April 2024 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

CFP: Workshops in conjunction with FRCCS 2024, Montpellier, France May 28, 2024
by Hocine Cherifi 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

We encourage researchers to participate in the FRCCS 2024 <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/> workshops to share their insights and foster interdisciplinary collaborations in the study of complex systems. *Workshops* · Modeling Cities and Regions as Complex and Evolving Systems · Beauty in Complexity · Network Sparsification & beyond *Important dates* Submission Deadline: *April 14, 2024* Final Decisions Released:* April 17, 2024* Camera-Ready Deadline: *April 30, 2024* *1) **Modeling Cities and Regions as Complex and Evolving Systems* <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/workshop-on-modeling-cities-and-…> Cities consist of interacting entities, such as people and infrastructure, and exhibit emergent properties, which appear additionally to the sum of the isolated properties. This makes cities a prime example of complex systems. Accordingly, complexity theories and methods are particularly relevant to their study. By focusing on the commonalities that underpin urban systems, the workshop seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and explore novel approaches to studying cities as complex entities. *More info at: * *https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/workshop-on-modeling-cities-and-regions-as-complex-and-evolving-systems/* <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/workshop-on-modeling-cities-and-…> *Workshop chair* *Daniela Cialfi - NRCouncil of Italy - **danielacialfi(a)gmail.com* <danielacialfi(a)gmail.com> *2) **Beauty in Complexity* <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/beauty-in-complexity/> The Beauty in Complexity exhibition invites researchers to share the visual wonders of their work with a wide and diverse audience. Whether it's a photograph, diagram, visualization, or montage, we encourage submissions that evoke curiosity and wonder. We seek captivating visuals showcasing the beauty found within complex systems research. More info at: https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/beauty-in-complexity/ *Workshop chairs* Benjamin Renoust - *Median Technologies,- **renoust@gmail* <benjamin.renoust(a)mediantechnologies.com> *.com *Arnaud Sallaberry - *LIRMM *- *arnaud.sallaberry(a)lirmm.fr* <arnaud.sallaberry(a)lirmm.fr> *3) **Network Sparsification & beyond* <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/complex-network-sparsification/> Numerous algorithms are designed to construct simpler or smaller network representations to address scalability and performance issues. This workshop aims to bring together researchers working on the broad theme of network simplification and discuss graph reduction methods and their applications. More info at: https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/complex-network-sparsification/ *Workshop chairs* Hamida Seba -* University Lyon 1- **Hamida.seba(a)univ-lyon1.fr* <Hamida.seba(a)univ-lyon1.fr> Hocine Cherifi* - University of Burgundy - **hocine.cherifi(a)u-bourgogne.fr* <hocine.cherifi(a)u-bourgogne.fr> Join us at COMPLEX NETWORKS 2024 <https://www.complexnetworks.org/> *-------------------------* Hocine CHERIFI University of Burgundy Franche-Comté Laboratoire* I*nterdisciplinaire *C*arnot de *B*ourgogne - ICB UMR 6303 CNRS Editor in Chief Plos Complex Systems <https://plos.org/complex-systems-research-journal/#:~:text=PLOS%20Complex%2….> Founding & Adisory Editor Applied Network Science <https://appliednetsci.springeropen.com/> Editorial Board member PLOS One <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/>, IEEE ACCESS <https://ieeeaccess.ieee.org/?http%3A%2F%2Fieeeaccess_ieee_org%2F>, Scientific Reports <https://www.nature.com/srep/>, Journal of Imaging <https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jimaging>, Quality and Quantity <https://www.springer.com/journal/11135/>, Computational Social Networks <https://computationalsocialnetworks.springeropen.com/>, Complex Systems <https://www.complex-systems.com/>

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PhD funded application
by Eirini Mavritsaki 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

