is desirable. *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. 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

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Postdoctoral position at BU (Nancy Kopell) and MIT (Emery Brown)
by McCarthy, Michelle M 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

Dear Comp-Neuro Community, The Kopell lab at Boston University has an open position (2 years with the possibility of renewal) for a postdoctoral associate to work on computational models concerning mechanisms of anesthesia, with experimental work to be done in the labs of Emery Brown, Earl Miller and others. The models are physiologically detailed (Hodgkin-Huxley based), linking anesthetic-mediated changes in physiology to changes in brain rhythms and their coordination both locally and across the brain; the models further link the brain rhythms to changes in consciousness. The work is relevant to sleep and brain disorders. Programming proficiency and modeling experience is necessary and some neuroscience training is desirable. Please send inquiries and applications to Xiaoshi Shi (xiaoshi(a)bu.edu<mailto:xiaoshi@bu.edu>) and nk(a)bu.edu<mailto:nk@bu.edu>. Nancy Kopell Department of Mathematics and Statistics Boston University, Boston MA 02215

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Two Cardiac Simulation/Computational Neuroscience postdoc computer modeling positions are available for development of a novel ICNS (intrinsic cardiac nervous system) simulation project.
by Salvador Dura 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

Our new NIH SPARC Initiative ICNS project aims to build and establish a new model of RAGP (right atrial ganglionic plexus) The work is being done as a collaboration between SUNY Downstate (Brooklyn, NY), and Jefferson University (Philadelphia, CT) under the auspices of a 2-year NIH SPARC Initiative grant. The two new postdocs will work closely together - one focusing primarily on cell-level modeling and the other primarily on network but with both expected to work in both areas. Candidates should have a strong background in computer programming, with demonstrated proficiency in Python. Strong interest, though not necessarily research experie nce, in neuroscience is a must. Some experience with NEURON and NetPyNE is desirable. Job Types: Full-time or Contract contact: bill.lytton(a)downstate.edu<mailto:bill.lytton@downstate.edu> -- William W. Lytton, MD SUNY Distinguished Professor Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY bill.lytton(a)downstate.edu; http://neurosimlab.com ________________________________________________________________

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postdocs with Peter Dayan in Tübingen
by Peter Dayan 28 Sep '20

28 Sep '20

Postdoc(s) in Neural Reinforcement Learning / Computational Psychiatry (m/f/d) 100% Peter Dayan is looking to hire one or more postdocs (100%) to work in the areas of neural reinforcement learning, computational neuromodulation, and computational psychiatry. These positions will start in the Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, as part of an Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship award. There are also targeted positions on the computational anatomy of cortico-striatal connections (funded by a collaborative NIH grant with Professor Suzanne Haber) and with the International Brain Lab (a large collaboration with 20 other investigators, funded by the Simons Foundation). Peter Dayan has an affiliation with the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and collaboration is expected. The salary will be paid in accordance with the collective agreement for the public sector (salary at E13 TV-L, commensurate to experience and qualifications). The positions are available immediately, and are initially limited to two years (with the possibility of extension). Please direct scientific inquiries to dayan(a)tue.mpg.de and administrative inquiries to susan.fischer(a)tue.mpg.de. Responsibilities include: • Planning and carrying out research projects, for instance building theories and computational models of data from human and animal experiments, conducting experiments, analysing behavioural and neural data, writing and editing scientific papers/reports. • Helping to mentor and supervise student projects. • Participating in scientific conferences. • Helping to organize and conduct collaborations in Tübingen as well as nationally and internationally • Helping with building and running an effective academic lab environment at the intersection between the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and the science and medical faculties at the University of Tübingen. The successful candidate(s) should have a PhD in computational neuroscience or related fields. Proficiency in a high level mathematical or statistically-oriented programming language such as python, R, Julia or matlab, and intimate familiarity with advanced data analysis are essential. The candidate(s) should be able to work independently and troubleshoot and should show good capacity and value for teamwork and communication skills. The University of Tübingen is one of the Excellence Universities in Germany. It is home to a vibrant research community, with very strong research activity in Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology / Psychiatry as well as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. We offer an open research culture, where original thinking and academic merit are encouraged and nurtured, and encourage applications from all nationalities, backgrounds, and genders. The University of Tübingen is dedicated to increase the percentage of female employees in the field of science. Therefore, female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, summaries of scientific achievements and research plans, the position for which the application is intended, and the names and contact details of three referees. Applications should be sent in a single PDF to: susan.fischer(a)tue.mpg.de Applications arriving before June 30th 2020 will receive full consideration.

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Join us at the NMC 3.0 conference, Oct 26-30, submissions open now
by Brad Wyble 27 Sep '20

27 Sep '20

Dear Neuroscience Community, We are excited to announce the launch of Neuromatch Conference (Oct 26-30). The Neuromatch team has been working hard to bring a virtual conference that accepts submissions from all areas of neuroscience, and where all relevant submissions are accepted as a talk! Our goal with this conference is to provide a place where neuroscientists from all over the world get to share research ideas and come together as a community! We’re working hard to make it the most inclusive neuroscience meeting that has ever existed. The deadline for submissions is October 2, 2020, so we encourage you to get your abstracts ready now! There is a $25 registration fee but this is waivable (no validation required) for anyone who cannot pay to attend for any reason. Please view our website for more information regarding submission and registration: neuromatch.io <http://neuromatch.io/>j The conference will be organized by themes, tailored to fit your area of research best. These themes will be: Theme A: Developmental Disorders and Injury Theme B: Excitability, Synapses, and Glia Theme C: Sensory & Motor Systems, and Physiology & Behavior Theme D: Cognition, Motivation and Emotion Theme E: Computation and Techniques Theme F: History, Education, and Society We developed algorithms that will allow us to place you in a virtual room with other scientists and attendees who are interested in similar topics, therefore ensuring an audience that is excited about your talk. The talks will have two formats, and you will be able to choose which one you prefer - Traditional Talk: 12-minute talk plus 3-minute Q&A - Interactive Talk: 5-minute talk plus 10-minute Q&A (this talk is focused on discussion) We hope that you will attend the Neuromatch Conference and consider submitting your abstract for presentation! We would love to hear from you and see everyone’s latest results.. Best wishes, The Neuromatch Team Please follow our social media and visit our website for regular updates @Neuromatch <https://twitter.com/neuromatch?lang=en> @Neuromatch <https://www.instagram.com/neuromatch/> neuromatch.io -- Brad Wyble Associate Professor Psychology Department Penn State University http://wyblelab.com

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2 postdoc positions in computational neuroscience
by Alain Destexhe 26 Sep '20

26 Sep '20

Dear Colleagues, Please pass on these two positions that we have for postdocs in computational neuroscience at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience - many thanks. best, Alain ---------------- 2 POSTDOC POSITIONS AVAILABLE Two postdoc positions are available for computational and theoretical studies in the framework of the Human Brain Project. The theoretical work associated to these two postdoctoral positions consists of (1) investigating models and mathematical techniques to model decision making phenomena (in collaboration with Rubem Moreno-Bote in Barcelona), and (2) investigate models of sensory perception, up to consciousness (in collaboration with Fanis Panagiotaropoulos and Stan Dehaene at NeuroSpin). Both postdocs will be supervised by A. Desyexhe and will work in tight collaboration with the European Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience (EITN). DETAILS OF THE FIRST POSTDOC POSITION: We are seeking for a postdoc position in the framework of a project called "COREDEM", and which was recently integrated in the Human Brain Project European flaghsip. COREDEM aims at conceiving decision making models based on electrophysiological recordings in human and monkey, and ultimately test these models on neuromorphic and neuro-robotic applications. The project comprises a significant computational neuroscience component consisting mainly of two laboratories, Alain Destexhe at the CNRS and Paris-Saclay University, and Ruben Moreno-Bote at the UPF in Barcelona. We will consider spiking models that will compare parallel and sequential strategies to decision making, in a way constrained by unit recordings in monkey and human. Mean-field models will be derived from the spiking models, and such mean-field models will be incorporated in large-scale models of interacting brain areas. Both spiking and mean-field models will be integrated in neuromorphic SpiNNaker computers to be simulated in real time, to open the possibility of being used in real-time applications such as neuro-robotics. The postdoc can begin as early as January 2021, and latest on March 2021, and will be for a 2-year period. We expect that candidates have prior experience either in computational neuroscience, or in decision making. The working environment is the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (NeuroPSI) of the CNRS, which comprises 22 research labs in experimental and computational neuroscience, mixed in the same environment. The postdoc will thus interact on a daily basis with experimentalists and theoreticians, and regular visits to the experimental labs of COREDEM (Stefano Ferraina from Rome and Tom Theys from Leuven) are planned. The postdoc will also interact strongly with the researchers and staff of Destexhe's lab at NeuroPSI, and will actively participate to the activities of the EITN. DETAILS OF THE SECOND POSTDOC POSITION: We are seeking for a postdoc position in the framework of a project called "BRICON", and which was recently integrated in the Human Brain Project European flaghsip. BRICON aims at investigating mechanisms of sensory perception and consciousness based on a strong interaction between computational models and experiments on human and monkey. The model will consider how the state of the brain interacts with external input and allows neural activity related to external input to propagate (or not) between brain areas. We will constrain the model based on unit recordings obtained in awake monkey collected by the experimental teams (Fanis Panagiotaropoulos and Stanislas Dehaene, NeuroSpin center). Models will start with conventional spiking neural networks, which then will be converted into population models using mean-field techniques. These mean-field model will then form the basis of whole-brain models simulated using The Virtual Brain platform of the HBP. The postdoc can begin as early as January 2021, and latet on June 2021, and will be for a 20 month period. We expect that candidates have prior experience either in computational neuroscience, or in sensory perception. The working environment is the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (NeuroPSI) of the CNRS, which comprises 22 research labs in experimental and computational neuroscience, mixed in the same environment. The postdoc will thus interact on a daily basis with experimentalists and theoreticians, and regular visits to the experimental labs of BRICON (Panagiotaropoulos and Dehaene), who are working next-door in the NeuroSpin center. The postdoc will also interact strongly with the researchers and staff of Destexhe's lab at NeuroPSI, and will actively participate to the activities of the EITN. Interested candidates should send a CV and two recommendation letters at Alain Destexhe or email for more details. alain.destexhe (at) cnrs.fr Alain Destexhe Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience (ICN), Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (NeuroPSI), CNRS, Bat 33, 1 Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

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Postdoctoral position data/knowledge management for open neuroscience
by Andrew Davison 25 Sep '20

25 Sep '20

Dear colleagues, A postdoctoral position in neuroscience data curation is available within the Neuroinformatics research group of the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, led by Dr Andrew Davison. The Human Brain Project is developing an open data repository for neuroscience, following the FAIR principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability. The role of our group is to strongly focus on Reusability, by ensuring that all datasets have high quality, in-depth metadata so that they can be used in model building, model validation, and further analysis, and by providing tools to facilitate data re-use. The position is available immediately, and is funded until 31st March 2023, with future extensions possible. Salary depends on experience, and will be on the standard CNRS research scale. Application is through the CNRS jobs portal: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR9197-ANDDAV-006/Default.aspx?lang=EN Informal inquiries may be addressed to Andrew Davison (andrew.davison(a)cnrs.fr) Activities: The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and improving metadata schemas, protocols, and curation workflows for neural activity data (including patch clamp recordings, fluorescence imaging, multi-electrode array recordings and fMRI), and for coordinating the in-depth curation process. The project will involve intensive collaboration with other researchers, curators and software developers within the research group, within the Human Brain Project, and in the wider neuroscience/neuroinformatics communities. Qualifications: Applicants should have a PhD in either neuroscience, computer science, library/information science, or a closely related discipline, or be nearing completion of PhD studies in one of these domains. Experience with experimental methods in neuroscience, semantic web technologies and/or information management approaches will be of particular benefit. Knowledge of computer programming, in particular using the Python language, would also be an advantage. Knowledge of French would be helpful but is not required, as English is the working language of the project. Context: The Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (https://neuropsi.cnrs.fr/en/institute-home/) is part of the CNRS and Université Paris-Saclay, situated in Gif-sur-Yvette in the Paris region. The Davison team (https://neuropsi.cnrs.fr/en/icn-home/andrew-davison/) develops tools and methods for data sharing, modelling and simulation in neuroscience and brain-inspired computing. This position is funded by the Human Brain Project, an EU Flagship research project, within which more than 100 universities and research institutions collaborate to build a digital research infrastructure for neuroscience, brain-inspired computing and medicine.

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You are invited to DSP online course
by Maryam 24 Sep '20

24 Sep '20

You are invited to “DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING Online Course” Dear researcher; ScienceBeam, which is a forefront technology provider of neuroscience applications, would like to take the opportunity to invite you for 10-sessions “DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING Online Course” that is going to start on October 18,2020. During this course you will learn: • Discrete-time signals and systems • Z-Transform • Transform of continuous-time signals • Transform analysis of linear time invariant systems • Structures for discrete-time systems • Filter design • The discrete Fourier Transform • Computation of the discrete Fourier transform Dr. Luu Gia Thien is an experienced lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Digital signal processing from University of Orléans, France. Registration is open until October 5th. Special discount is considered for students. You won’t want to miss this! Don’t hesitate and register from the link below: https://sciencebeam.com/luu-gia-thien-course/ If you need more information please contact us via Whatsapp or Mail: Whatsapp number: +86 133 8078 1282 Email: workshop(a)sciencebeam.com www.sciencebeam.com

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Software engineer position in human brain project
by Eloy Retamino 23 Sep '20

23 Sep '20

Position: Neuro-robotics Software Engineer Location: Granada, Spain At the Applied Computational Neuroscience (ACN) Group [1], headed by Prof. Eduardo Ros and part of the Computer Architecture and Technology Department at University of Granada, we are engaged in developing robot controllers from models and techniques drawn from neuroscience. Concretely we focus on the exploration of models of the cerebellum and their application in robot control. We are looking for a software engineer to contribute to our tasks in the Human Brain Project (HBP) [2]. HBP is an ambitious, 10 years long research project funded by the European Commision and targeting the exploration of human cognition and its relation to brain structures and activity. The project is developing a series of simulation platforms to facilitate different levels of research in neuroscience. At UGR we participate in the design and development of the Neuro-Robotics Platform (NRP) [3], a research infrastructure which enables embodied simulated experiments in neuroscience in which a spiking neural simulator and a physics simulator run synchronously and communicate in a closed loop fashion. As a member of our group you will contribute to the development of the NRP in the last stage of the HBP. *Your tasks* Contribute to the full cycle development of the NRP. We have some interesting challenges in this last part of the HBP and need a motivated person with experience and passion for software architecture design, physics and neural simulation and robotics. As well, the NRP is built as a production grade software product and we try to take seriously all steps in the development, including unit testing, quality assurance and continuous integration. Depending on your profile you will focus more on particular tasks suiting your experience with the possibility of learning and applying new skills. *Your profile* * Basic skills: - Demonstrable excellent Python and C/C++ programming skills - Experience and participation in collaborative software projects - Experience and passion in robotics, machine learning, neural simulation and/or physics simulation is a big plus - Good spoken and written English skills * Additional skills: - Experience in other programming languages - Version Control software (eg. GIT) - Robotics oriented middlewares and frameworks (eg. ROS) - Experience in Software Architecture design - Experience in Real Time systems design - QA and devops experience *Our offer* - You will participate in an international research project of great relevance and collaborate with top european institutions - Contract of two and a half years with a competitive salary according to experience. Offered brute salary range is 1600 - 2400 €, to be concreted according to relevant experience and skills. - Short trips within Europe as part of the project activities. - Very nice and friendly atmosphere in the group - You will be based on Granada, an exciting and cultural city at the South of Spain half an hour away from mountains, snow and the beach If you are interested in joining our group and HBP send your application to Eloy Retamino (retamino at ugr.es) including your CV and a motivation letter. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Also, applications without a dedicated motivation letter will not be considered. [1] http://acn.ugr.es [2] https://www.humanbrainproject.eu [3] https://neurorobotics.net

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International Max Planck Research Schhol NeuroCom: Call for applications
by Martin Bogdan 23 Sep '20