Dear all, I would like to advertise the below PhD funded application. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for any help. Best wishes, Eirini Project 1: Using machine learning, AI and computational modelling to predict recovery from stroke from brain-scans across a range of language and cognitive deficits. This funding model includes a 36 month fully funded PhD Studentship, in-line with the Research Council values, which comprises a tax-free stipend paid monthly (2024/5 - £19,237) per year and a Full Time Fee Scholarship for up to 3 years, subject to you making satisfactory progression within your PhD. All applicants will receive the same stipend irrespective of fee status. Application Closing Date: 23:59 on Tuesday 30th April 2024 for a start date of the 2nd September 2024. How to Apply To apply, please complete the project proposal form,<https://www.bcu.ac.uk/Download/Asset/d3f86737-6b53-ec11-981f-501ac52d968f> <https://www.bcu.ac.uk/Download/Asset/d3f86737-6b53-ec11-981f-501ac52d968f>ensuring that you quote the project reference, and then complete the online application<https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/social-sciences-research-degrees-2024-25> where you will be required to upload your proposal in place of a personal statement as a pdf document. You will also be required to upload two references, at least one being an academic reference, and your qualification/s of entry (Bachelor/Masters certificate/s and transcript/s). Project Title: Using machine learning, AI and computational modelling to predict recovery from stroke from brain-scans across a range of language and cognitive deficits. Project Lead: Professor Eirini Mavritsaki Eirini.Mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:Eirini.Mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> Reference: PreSReB Project Description Stroke can be caused when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, this can take place either by blockage or through a traumatic event. Several cognitive deficits can be caused by stroke ranging from paralysis or weakness on one side of the body to problems with memory, attention, vision, thinking, emotional changes and language problems. For the best possible recovery from stroke, the correct rehabilitation is vital. However, predicting the best treatment and outcomes is challenging since every patient is different, and each case of stroke is unique. Machine learning has been previously used, but it is difficult to interpret the outcomes due to complex interactions of the large data used. To overcome these challenges, we are planning to combine machine learning with AI and computational modelling. To achieve the best outcomes, we are collaborating with University of Birmingham and UCL and we have access to the Predicting Language Outcome and Recovery After Stroke (PLORAS) database with over 2000 stroke patients. Anticipated Findings and Contribution to Knowledge This research work aims to contribute towards the development of new approaches for predicting stroke recovery. This will not only advance research in this area, but it will also lead to development of new tools that clinicians can use to predict outcomes for rehabilitation approaches. In addition, this work will make significant contributions towards the advancement of research in computational neuroscience. By combining machine learning, AI and computational modelling, it will help improve our understanding of this complex field. More information on the project can be found using the link below https://www.bcu.ac.uk/research/our-phds/phd-opportunities/using-machine-lea… and the application and process https://www.bcu.ac.uk/research/our-phds/phd-opportunities Please note that I think your work-life balance and your right to disconnect from your work or studies is very important. Therefore, if this message arrives in an evening or on a weekend, I really would not expect you to attend to it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prof. Eirini Mavritsaki, Ph.D., CPsychol Professor in Cognitive Psychology Faculty Research Strategy Deputy and Research Development Framework Lead eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 331 6361 Faculty of Business Law and Social Sciences Birmingham City University ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disclaimer This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately, delete this email from your system and do not use, copy, or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City University. Birmingham City University accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email and the recipient must ensure that the email (and attachments) is virus free.

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Deadline approaching - Brains for Brains Young Researcher Award
by Alexander Lammers 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

International early career scientists who have shown their outstanding potential at a very early career stage are invited to apply for the Brains for Brains Award. You can win a 2000 € travel grant to join the Bernstein Conference 2024 and visit labs of Bernstein members. ____ Who can apply? International students of all nationalities from relevant disciplines (biology, medicine, physics, mathematics, computer science, engineering, psychology, etc.) who plan to pursue a research career in computational neuroscience and who have at least one peer reviewed publication (as co-author) or peer reviewed conference abstract (as first author). ____ The award is endowed with: * a travel grant of 2.000 € for a one-week trip to Germany, including free participation at the Bernstein Conference 2024 in Frankfurt * the chance to present your research as a talk and as a poster at the Bernstein Conference 2024 * individually planned visits to labs of the Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience ____ Application deadline: April 21, 2024, 23:59 CEST ____ Details & application https://bernstein-network.de/en/network/awards-and-initiatives/brains-for-b… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Jülich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Düren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Stefan Müller Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht (Vorsitzende), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Dr. Ir. Pieter Jansens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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TA applications now open for Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo, 12 January to 2 February 2025
by Spyridon Chavlis 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