23 Sep '20

Call for applications: International Max Planck Research Schhol NeuroCom: Call for applications The International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity (IMPRS NeuroCom) invites excellent students holding a master's degree (or equivalent) to pursue a PhD in the field of cognitive neuroscience and methods in cognitive neuroscience. The IMPRS NeuroCom is based at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, and Leipzig University. It also closely partners with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, UK. Deadline for applications is 15 November 2020. Interviews will take place in January 2021. Start date is flexible, but not later than autumn 2021. For more information about our graduate school please visit: http://imprs-neurocom.mpg.de/home/ . The IMPRS NeuroCom aims to recruit and educate motivated, independent, self-organised and highly talented scientists who wish to extend their knowledge and research experience in a structured 3-year PhD programme in order to pursue a successful career in cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, neurophysics, or other methods in cognitive neuroscience. Students are expected to hold an excellent master's degree (or equivalent) in a wide spectrum of potential disciplines such as cognitive neuroscience, psychology, medicine, neurobiology, linguistics, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, biochemistry, or related fields. The master’s degree should have been awarded by an internationally recognised university. Students nearing completion of their master’s degree are also encouraged to apply. Research experience in an area that is related to the graduate school’s scope is essential for successful candidates. Proficiency in oral and written English is crucial. The IMPRS NeuroCom offers its doctoral students outstanding research opportunities in a very international and multidisciplinary environment. It includes access to state-of-the-art cognitive and imaging neuroscience facilities, e.g. 7T MRI scanner, four 3T MRI scanners including a Connectom MRI scanner equipped with ultra- strong gradients (one of only four worldwide), a 306 channel MEG system, several TMS, TDCS, NIRS, and EEG systems. Research projects and teaching at IMPRS NeuroCom are assigned to four thematic modules (Language and Communication, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, and Neuroimaging Physics and Signal Processing). Our faculty is very interdisciplinary and comprises more than 30 highly- renowned researchers from our participating research organisations performing high-end research related to one of the four modules. Applications will be evaluated by the IMPRS NeuroCom faculty members in two stages. Firstly, candidates will be selected for interviews based on their written applications, with a focus on academic qualifications, personal references, research experience and interests, and suitability to the programme. Secondly, interviews with the IMPRS NeuroCom faculty members will take place in January 2021. The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. Salary is based on the guidelines of the German public sector pay scale (TVöD). With almost 600,000 inhabitants, Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony. In more than 800 years of recorded history, Leipzig emerged as a city of classical music, trade fairs, academic education, and —recently—modern arts. With its many parks, forests, canals and lakes, Leipzig is a perfect place for recreation, sports, and leisure time, and it offers plenty of opportunities for social life. Only recently Leipzig was listed by the New York Times as one of the 52 places to go in 2020. For more information about our graduate school please visit: http://imprs-neurocom.mpg.de/home/ . -- ************************************************************************** Prof. Dr. Martin Bogdan Institut für Informatik Neuromorphe Informationsverarbeitung Universität Leipzig Augustusplatz 10 D-04109 Leipzig Germany Postadresse: PF 100920 D-04009 Leipzig Tel: (++49) 341 97 32208 Fax: (++49) 341 97 32252 E-mail: bogdan(a)informatik.uni-leipzig.de https://ti.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/ ************************************************************************** Denken Sie selbst, sonst tuen es Maschinen für Sie! 'Nihil est ab omni parte beatum' (Horaz) El problema de la humanidad es que los estúpidos están seguros de todo y los inteligentes están llenos de dudas **************************************************************************

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Postdoctoral Position in Cognitive Robotics at UC Irvine
by Jeffrey Krichmar 22 Sep '20

22 Sep '20

Dear Colleagues, We have an opening for a postdoctoral scholar position in the Cognitive Anteater Robotics Laboratory (CARL) at the University of California, Irvine. The position is for research projects on neurobiologically inspired models of navigation, which are to be implemented on indoor and outdoor robots. Applicants should have a strong computer science background, robotics experience, as well as an interest in neuroscience and/or cognitive science. The specific Federally funded projects include: · Cognitive Maps in Rats, Robots and Men · Advantages of Varying Navigational Abilities in Humans and Robots More information about the lab, recent publications, software, and videos can be found at: · http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma · https://www.youtube.com/user/cognitiveroboticsuci/videos Interested candidates can find specific application requirements and the online application for this position at: · https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF06408 Your cover letter should specify that you are interested in the postdoctoral position with Jeff Krichmar. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: jkrichma(a)uci.edu About UCI (www.uci.edu) In 1965, the University of California, Irvine was founded with a mission to catalyze the community and enhance lives through rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and dedicated public service. Today, we draw on the unyielding spirit of our pioneering faculty, staff and students who arrived on campus with a dream to inspire change and generate new ideas. We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us. And we enlighten our communities and point the way to a better future. At UCI, we shine brighter. Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

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[Call for Papers] Shared Visual Representations in Human and Machine Intelligence (SVRHM) NeurIPS 2020 Workshop
by SVRHM Workshop 22 Sep '20

22 Sep '20

The goal of the Second Workshop on Shared Visual Representations in Human and Machine Intelligence (SVRHM) at NeurIPS 2020 is to discuss and disseminate relevant findings and parallels between the computational neuro/cognitive science and machine learning/artificial intelligence communities. In the past few years, machine learning tools — especially deep neural networks — have permeated the vision/cognitive/neuro science communities to become the leading computational models that describe many cognitive tasks. Huge strides are also being made in the machine learning/artificial intelligence community with biologically inspired algorithms providing large efficiency gains in both computational and learning capabilities. However, many mysteries remain with regards to the alignment of human and machine perception, and there are cases where we see divergent rather than convergent representations. To resolve such questions, this workshop aims to bring fruitful discussions between scientists and engineers with multi-disciplinary backgrounds to review the recent progress in shared visual representations in both humans and machines, and in doing so identifying road-blocks and areas of interest to further accelerate the growth of both fields. The workshop will include a series of talks and panel discussions from a diverse group of speakers from both industry and academia who will share their research at the intersection of humans and machines that pushes the field of vision forward. The aim of our Call for Papers is to bring together scientists and engineers to share their work in progress at the Poster Session that are applicable to the scope of the Workshop. For the first time this year, the 4 highest scoring papers will also be awarded an Oral Presentation entry in the program. The following areas provide a sense of suitable topics for 4-5 page paper submissions: - Biological inspiration and inductive bias in vision - Human-relevant strategies for robustness and generalization - New datasets (e.g., for comparing humans/animals and machines) - Biologically-driven self-supervision - Perceptual invariance and metamerism - Biologically-informed strategies to mitigate adversarial vulnerability - Foveation, active perception, and attention models - Intuitive physics - Biologically inspired Generative Models - Perceptual and cognitive robustness - Nuances and noise in perceptual and cognitive systems - Creative problem-solving - Differences and similarities between humans and deep neural networks - Canonical computations in biological and artificial systems - Alternative architectures for deep neural networks - Reverse engineering of the human visual system via deep neural networks We will be awarding a new *NVIDIA Titan RTX* *3080* as the *Diversity in AI Best Paper Award* and an *Oculus Quest* *2* as the *Breakthrough in Biologically-Driven Generative Models Award* respectively at the conference. Link to the workshop with additional details for the Call for Papers: https://www.svrhm.com https://www.svrhm.com/call-for-papers Link to Paper workshop submission: https://openreview.net/group?id=NeurIPS.cc/2020/Workshop/SVRHM The submission deadline is October 4th, 2020. Questions regarding the workshop should be sent to: svrhm2020(a)gmail.com Sincerely, The Organizers Arturo Deza, Joshua Peterson, Apruva Ratan Murty, Tom Griffiths The SVRHM workshop is currently sponsored by MIT’s Center from Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), National Science Foundation (NSF), NVIDIA, Facebook Reality Labs (Oculus) and MIT’s Quest for Intelligence.

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Full Prof Post in AI
by Thomas Wennekers 21 Sep '20

21 Sep '20

Dear All Please have a look at the following advertisement for a Professorship in AI at the University of Plymouth (UK). https://hrservices.plymouth.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.o… https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBH704/professor-in-artificial-intelligence-mach… Stay Well! Thomas Wennekers ________________________________ [http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/images/email_footer.gif]<http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/worldclass> This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the recipient to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient then copying, distribution or other use of the information contained is strictly prohibited and you should not rely on it. If you have received this email in error please let the sender know immediately and delete it from your system(s). Internet emails are not necessarily secure. While we take every care, University of Plymouth accepts no responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan emails and their attachments. University of Plymouth does not accept responsibility for any changes made after it was sent. Nothing in this email or its attachments constitutes an order for goods or services unless accompanied by an official order form.

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M2/PhD pisition in Optical analysis of sodium currents in the axon initial segment
by luiza filipis 21 Sep '20

21 Sep '20

Stage « Master 2 » : Optical analysis of sodium currents in the axon initial segment We propose a Master 2 (M2) stage that can be extended to a 3-4 years PhD project on the study of the sodium currents that generate the action potential in neurons. To this aim, we use cutting-edge optical techniques entirely developed by our group and NEURON modeling. The stage will take place at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique in the campus of the University of Grenoble. This stage, of 4-6 months, is available for students at the final year of the University to start in February or March 2021.We will offer this opportunity to a brilliant student motivated to begin a career in scientific research. A PhD scholarship is already available starting in October 2021 to apply the research of the M2 project to investigate mutations of the sodium channel Nav1.2 associated with neurological diseases. For an overview of the activity and of the achievements of our group, visit the website: http://marco-canepari.wix.com/neuron-imaging-team Applications of students, with a very high academic profile based on the notes obtained the entire university history, from different backgrounds (physics, biology, medicine or chemistry) will be equally considered. The application for the stage, in English or French, must be sent to: marco.canepari(a)univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and must include: • A motivation letter • A CV with contact details • The detailed marks of the entire academic history • (Optional) a reference letter from an academic who knows well the student The deadline for the application is October 10th 2020, but the call for applications will close before if a suitable candidate is found. -- Luiza Filipis,PhD Equipe MOTIV Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy), Université Grenoble Alpes et CNRS UMR 5588, Bat. E45, 140 avenue de la physique, Domaine univ., 38402 St Martin d'Hères cedex, FRANCE 33(0)476514731, Fax +33(0)476635495. luiza.filipis(a)univ-grenoble-alpes.fr http://marco-canepari.wix.com/neuron-imaging-team

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Announcement: 2nd Elephant User Workshop for Reproducible Data Analysis in Electrophysiology, Nov 17-19, 2020
by Michael Denker 21 Sep '20

21 Sep '20

***2nd Elephant User Workshop*** --Accelerate Structured and Reproducible Data Analysis in Electrophysiology-- Virtual Event Nov 17-19, 2020 Summary: This event delves into challenges in the reproducibility of neuroscience workflows dealing with classical electrophysiological activity data, such as spiking data or local field potentials, from experiment or simulation. The training will cover the complete cycle from generating structured and consistent data and metadata, accessing the data, pre-processing, setting up analysis workflows, up to the tracking of the provenance of the analysis results. In this context, the e-infrastructure services of EBRAINS offer a mature data, software and compute services ecosystem with community-driven tools developed in the framework of the Human Brain Project. In the first part of the workshop, participants will be trained in the use of tools covering the following topics: * reading and manipulating electrophysiology data in Python using Neo [1] * analysis of such data using Elephant [2] * best practices for integrating metadata into your workflow to aid the analysis process * best practices for structuring analysis results * tracking data analysis pipelines using the HBP Knowledge Graph [3] * collaboration and sharing documents using the HBP Collaboratory [4] In the second part of the workshop, participants will work together with a tutor in small groups, on their own data and on particular personal interests in the scope of the workshop. To this end, participants are asked to provide a small abstract describing the data set they would like to bring and work on (contents of the dataset, data format, data size...) and the topic they are interested in. The latter may, for example, be related to: annotating the dataset with metadata for collaboration and sharing, working with the dataset in the Neo framework, or performing a certain kind of analysis with the data set. The goal of each group is to get started addressing the topic, identify solutions together with the tutors, and implement a first prototype of the required functionality. For more information and registration, check out: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/education/participatecollaborate/infras… Organizers: Andrew Davison | French National Centre for Scientific Research, France Michael Denker | Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany Martina Schmalholz | Heidelberg University, Germany References: [1] Neo, https://neo.readthedocs.io [2] Elephant, https://elephant.readthedocs.io [3] HBP Knowledge Graph, https://kg.ebrains.eu [4] HBP Collaboratory, https://wiki.humanbrainproject.eu -- Dr. Michael Denker Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Tel: +49 2461 61-9471 Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Fax: +49 2461 61-9460 Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neurosciencewww.csn.fz-juelich.de Jülich Research Centre and JARA 52425 Jülich, Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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PhD positions in Math Biology & Computational Neuroscience at NJIT
by Victor Matveev 20 Sep '20

20 Sep '20

Dear all, The Department of Mathematical Sciences at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is inviting candidates to apply to one of our doctoral program tracks: (1) Applied Mathematics or (2) Applied Probability & Statistics. The Department's research focus spans Mathematical Biology and Computational Neuroscience, Scientific Computing, Fluid Dynamics, Materials Science, Wave Propagation, Applied Analysis, Applied Probability & Statistics, including Biostatistics and Data Science. Teaching and research assistantships are available, and include a tuition waiver and a competitive stipend. Application target date is December 15, 2020 but ongoing review will continue until all available positions are filled. To apply, please visit our homepage: https://www.njit.edu/graduatestudies/department-mathematical-sciences/ For more information, please email us (math(a)njit.edu, CC: shahriar(a)njit.edu, matveev(a)njit.edu) PhD Program advertisement flyer is available here: http://web.njit.edu/~matveev/NJIT_DMS_PhD_flyer.pdf Sincerely, -- Admissions Committee, Department of Mathematical Sciences, NJIT -- _____________________________________________ Victor Matveev, Professor Applied Math, Biophysics, Neuroscience Department of Mathematical Sciences Graduate Faculty, Dept of Biological Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102-1982 Office: Cullimore Hall 616 E-mail: matveev(a)njit.edu http://web.njit.edu/~matveev/

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Two open postdoc positions in Rutledge Lab at Yale
by Rutledge, Robb 18 Sep '20

18 Sep '20

The Rutledge Lab in the Department of Psychology at Yale is accepting applications from prospective postdocs for 3-year postdoc positions with a flexible start date. Our lab uses computational models to study reinforcement learning, decision making, and affective states like happiness. We explore these questions using a combination of brain scanning, pharmacology, and large-scale smartphone-based experiments in healthy and clinical populations. Our previous app The Great Brain Experiment had over 100,000 users. We are looking for postdocs for a NIMH-funded project using longitudinal smartphone-based data collection with tasks and surveys in people with depression and control participants (N>600) including a subset (N>200) with fMRI data. Collaborators for rsfMRI: Avram Holmes (Yale), Faith Gunning and Conor Liston (Cornell Weill) Machine learning: Zeb Kurth-Nelson (DeepMind) Clinical and longitudinal: Akshay Nair (UCL), John Krystal, Leying Guan and Ralitza Gueorguieva (Yale) Further details can be found on our website (www.rutledgelab.org) Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Dr Rutledge directly (robb.rutledge(a)yale.edu) with a CV, a brief description of research interests, and a list of three references (names and email addresses).

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Registration, abstracts - Brain Criticality Virtual Meeting October 6 – 9 2020
by Plenz, Dietmar (NIH/NIMH) [E] 17 Sep '20

17 Sep '20

Brain Criticality Virtual Meeting October 6 – 9 2020 https://braincriticality.org/ Organizers: Dietmar Plenz, Lucilla de Arcangelis, Dante Chialvo, Demian Battaglia This meeting intends to gather recent contributions in the field of systems neuroscience, with the purpose of further discussing the role of criticality and its implications in the dynamics of large neuronal populations, functional and structural connectivity, development and learning, robustness of system operation. Recent advances in selective recording and perturbation approaches involving large populations of neurons offer unique opportunities to test these predictions, challenge current interpretations of large data sets and trigger novel theoretical developments. The meeting will take place virtually. Registration is free but limited and allows interactively participating to discussions and submitting contributed abstracts. A free live streaming will also be offered. Deadline for registration is October 2nd, 2020 Abstracts submitted before Sunday September 27th will be considered for spotlight oral presentation. Remaining abstracts will be presented as virtual posters Follow us on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/BrainCriticalityorg-121887946321170 Twitter https://twitter.com/brain_crit

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Postdoc positions in Neural Control of Speech Production, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
by Bush, Alan 17 Sep '20