Dear Colleagues, We are looking for teaching assistants for the Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo, a computational neuroscience summer school held in Cape Town, South Africa (https://imbizo.africa/). We are looking for post-doctoral or advanced PhD researchers to join our team as Teaching Assistants (TAs) for the Imbizo in January 2025. Please apply via the link: https://imbizo.africa/ta-application/. Before you apply, you should have the following documents/information ready: 1) A brief CV (2-4 pages is fine) 2) A short motivational statement about your scientific interests and background, why you would be a good fit, and your favourite topics for teaching tutorials and supervising student projects. 3) Contact details of one referee. *The application deadline is April 25, 2024 (20:00 UTC), and the reference letter submission deadline is April 29, 2024 (20:00 UTC).* Please notify your referee beforehand to meet the deadline. *About the Imbizo:* The school hosts 28-30 students for an amazing 22 days of lectures, tutorials, projects and forging new friendships. All this takes place on Noordhoek beach, between the mountain and the ocean. It's a spectacular location. * / Arrival day: Sunday 12 January 2025/ * / Imbizo dates: Monday 13 January to Saturday 1 February 2025/ * / Departure day: Sunday 2 February 2025/ The Imbizo is a special experience, with students being totally immersed in academic, social, touristic and cultural activities, and has resulted in student and TA groups from previous schools becoming very close, personally and scientifically. This is fantastic, as a major goal of the Imbizo project is to help young African researchers grow their academic peer and friend group. About being a TA: * Each TA runs one afternoon tutorial in the first week of the school, which they design themselves. * Each TA will teach a different topic, which the TA's choose among themselves, to provide students with a broad exposure to problems and methods in computational neuroscience. * Each TA is also assigned 5 students to supervise for project work during the last 2 weeks of the school. * TAs will be asked to help process student applications. TAs are integral in helping run the school. In addition to academic support, they foster good social interactions and academic discussions among students, and they help 'shy' students meet faculty. They also act as 'social glue’, helping to notice and support students who may be feeling ill, not fitting in socially, or generally having difficulties. To fulfill these roles, TAs need to be at all school meals and activities. We will also need a little help processing student applications. *What we provide:* We cover as direct as possible, economy class tickets to Cape Town, as well as all board and lodging during the school. *We will start assessing applications on May 1, 2024.* A call for student applications will follow soon. We hope to hear from you soon! Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks and regards Demba Ba, Arif Hamid, Peter E Latham, Spiros Chavlis, and Emma Vaughan Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo Committee 2025 Twitter: @CompNeuroImbizo email: isicn.imbizo[AT]gmail.com -- *Spyridon Chavlis, PhD* Postdoctoral Researcher and Systems Administrator Poirazi Lab Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) Nikolaou Plastira, 100 GR 70013 Heraklion, Crete, Greece Tel: (+30) 2810 39 1264 Εmail: schavlis(a)imbb.forth.gr Webpage: dendrites.gr <https://www.dendrites.gr>

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Research Summit on Fundamental Challenges for AI. Mountain View, April 15th.
by Battleday, Ruairidh 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

We are most excited to announce the final line-up and substantially reduced ticket prices for the AE Spring Summit on Fundamental Challenges for AI <http://bit.ly/springsummitaievent>. Computer History Museum, Mountain View; April 15th. This is a day of keynote talks and panels by leading AI researchers on what the open problems for ML/AI development are, and promising scientific and engineering strategies for solving them. Keynotes Professor Jay McClelland (Stanford / DeepMind) Professor Bin Yu (UC Berkeley) Professor Diyi Yang (Stanford) Professor Sergey Levine (UC Berkeley) Panels New Landscapes for AI Research New Professional Pathways Challenges for AI in Biomedicine Fundamental Challenges We have invited speakers and representatives from the following five technical stakeholder groups to this Summit: Academia Tech FROs / nonprofits Start-up VCs / Funders By soliciting answers and discussions from scientists and leaders at these different groups we hope to also examine what their different roles will be in the next period of AI research, and to foster the sharing of research. Full details can be found at www.algopreneurship.org. This should be an exciting and productive day, and we have made lower-priced tickets available for students and early-stage researchers. Lunch and a reception will be provided. We look forward to seeing some of you there, and please feel free to share news about the event on social media. The Thinking About Thinking Team Twitter / X: https://bit.ly/springsummitaix LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/springsummitaiLI -- Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday BMBCh (Oxon) PhD President Thinking About Thinking <http://www.thinkingaboutthinking.org> Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, MIT

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Fwd: Available Positions in Computer Science at the University of Plymouth
by Amir Aly 07 Apr '24

07 Apr '24

Dear All The University of Plymouth has several available positions in Computer Science. More details are available in this advertisement (deadline is 27th May 2024): https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DGN533/lecturer-associate-professor-in-computer-… If you have any remarks, pls don't hesitate to contact me, Regards ---------------- *Dr. Amir Aly* Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme Manager of Artificial Intelligence Center for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Room A307 Portland Square, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA University of Plymouth, UK