17 Sep '20

The Brain Modulation Laboratory (www.brainmodulationlab.org<https://www.brainmodulationlab.org/>) within the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, headed Dr. Mark Richardson, seeks to recruit a highly motivated and outstanding candidate to fill a postdoctoral associate position. This 3 to 5-year position is funded through a recently awarded NIH-NINDS U01 grant to Principal Investigator Mark Richardson, MD, PhD. The successful candidate will work in a highly interdisciplinary team, studying the role of cortical-basal ganglia networks during speech production, based on the analysis of intra operative local field potential and micro-electrode recording data acquired in the context of Deep Brain Stimulation implantation surgery. Co-investigators include Frank Guenther (BU), Nathan Crone (Johns Hopkins), Lori Holt (CMU), Julie Fiez (Pitt), and Rob Turner (Pitt). Experience in electrophysiology, speech comprehension and/or production research, and a solid background in computational neuroscience is required. Interested applicants please use following link https://neurojobs.sfn.org/job/27234/post-doctoral-associate/ Project Summary: Modulating how we speak is critical for effective communication. The production and modulation of speech, like other behaviors, relies on basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks, not merely on cortical processes. Current knowledge about how the basal ganglia modulate speech, however, is primarily theoretical, due to a lack of empirical data. Theoretical models for speech production, in turn, remain underdeveloped. Notably, no models of speech production include the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a basal ganglia node that has been implicated in multiple cognitive processes relevant to speech production (e.g. action selection/suppression, gain modulation, and motor learning). Using access to the brain that can only be provided by deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, we initiated studies to understand how motor speech information is encoded within the STN-cortical network. We established a novel experimental paradigm to simultaneously record primary motor electrocorticography (ECoG) and STN activity in subjects who are awake and speaking. In our initial project, we discovered separate populations of STN neurons whose inhibition or excitation was selective for either speech planning or production, respectively [1]. We also found that STN population activity tracks with specific articulatory motor features and with vocal gain adjustment [2]. Our discoveries indicate multiple roles for STN activity in speech planning and modulation, consistent with nonhuman primate data that STN neurons are functionally diverse and that the STN is innervated broadly from cortical areas critical for speech production in humans. We propose to build on our foundational results by exploring how a broader cortical-STN network participates in speech production. Specifically, we have developed a protocol for simultaneous recording of high-density ECoG from the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), ventral sensorimotor cortex (vSMC), superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the STN. Our preliminary data support the hypothesis that these cortical speech areas communicate with the basal ganglia not only through cortical-striatal direct and indirect pathways, but also through a hyperdirect pathway to STN. These findings include the STG, consistent with evidence for basal ganglia participation in auditory processing. To uncover seminal knowledge about how cortical-basal ganglia dynamics shape speech, we will use intracranial electrophysiology to define the connectivity of speech-related cortex to the STN, while evaluating the role of cortical-STN and cortical-GPi dynamics in two basal ganglia functions critical for speech: motor sequence learning and gain modulation. Our invasive human neuroscience approach is unique in its ability to define, for the first time, a broad cortical-basal ganglia network for modulating speech. Establishing a neurobiological framework for cortical-basal ganglia network control of these processes will represent an order of magnitude change in our understanding of mechanisms for modulating speech, in turn informing how we model the dynamics of other human behaviors modulated by the basal ganglia. 1. Lipski, W. J. et al. Subthalamic Nucleus Neurons Differentially Encode Early and Late Aspects of Speech Production. Journal of Neuroscience 38, 5620–5631 (2018). 2. Chrabaszcz, A. et al. Subthalamic nucleus and sensorimotor cortex activity during speech production. The Journal of Neuroscience 2842–18 (2019). doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2842-18.2019 Alan Bush, PhD Research Scientist, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital. Instructor, Harvard Medical School. 55 Fruit Street, Thier 429 | Boston, MA 02114 The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail contains patient information, please contact the Mass General Brigham Compliance HelpLine at http://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly dispose of the e-mail.

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Senior Scientist – Stroke position at the NeuroRestore center (Lausanne, Switzerland)
by Milekovic Tomislav 16 Sep '20

16 Sep '20

Senior Scientist – Stroke position at the NeuroRestore center (Lausanne, Switzerland) Location The Defitech Center for interventional Neurotherapies (NeuroRestore) is a research and innovation center joining EPFL’s lab of Prof. Gregoire Courtine and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) lab of Prof. Jocelyne Bloch. We conceive, develop and apply medical therapies aimed to restore neurological functions. To this end, we integrate implantable neurotechnologies with innovative treatments developed through rigorous preclinical and clinical studies. By working with our network of vibrant high-tech start-ups and established medical technology companies, we are committed to validate our medical therapy concepts. Our overarching goal is to see our medical therapies used every day in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics worldwide. Opportunity Over the last decade, research labs under the NeuroRestore umbrella have achieved breakthroughs for the treatment of spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. Our recent studies indicate that similar approaches may lead to novel therapies for stroke. Therefore, we decided to build a strong research core focused on gaining deeper understanding of stroke and resulting neurological deficits, and on developing therapies that leverage the gained understanding to replace or restore motor functions impacted by stroke. By integrating well-equipped and expertly staffed rodent, non-human primate and clinical research facilities, NeuroRestore provides an ideal substrate for rapidly developing, integrating and clinically validating cutting-edge concepts of medical therapies, with the capacity to push successfully proven concepts into the technology transition phase. Position Summary The Senor Scientist – Stroke will bring their expertise and experience to build and then lead the stroke research core of the NeuroRestore center. They will develop original research projects across the whole stroke therapy development spectrum, starting from mechanistic understanding of stroke and resulting neurological and motor deficits, over preclinical tests of therapy concepts designed to take advantage of uncovered mechanisms, to clinical validation of therapies designed to alleviate motor deficits secondary to stroke. They will form and lead teams of NeuroRestore postdoctoral scientists, doctoral students, engineers and clinicians to execute these projects. They will train other scientists in their expert techniques and supervise junior scientists working on their projects. They will disseminate the results of their projects through research publications and conference talks and support preparation of scientific conference presentations and publications of other NeuroRestore personnel that works on stroke-related projects. They will take part in writing grant application that will support stroke-related projects. Responsibilities - Identify unmet clinical needs of stroke survivors and monitor the development of the medical neurotech sector to find opportunities for novel, feasible and rapidly realizable stroke therapies - Conceive, organize and plan out research projects - Form and leads teams to execute conceived research projects - Utilize their academic / clinical industry network to form collaborations that will help execute conceived research projects - Assess the project needs, identify relevant personnel and resources, and take part in hiring technical and scientific personnel to build skilled project teams - Train the NeuroRestore personnel in their area of expertise - Run project progress meetings, report on project progress, plan and manage the dissemination of project results - Take part in writing of funding applications to initiate new projects, strengthen / accelerate ongoing projects, or enhance ongoing collaborations - Develop and maintain connections with science labs and clinical centers to facilitate rapid animal and clinical testing of concepts and prototypes of medical treatments - Manage efforts to obtain regulatory approvals for animal studies and clinical trials to validate the concepts of medical therapies - Represent the Neurorestore Center at symposiums and conferences through talks and presentations Personal Traits - Passionate about the development of neurotechnologies that aim to alleviate movement disabilities of stroke - Thriving in a cutting edge, fast-paced, multidisciplinary environment - Self-starter and independent worker with an ability to identify innovative approaches and solutions - Attention to detail - Independent thinker and passionate problem solver Skills - Ability to independently conceive original research projects - Capacity to supervise several research projects in parallel - Capability to successfully lead research teams, and maintain collaborations with external partners - Strong verbal and written presentation skills in English - Experience with leading animal research projects and/or projects under the framework of clinical trials and studies - Track record of obtaining regulatory approvals for animal studies and/or clinical trials - Strong experience with writing project proposals, project progress reports and research articles - Experience in disseminating project progress through talks, presentation and publications - Experience in physiological signal acquisition and signal analysis - Capacity to identify skill gaps and hire personnel to fill them - Experience with writing, filling and obtaining patents - Advanced presentation skills (PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator) - Willingness to travel in order to form / maintain collaborations - Possessing a strong academic, clinical, regulatory and industry network and the ability to use it to organize collaborative projects Experience - Doctoral degree (PhD) - 6 or more years of experience working in the fields of neuroscience / neuroengineering (including the PhD studies) - 3 or more years of experience in stroke-related research - Strong publication record in the stroke field Contact Applications including a CV and a cover letter describing your background and interest should be sent to tomislav.milekovic(a)epfl.ch<mailto:tomislav.milekovic@epfl.ch>. Informal inquiries are welcome.