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Fwd: [seminar.wwtns] World wide VVTNS series: Wednesday, April 10 at 11am (EDT), Michael Buice, Allen Institute |Biologically motivated learning dynamics: parallel architectures and nonlinear Hebbian plasticity
by David Hansel 07 Apr '24

07 Apr '24

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the lecture given by Michael Buice Allen Institute on the topic of "Biologically motivated learning dynamics: parallel architectures and nonlinear Hebbian plasticity*"* The lecture will be held on zoom on *April 10, 2024*, at *11:00 am EDT * To receive the zoom link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: *Learning in biological systems takes place in contexts and with dynamics not often accounted for by simple models. I will describe the learning dynamics of two model systems that incorporate either architectural or dynamic constraints from biological observations. In the first case, inspired by the observed mesoscopic structure of the mouse brain as revealed by the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, as well as multiple examples of parallel pathways in mammalian brains, I present a mathematical analysis of learning dynamics in networks that have parallel computational pathways driven by the same cost function. We use the approximation of deep linear networks with large hidden layer sizes to show that, as the depth of the parallel pathways increases, different features of the training set (defined by the singular values of the input-output correlation) will typically concentrate in one of the pathways. This result is derived analytically and demonstrated with numerical simulation with both linear and non-linear networks. Thus, rather than sharing stimulus and task features across multiple pathways, parallel network architectures learn to produce sharply diversified representations with specialized and specific pathways, a mechanism which may hold important consequences for codes in both biological and artificial systems. In the second case, I discuss learning dynamics in a generalization of Hebbian rules and show that these rules allow a neuron to learn tensor decompositions of higher-order input correlations. Unlike the case of the Oja rule and PCA, the resulting learned representation is not unique but selects amongst the tensor eigenvectors according to initial conditions. *About VVTNS : Created as the World Wide Neuroscience Seminar (WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in Memoriam (April 20, 2022), its aim is to be a platform to exchange ideas among theoreticians. Speakers have the occasion to talk about theoretical aspects of their work which cannot be discussed in a setting where the majority of the audience consists of experimentalists. The seminars, **held on Wednesdays at 11 am ET,** are 45-50 min long followed by a discussion. The talks are recorded with authorization of the speaker and are available to everybody on our YouTube channel.* ᐧ ᐧ ᐧ ᐧ ᐧ -- 'Life is good ..' (Carl van Vreeswijk, 1962-2022) --------------------------------------- David Hansel Directeur de Recherche au CNRS Co-Group leader Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Learning lab., CNRS 45 rue des Saints Peres 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Tel (Cell): +33 607508403 - Fax (33).1.49.27.90.62 ᐧ

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Call for Participation & Papers - ACAIN 2024 - 4th Int. Advanced Course & Symposium on Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience, September 22-25 2024, Riva del Sole Resort & SPA, Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto) Tuscany, Italy -> Deadline: April 23
by ICAS Organizing Committee 06 Apr '24

06 Apr '24

Call for Participation & Call for Papers (apologies for multiple copies) ________________________________________________________________________ The 4th International Advanced Course & Symposium on Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience, September 22-25, 2024, Riva del Sole Resort & SPA, Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto) Tuscany, Italy W: https://acain2024.icas.events E: acain(a)icas.cc FB: https://www.facebook.com/ACAIN.LakeDistrict/ Symposium Deadlines Paper Submission (Symposium): by April 23, 2024 (AoE). https://acain2024.icas.events/symposium-call-for-papers/ https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acain2024 Notification of Decision for Papers (Symposium): by July 10, 2024. Camera Ready Submission (Symposium): by July 20, 2024. Author Registration (Symposium): by July 20, 2024. Course Deadlines Regular Registration (Course): by April 23, 2024. https://acain2024.icas.events/registration/ Late Registration (Course): from April 24, 2024. Oral Presentation Submission (Course): by April 23, 2024. Notification of Decision for Oral Presentation (Course): by August 31, 2024. SCOPE & MOTIVATION: ACAIN 2024: AI meets Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Science The ACAIN 2024 symposium and course is an interdisciplinary event featuring leading scientists from AI and Neuroscience, providing a special opportunity to learn about cutting-edge research in the fields of AI, Neuroscience, Neuroscience-Inspired AI, Human-Level AI, and Cognitive Science. The 4th Advanced Course and Symposium on Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience (ACAIN) is a full-immersion four-day Course and Symposium in Tuscany on cutting-edge advances in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience with lectures delivered by world-renowned experts. The Course provides a stimulating environment for academics, early career researchers, Post-Docs, PhD students and industry leaders. Participants will also have the chance to present their results with oral talks or posters, and to interact with their colleagues, in a convivial and productive environment. Two days of keynote talks and oral presentations, the ACAIN Symposium, (September 24-25), will be preceded by lectures of leading scientists, the ACAIN Course, (September 22-23). Bringing together AI and neuroscience promises to yield benefits for both fields. The future impact and progress in both AI and Neuroscience will strongly depend on continuous synergy, exchange, collaboration and efficient cooperation between the two research communities. These are the goals of the International Course and Symposium - ACAIN 2024, which is aimed both at AI experts with interests in Neuroscience and at neuroscientists with an interest in AI. ACAIN 2024 accepts rigorous research that promotes and fosters multidisciplinary interactions between artificial intelligence and neuroscience. The Advanced Course is suited for scholars, academics, early career researchers, Post-Docs, PhD students and industry leaders. The Event (Course and Symposium) will involve a total of 36-40 hours of lectures. Academically, this will be equivalent to 8 ECTS points for the PhD Students and the Master Students attending the Event. LECTURERS https://acain2024.icas.events/course-lecturers/ * Maria Eckstein, Google DeepMind, London, UK * Auke Jan Ijspeert, EPFL, Switzerland * Zeb Kurth-Nelson, Google DeepMind & UCL, London, UK * Loic Matthey, Google DeepMind, London, UK * Kevin J. Miller, DeepMind & UCL, London, UK * Thomas Parr, Oxford University, UK * Melika Payvand, Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich & ETH Zurich, Switzerland * Alessandro Treves, International School for Advanced Studies, Italy More Lecturers TBA COURSE DESCRIPTION: https://acain2024.icas.events/course-description/ SYMPOSIUM CALL FOR PAPERS: https://acain2024.icas.events/symposium-call-for-papers/ SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM COMMITTEE (partial list, confirmed members): https://acain2024.icas.events/program-committee/ ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: https://acain2024.icas.events/symposium-committee/ VENUE & ACCOMMODATION: https://acain2024.icas.events/venue/ ACAIN 2024 is a *Residential Conference*, all participants (invited speakers, authors, organizers, chairs, participants) must book and stay at the Riva del Sole Resort and Spa. No exceptions are allowed. https://lod2024.icas.events/lod-2024-a-residential-conference/ Riva del Sole Resort & SPA a: Località Riva del Sole - Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto) CAP 58043, Tuscany - Italy p: +39-0564-928111 f: +39-0564-935607 e: booking.events(a)rivadelsole.it w: www.rivadelsole.it/en ACTIVITIES: https://acain2024.icas.events/activities/ REGISTRATION: https://acain2024.icas.events/registration/ See you in Tuscany in September! ACAIN 2024 Organizing Committee. E: acain(a)icas.cc W: https://acain2024.icas.events FB: https://www.facebook.com/ACAIN.LakeDistrict --

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Applications Open for Analytical Connectionism Summer School 2024
by Matthew Turner 05 Apr '24