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PhD Student / Postdoc positions in Theoretical Neuroscience, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research / Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen
by Compsens 16 Sep '20

16 Sep '20

PhD Student / Postdoc positions in Theoretical Neuroscience, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research / Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen The positions are part of the ERC-Synergy grant RELEVANCE that investigates the neural and computational processing of bodies, which is realized in collaboration with the Universities of Leuven and Maastricht. The project aims at the investigation of the computational neural mechanisms of the visual processing of social stimuli, combining theoretical modeling with experimental research in physiology and imaging in humans as well as in animal models (realized by the other partners). The theoretical work will combine neural network modeling, machine learning, and advanced methods for stimulus control from computer graphics. We are looking for individuals with an interest, or possibly even partial expertise in one or multiple of the following areas: - physiologically-inspired neural modeling or neural data analysis - deep learning, biologically-inspired neural networks - machine learning with applications in cognitive science - motion capture and tracking - computer animation, virtual reality, game engines (e.g. Unreal, Unity) In addition, we are looking for individuals with interest to develop computer-animation or virtual reality technology for non-standard applications. Successful students / postdocs will be integrated in the research taking place in the Section for Computational Sensomotorics (http://www.compsens.uni-tuebingen.de/) which is part of the Dept. of Cognitive Neurology. The group works on neural modeling, machine learning techniques related to social recognition, computer animation, and human motion modeling, e.g. realizing highly-realistic avatars and VR applications for experiments in neuroscience and clinical research. The group is part of the CyberValley initiative (https://cyber-valley.de/) that links groups related to machine learning and industry applications in Tübingen. Talented students will have the opportunity to pursue a PhD in the International Max Planck Research Schools or for ‘Mechanisms of Mental Function and Dysfunction’ at the Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience (https://www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de/) or at the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (https://imprs.is.mpg.de/) Requirements: Candidates should have a (research) master degree in one of the following disciplines: (Biomedical) Engineering, Computer Science, (Cognitive) Neuroscience, Mathematics, Physics, or Computer Animation/Visual Effects. In addition to these requirements, candidates should have a theoretical interest in the area of visual neuroscience, and experience with scientific programming (Matlab, Python, or any other language), as well as basic programing languages such as C++. Additional information: Section for Computational Sensomotorics, Dept. for Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research & Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University Clinic Tübingen. Email: martin.giese(a)uni-tuebingen.de. Web: http://www.compsens.uni-tuebingen.de/

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Postrdoc & PhD Positions in Human Multisensory Perception, Action & Learning, Ulm Germany
by Marc Ernst 16 Sep '20

16 Sep '20

The Applied Cognitive Psychology Group at Ulm University, Germany headed by Prof. Marc Ernst is inviting applications for a research position on human multisensory perception, action and learning. The positions will be embedded in a highly interdisciplinary, international research group lead by Prof. Marc Ernst, who recently started a new group in the Faculty for Engineering, Computer Science, and Psychology at Ulm University. The focus of the group is on multisensory perception (with a focus on active audition, touch and vision), sensorimotor integration, perceptual learning, joint action and crowed behaviour and its applications to HCI. For their experimental work the group is predominantly relying on behavioral methods from psychophysics and experimental psychology. For this there are many state-of-the-art virtual reality and HCI setups available, including different projection systems for visual stimulation, force feedback and robotic devices including tactile displays for work on the human haptic system, a noise attenuation camber with an active audio setup for work on the auditory system and two unique treadmill setups for studies on human locomotion and navigation. Additionally there are several eye- and motion tracking systems available for the recording of human behavioural data. The groups has a strong focus on the modeling of human behaviour, relying heavily on the Bayesian Framework and the development of ideal observer models. Tow of these positions are funded by recent grant on navigation and crowed behaviour. Research and teaching is all in English. The successful candidate should have a background in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, or some neuroscience related field. Some modelling and programming experience is advantageous. Salary is according to German Public Service regulations and the positions are available immediately. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled. The application should include a cover letter stating the candidates research interests, curriculum vita, reprints (if available), and names of three referees. Electronic submission is preferred. All the best, --------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Marc Ernst Appl. Cognitive Psychology Faculty for Computer Science, Engineering, and Psychology Ulm University Albert-Einstein-Allee 43 89081 Ulm room: 43.3.103 phone: +49-731-50 320 50 sekr: +49-731-50 320 51 fax: +49-731-50 320 59 mobile: +49-152-22 543 156 marc.ernst(a)uni-ulm.de <mailto:marc.ernst@uni-ulm.de>

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computational neuroscience phd opportunities with Dan Goodman, Imperial College
by Dan Goodman 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

One or more PhD positions in theoretical and computational neuroscience are available in the group of Dan Goodman at Imperial College London. I am interested in supervising students with a strong mathematical, computational or neuroscience background. There is no deadline, and applications will be considered as they arrive, but earlier applications typically have a higher chance of getting a funded place, and EU applicants in particular should apply immediately (see note below). At the moment, the main research direction in the group is in applying methods from machine learning to models with a more biological flavour than the artificial neural networks typically studied in machine learning. This could include neurons with temporal dynamics, spiking neurons, etc. The aim is to use machine learning methods to find biologically relevant insights. To get a feel for this sort of work, you might be interested in seeing some of the recorded talks <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SrEycIbfRE&list=PL09WqqDbQWHFvM9DFYkM_Gfnr…> from a recent workshop I organised. However, our group has a fairly diverse range of interests and I am very happy to receive applications on a wider variety of topics than this (including theory of neural processing, auditory and other sensory systems, and simulation and data analysis). If you are interested in applying, please see the detailed instructions on my website: http://neural-reckoning.org/openings.html <http://neural-reckoning.org/openings.html> *Note on Brexit.* EU students starting a PhD in 2020-21 will still have the right to study in the UK, and be eligible for UK fee status and for financial support for the full duration of their course. However, the last opportunity for a funded place starting in the 2020-21 academic year will be a funding panel to take place in late October 2020, so EU candidates should get applications in as soon as possible, and please include a note in your email to me to make clear you are an EU candidate. Dan Goodman

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Post-doctoral position at the University of Manchester
by Riccardo Storchi 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

We seek a passionate, self-motivated scientist to undertake the project “Action in Vision” aimed at understanding how motor actions affect visual processing. The successful candidate will have an established track record in computational biology, up-to-date programming skills and a strong passion for system neuroscience. Previous experiences in performing and/or analysing electrophysiological and behavioural data or in computer vision are desirable. The successful candidate will work with high density electrophysiological data from freely moving mice [1] and three-dimensional reconstruction of their natural behaviours [2]. The successful candidate will also be involved in the designing of the experiments. The post offers a great opportunity to work in an exciting field of neuroscience aimed at understanding sensory processing in natural unrestricted conditions. At the University of Manchester, the successful candidates will find themselves immersed in a collaborative, friendly and multidisciplinary environment with several labs working on fundamental research on sensory processing (vision, touch), memory and behaviour. The post, starting in January 2021, is for 2 years and potentially renewable for up to a total of 5 years. Informal enquiries can be made to Riccardo Storchi Tel: 0161 275 5050 Email *riccardo.storchi(a)manchester.ac.uk <riccardo.storchi(a)manchester.ac.uk>* *References: * [1] Storchi et al (2017) Neuron, 93(2):299-307. PMID: 28103478 [2] Storchi et al (2020) Current Biology, *in press*. See pre-print at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.24.961565v3

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Ph.D. student position in computational neuroscience
by Tuomo Mäki-Marttunen 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

We are looking for a highly motivated and talented Ph.D. student to work on biophysically and biochemically detailed neuron modelling. The position is fully funded, starting Jan 1st 2021 or as mutually agreed and lasting 3-4 years. Please send your application by 25th October. *Job description* The Ph.D. student is expected to work on computational modelling of mental disorder-linked disease phenotypes and their genetic mechanisms. The student will use and extend existing biophysically and biochemically detailed neuron models to study the disease mechanisms of schizophrenia. A specific aim of the Ph.D. project is to further the mechanistic understanding of schizophrenia-associated phenotypes such as deficits in prepulse inhibition and mismatch negativity and the contribution of genes identified by psychiatric genome-wide association studies to these phenotypes. The student will be supervised by Dr. Mäki-Marttunen at Tampere University, and will be employed in the Computational Neuroscience group led by Prof. Linne. The student is expected to be involved in our collaborative research with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and University of Oslo (Prof. Gaute Einevoll and Prof. Ole Andreassen). *Requirements* We are looking for a candidate with a strong background in scientific computing and dynamical systems, and a deep interest in molecular and cellular-level neuroscience. The candidate should hold an M.Sc. degree in physics, mathematics, computer science, or a related field and have good verbal and written communication skills in English. The candidate should be deeply motivated in obtaining a Ph.D. degree in the field of computational neuroscience. Specific skills we are looking for: -Experience in numerical solution of ordinary and partial differential equations -Python programming and other programming skills -Previous experience in neuroscience and parallel computing is a plus *We offer* The position will be filled for a fixed-term period of three (3) to four (4) years. *The starting date is 1 December 2020 or as mutually agreed. **A trial period of six (6) months applies to all our new employees.* The salary will be based on both the job requirements and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the salary system of Finnish universities. According to the criteria applied to teaching and research staff, the position of a Doctoral Researcher is placed on level 2—4 of the job requirements scale. A typical starting salary for Doctoral Researchers is approximately 2350 - 2450 EUR/month. We offer a vibrant, English-speaking academic environment in Tampere, Finland. Tampere University is the second largest university in Finland. The project will employ local and national supercomputers needed for the simulations. The university offers a range of staff benefits, including occupational health care, flexible working hours, sports facilities, and several restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts. Read more about living and working in Tampere, Finland: https://www.tuni.fi/careers. For more information on Tampere, please visit https://visittampere.fi/en/. <https://visittampere.fi/en/> *How* *to* *apply* Please submit your application through our online recruitment system: https://tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_A&jid=694. *The closing date for applications is 25 October 2020 (23:59 EEST (GMT+3)).* *Please write your application and all the accompanying documentation in English and attach them in PDF format.* Please attach only the following documents to your application: * A letter of motivation and description of your research interests (max. 1 A4 page) * Curriculum vitae (see, e.g., the TENK template <https://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae>), including the contact details of two referees). * Transcript of records (master's degree studies). See https://tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_A&jid=694 for details. *For further information, please contact:* Academy Research Fellow Tuomo Mäki-Marttunen tuomo.maki-marttunen(a)tuni.fi <mailto:tuomo.maki-marttunen@tuni.fi> Tampere University Finland

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Open 3-year postdoctoral position in the Machine Learning Group at UiT The Arctic University of Norway
by Michael Kampffmeyer 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

Open 3-year postdoctoral position in the Machine Learning Group at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. We are seeking a postdoctoral research fellow to take an active role in the group’s research on advancing machine learning methodology. Special emphasis will be given to candidates who have experience working with modern machine learning, deep learning and data-driven health. Experience working with unsupervised or semi-supervised methods is desired. The overarching basic research idea is to develop unsupervised and semi-supervised approaches for machine learning and deep learning. The candidate will seek to develop novel methodology for use within the applied fields of the group. This includes data-driven health (close collaboration with the University Hospital of North Norway), as well as image analysis research together with collaborating partners, in addition to industrial research. The candidate is expected to master tools such as e.g. TensorFlow and/or Pytorch. For details, please see: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/190781/postdoctoral-research… The successful candidate will join the UiT Machine Learning Group, a vibrant group at the "north pole", with excellent national and international connections. Please contact Michael Kampffmeyer (michael.c.kampffmeyer(a)uit.no) or Robert Jenssen (Robert.jenssen(a)uit.no) for more info. Best, Michael

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Call for Abstracts - Workshop on Affective Shared Perception (WASP) - ICDL-EPIROB 2020
by Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

Call For Abstracts - Workshop on Affective Shared Perception (WASP) Dear all, We are delighted to invite you to submit an abstract, and to participate in our Workshop on Affective Shared Perception (WASP), hosted by the International Conference on Developmental Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EPIROB2020). Please find below all the information! Cheers, Pablo I. Aim and Scope Our perception of the world, in particular, the ones which are influenced by affective understanding, depends both on sensory perception and prior knowledge. Most of the current research on modeling affective behavior as computer models ground their contribution to pre-trained learning models, which are purely data-driven, or on reproducing existing human behavior. Such approaches allow for easily reproducible solutions that fail when applied to complex social scenarios. Understanding shared perception as part of the affective processing mechanisms will allow us to tackle this problem and to provide the next step towards a real-world affective computing system. The goal of this workshop is to present and discuss new findings, theories, systems, and trends in computational models of affective shared perception. The workshop will feature a multidisciplinary list of invited speakers with experience in different aspects of social interaction, which will allow a rich and diverse debate about our overarching theme of affective shared perception. The workshop is scheduled to happen on the 30th of October of 2020 virtually. It will start at 15h00 CET and it will have a total duration of 3h30min. The participation is free, and a Zoom room will be available shortly before the workshop starts. II. Registration The registration to the workshop is free, but to guarantee a place to attend the workshop, please register here: shorturl.at/ciCQX III. Potential Topics Topics include, but are not limited to: - Affective perception and learning - Affective modulation and decision making - Developmental perspectives of shared perception - Machine learning for shared perception - Bio-inspired approaches for affective shared perception - Affective processing for embodied and cognitive robots - Multisensory modeling for conflict resolution in shared perception - New psychological findings on shared perception - Assistive aspects and applications of shared affective perception IV. Invited Speakers Prof. Dr. Ginevra Castellano - Uppsala University, Sweeden Prof. Dr. Ellen Souza - Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil Prof. Dr. Yukie Nagai - The University of Tokyo, Japan V. Submission Prospective participants in the workshop are invited to submit a contribution as an abstract with a maximum of 350 words. Submission information: https://www.whisperproject.eu/wasp2020 The abstracts will be peer-reviewed by experts from all over the world. To encourage the integration with the local affective computing communities, we will allow student abstracts to be submitted in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Each accepted abstract will be presented as a 5 min video (in English!) that will be shared on the workshop's social media. During the workshop, all the videos will be streamed and the authors will have a joint live Q/A with the audience for 60minutes. Participants can also opt-in for participating in our Frontiers Research Topic on Affective Shared Perception ( https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/16086/affective-shared-percepti…) The same abstract sent to the workshop can be sent as an abstract submission to the research topic. If you want to opt-in for the research topic, only English submissions will be accepted. - Abstract submission deadline: 12th of October - Notification of acceptance: 17th of October - Frontiers Research Topic Abstract Deadline: 24th of October - Video submission: 24th of October VI. Organizers Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy Alessandra Sciutti, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy ---------------------------------------- Dr. Pablo Barros Postdoctoral Researcher - CONTACT Unit Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – Center for Human Technologies Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B 16152 Genova, Italy email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it website: https://www.pablobarros.net<http://www.pablobarros.net><https://www.p> twitter: @PBarros_br

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Pattern Recognition in Neuroimaging Summer School Lectures
by Jozsef Arato 13 Sep '20

13 Sep '20

Dear All, The virtual summer school on Pattern Recognition in Neuroimaging at the University of Vienna is taking place this week (Sept. 14-18th). Registration is closed, but the live lectures are available free of charge, please visit our website (https://prni2020.univie.ac.at/) for more information. Keynote Speakers Peter Dayan (MPI Biological Cybernetics/Tubingen) Katharina Dobs (MIT) Romy Lorenz (Cambridge) Teaching Faculty Sebastian Tschiatschek (Uni. Vienna) Tonio Ball (Uni. Freiburg) Mate Lengyel (Cambridge/CEU) Georg Langs (Med. Uni. Wien) Alexandre Gramfort (INRIA) Moritz Grosse-Wentrup (Uni. Vienna) Manuel Zimmer (IMP Vienna) Looking forward to see you there. Jozsef Arato, PhD Program Chair, PRNI 2020 ______________________________ Vienna Cognitive Science Hub University of Vienna Liebiggase 5 (Room HE.63) 1010, Vienna <mailto:jozsef.arato@univie.ac.at> jozsef.arato(a)univie.ac.at

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Openings at the interface of Computational Neuroscience and AI
by sa474 13 Sep '20

13 Sep '20

Dear Colleagues, I would like to announce three new openings, 2 PhD candidate positions and 1 Research Assistant position, in my Lab at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Spain, to participate in research projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, and their interface. Candidates for these positions are expected to have a quantitative background and strong interests in at least one of the following goals: - Apply state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms and/or neural circuit modeling to address questions in Life Sciences and Physics. - Adapt computationally efficient cognitive mechanisms into AI architectures (such as deep neural networks) aiming for more powerful learning algorithms. - Identify physiological mechanisms of brain function and dysfunction, in particular, the neural substrates of learning governing flexible, goal-directed behavior. Candidates should have a background in Computer Science, Electric Engineering, Physics, Math, Biology, or similar, and good programming skills (e.g., Python, R, Matlab, JavaScript, C++). Knowledge of dynamical systems modeling, time series analysis, machine learning and/or computational neuroscience would be an advantage. Candidates for the PhD positions should also have a Master degree, and candidates for the Research Assistant position should have a Bachelor degree, or similar. Gross salary for the PhD candidates and for the Research Assistant will be around 1400 €/month. Candidates from under-represented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Our Lab is inclusive and committed to equity and diversity. The administrative period to apply at UPV will be from Sept 21 to Oct 2, 2020. The start date will be in November 2020. Candidates interested in these openings please contact me (Salva Ardid, E-mail: sardid at upv dot es) as soon as possible to know more about the selection process. Please provide an informal motivation letter (it can be embedded in the email body), a brief CV/resume, and the name and contact information of two referees willing to support your application with a recommendation letter. A brief note on our Lab’s location: Our group is located at the UPV campus in Gandia. Gandia is a historical, cultural, and touristic city located on the shoreline of eastern Spain, 65 km (40 mi) south of València (about 1 hour by train/car). València is the third most popular city in Spain after Barcelona and Madrid. The cost of living of València is significantly lower than that of Barcelona and Madrid (and this is even further the case for Gandia). Salva Ardid GenT Distinguished Research Group Leader Universitat Politècnica de València Paranimf 1 Edifici D, Despatx D-210 Gandia, 46730 Spain Web: https://sardid.github.io E-mail: sardid at upv dot es

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New book 'Changing Connectomes' (MIT Press)
by Marcus Kaiser 12 Sep '20

12 Sep '20

Dear all, My book on Connectome organization and development has now been published. The book gives an up-to-date overview of the field of connectomics, introducing concepts and mechanisms underlying brain network change at different stages. >From the synopsis: “This book provides an overview of network features of the brain, how these features emerge during evolution and brain development, and how alterations ranging from normal aging to developmental and neurodegenerative disorders affect brain networks. By including an introduction to concepts of network analysis, it will also be accessible to researchers who are new to the field of connectomics. Finally, through Matlab code examples, it will allow researchers to understand and extend the shown mechanisms of connectome development.” In case you're interested, the book is on sale on with Amazon and other booksellers: Amazon USA: https://t.co/ju0gtVANOQ Amazon UK: https://t.co/Oqqiu0tG4r Amazon Germany: https://t.co/JuvIfhSNfc Other booksellers: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/changing-connectomes Best, Marcus -- Marcus Kaiser, Ph.D. FRSB @ConnectomeLab Professor of Neuroinformatics Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex Biosystems (ICOS) Research Group, School of Computing, Newcastle University, UK Guanci Visiting Professor Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Rui Jin Hospital, Functional Neurosurgery Unit, China Book: Changing Connectomes https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/changing-connectomes Lab website: http://www.dynamic-connectome.org/ Neuroinformatics UK: http://www.neuroinformatics.org.uk/

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Ph.D. Position: Theoretical models of adaptive signal processing and learning mechanisms in dendritic trees
by Tetzlaff, Christian 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

Dear all, The Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen invites applications for a Ph.D. position German Salary Scale TV-L E13, 66% (of 39.8 weekly hours) for 3 years. The successful candidate will be part of an international research project aiming to extend the existing theories for adaptive signal processing and learning mechanisms in dendritic trees and possible technological applications thereof. The position should be filled by 1st of November or soon thereafter. This post is designed to foster young researchers and give the successful applicant the opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree. The position will be affiliated with the groups of Dr. Christian Tetzlaff and Prof. Florentin Wörgötter, who are investigating the emergence of complex behavior from the interplay of diverse neuronal and synaptic processes of neuronal networks (see, e.g., Tetzlaff et al., 2015, Scientific Reports; Li et al., 2016, PLoS One). The aim of the research project is to deepen our understanding of adaptive dendritic processing and uncover methods for employing these mechanisms in technological and machine learning applications. Suitable candidates should hold a Master degree in Physics or Computer Science preferably with some additional experiences in Computational Neuroscience and Machine Learning. We expect excellent mathematical and coding skills (e.g., Python, Matlab, C++) as well as skills in scientific communication (including proficiency in English). The candidate should be curious, highly motivated, self-organized, and show a keen interest to work within the connection between two lively research teams and to perform leading-edge research. The Göttingen Campus is a leading center of neuroscience in Europe hosting numerous internationally renowned research institutions, including the University and its Medical Center, the three life science Max Planck Institutes, the European Neuroscience Institute, the German Primate Center, and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Göttingen. The University of Göttingen is an equal opportunities employer and places particular emphasis on fostering career opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to apply in fields in which they are underrepresented. The university has committed itself to being a family-friendly institution and supports their employees in balancing work and family life. The mission of the University is to employ a greater number of severely disabled persons. Applications from severely disabled persons with equivalent qualifications will be given preference. Please send your e-mail application, preferably in one single PDF-document, including a letter of interest, your curriculum vitae, copies of your certificates and contact information of at least two references until 4th of October to Dr. Christian Tetzlaff, e-mail: tetzlaff(a)phys.uni-goettingen.de<mailto:tetzlaff@phys.uni-goettingen.de>. Please see the job advertisement using the following link: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/305402.html?cid=15185. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Christian Tetzlaff Junior Research Group Leader Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics Georg-August University Friedrich-Hund Platz 1 37077 Göttingen Phone: +49 (0)551 39 26 932 E-Mail: tetzlaff(a)phys.uni-goettingen.de<mailto:tetzlaff@phys.uni-goettingen.de>

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PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience (Visual Attention Models)
by Fred Hamker 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

The lab of Fred Hamker at Chemnitz University of Technology is offering a PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience (Visual Attention Models). The position is for three years, starting as soon as possible. The research position is funded by a DFG research grant and focuses on the modelling of RF dynamics during attention and eye movements. For the formal job search in german, please refer to: https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/verwaltung/personal/stellen/257030_1_EPu.php <https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/verwaltung/personal/stellen/257030_1_EPu.php> German language skills are not required, but the willingness to learn German would be useful. Applications should be sent by email (preferably in PDF format) to (fred.hamker(a)informatik.tu-chemnitz.de <mailto:fred.hamker@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de>) as soon as possible. Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the state of Saxony in Germany and close to scenic mountains. Major cities nearby are Leipzig and Dresden with a rich tradition of music and culture. Our recent prior work in this field: Bergelt J, Hamker FH. (2019) Spatial updating of attention across eye movements: A neuro-computational approach. Journal of vision, 19:10. doi:10.1167/19.7.10 Ziesche A, Bergelt J, Deubel H, Hamker FH. (2017) Pre- and post-saccadic stimulus timing in Saccadic Suppression of Displacement – a computational model. Vision Research, 138:1-11. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2017.06.007 Hartmann TS, Zirnsak M, Marquis M, Hamker FH, Moore T. (2017) Two types of receptive field dynamics in area V4 at the time of eye movements? Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 11:13. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2017.00013 Bergelt J, Hamker FH. (2016) Suppression of displacement detection in the presence and absence of eye movements: A neuro-computational perspective. Biological Cybernetics, 110:81-89. doi:10.1007/s00422-015-0677-z Beuth F, Hamker FH. (2015) A mechanistic cortical microcircuit of attention for amplification, normalization and suppression. Vision Research, 116, 241-257. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2015.04.004

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Group Leader Position(s) in the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest
by Balazs Ujfalussy 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

Group Leader Position(s) in the Institute of Experimental Medicine The Institute of Experimental Medicine in Budapest, Hungary invites applications for independent scientific group leader positions. The Institute, an internationally renowned Center of Excellence in neuroscience, hosts scientific groups in diverse fields of neuroscience applying molecular, anatomical, physiological, pharmacological and behavioral approaches, and offers several state-of-the-art core facilities supporting research (see detailed information at http://koki.hu/english/introduction-106273) The successful applicant(s) is(are) expected to establish an internationally competitive research group that integrates into and strengthens the existing research profile of the Institute, and preferably offers interdisciplinary cooperation opportunities. The successful applicant(s) should have a Ph.D. in natural sciences and should be an international expert in experimental or computational neuroscience. Requirements are strong scientific track-record, demonstrating independent research leadership abilities, international experience, competence in supervising a scientific team and excellent cooperation skills. Applications should include (1) a CV, (2) a full publication list and 5 selected (most important) publications, (3) the summary of research achievements (max. 2 pages), (4) scientific concept and plans (2 pages) and (5) presentation of leadership and cooperation experience (half a page). The applications should be submitted by 21st September 2020 by email to: igazgato(a)koki.mta.hu Zoltan Nusser Director Institute of Experimental Medicine Prof. Zoltan Nusser Laboratory of Cellular Neurophysiology Institute of Experimental Medicine H-1083 Budapest, Szigony street 43. Phone: +36-1-210 9983 Fax: +36-1-210 9984 E-mail: nusser.zoltan(a)koki.mta.hu www.nusserlab.hu

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