05 Apr '24

Analytical Connectionism Summer School 2024 Analytical Connectionism is a 2-week summer course on analytical tools, including methods from statistical physics and probability theory, for probing neural networks and higher-level cognition. The course brings together neuroscience, psychology and machine-learning communities, and introduces attendees to analytical methods for neural-network analysis and connectionist theories of higher-level cognition and psychology. Connectionism, a key theoretical approach in psychology, uses neural-network models to simulate a wide range of phenomena, including perception, memory, decision-making, language, and cognitive control. However, most connectionist models remain, to a certain extent, black boxes, and we lack a mathematical understanding of their behaviors. Recent progress in theoretical neuroscience and machine learning has provided novel analytical tools that have advanced our mathematical understanding of deep neural networks, and can help us unravel these ‘black boxes’. This course will introduce (1) mathematical methods for neural-network analysis, providing a solid theoretical and analytical overview of the tools available to understand neural-network models, and (2) key connectionist models with links to experimental observations, and which provide important targets for analytical results. To provide context for the applications of these methods, we will discuss phenomena in psychology that still lack an explanation. During the 2-week course you will: - Attend lectures on theoretical methods and applications, key connectionist models, and experimental observations - Participate in tutorials, Q&A sessions, and panel discussions - Take part in activities such as poster and networking sessions The course will run from Aug. 12 to Aug. 23, 2024, Mondays-Fridays and will end with a 2-day hackathon, during which students will apply what they have learned in group projects. There are no course fees, but attendees are expected to cover their own travel, visa expenses, and any meals not offered by the summer school (morning and afternoon coffee breaks and lunch will be provided Monday-Friday). Accommodation in NYC (for students not living in NYC and surrounding) will be provided by the school. Travel grants inclusive of the above named expenses will be offered to individuals whose participation furthers the goal to promote diversity in systems and computational neuroscience, in particular among populations underrepresented in the scientific workforce as defined by NIH <https://diversity.nih.gov/about-us/population-underrepresented>, including but not limited to racially underrepresented individuals, women, individuals with disabilities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Organizers: - Chi-Ning Chou (CCN) - SueYeon Chung (CCN/NYU) - Francesca Mignacco (Princeton/CCN) - Stefano Sarao Mannelli (UCL) - Andrew Saxe (UCL) For more information and to apply, please visit: https://events.simonsfoundation.org/event/e070287e-741e-4809-adea-726914273… Administrative Contact: Alicja Jankowska, CCN Administrative Coordinator, ajankowska(a)flatironinstitute.org Cordially, MATTHEW B. TURNER any pronouns Senior Manager for Center Administration | Center for Computational Neuroscience Flatiron Institute 917.363.1095 mobile mturner(a)flatironinstitute.org 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 simonsfoundation.org/flatiron <https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/>

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Available PhD Position at the intersection between AI and Marine Conservation
by Amir Aly 05 Apr '24

05 Apr '24

Dear All, We have an available PhD position (*Monitoring health and unlocking social behaviour in bottlenose dolphins with interdisciplinary next-generation technology*) at the intersection of Marine Conservation and AI. More details are available here: Link <https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/school-of-biological-and-marine-sciences…> . The closing date for applications is *22/04/2024**.* Project description Monitoring health and social behaviour in cetacean populations is required for population management and quantification of human impacts. Measures of individual fitness, survival, reproductive success, and sociality can have far-reaching implications for wildlife management and conservation, as populations adapt, or not, to human disturbance. Quantifying individual interactions is the foundation of social behaviour and cetaceans arguably demonstrate some of the most complex social systems in the mammalian world. However, the nature of social relationships in cetaceans remains poorly studied. Cetaceans provide unique research challenges that can constrain data collection and prevent multimodal inference. Recent developments in marine robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and bioacoustics open opportunities for a technology-driven approach for conservation and behavioural research. AI-based techniques employing machine learning to analyse unoccupied aerial systems (UAS)-captured footage, and acoustic data need integration into tools to extract behavioural patterns and allow application to conservation research. The Scottish bottlenose dolphin project is one of the longest running individual-based studies of dolphins in the world, with multi decade sighting histories and life history data. This population has high societal importance, with core habitat impacted by coastal developments and in key areas for UK renewable energy. This project is an opportunity to integrate new generation technologies and contribute vital population and individual level information for conservation management and compliance monitoring for UK renewables. *Project aims and methods* This PhD project will integrate technology-driven data collection across bioacoustics, marine robotics and artificial intelligence to advance animal behaviour research. The project has four main research objectives: - Synchronise and integrate data collection of vocal signals and movement patterns of wild dolphin groups. - Determine social relationships, group behaviour and population demographics from boat-based and UAS still and video imagery. - Explore the boundaries of social behaviour using AI for tracking individuals. - Integrate and disseminate data across research and industrial sectors for policy and conservation management of this protected population. *Research Methodology* The student will collect acoustic, behavioural and UAS data during the annual summer field campaigns run by the Lighthouse Field Station based in Cromarty, Scotland. They will use a modified multi-rotor UAS, fitted with a laser altimeter to collect high-resolution still and video imagery of dolphin groups to verify individual identity information from known bottlenose dolphins within the population, and deploy hydrophones to record underwater acoustics. The student will explore dolphins’ fine-scale spatial interactions and individual movement trajectories and their link to acoustics, as well as morphometric and demographic data. The student will utilize and integrate a suite of AI methodologies to test hypotheses relating to the influence of social relationships and individual identity on group movement and acoustics in dolphins. Training This project will provide the student with multi-disciplinary skills development and training across bioacoustics, behavioural ecology and artificial intelligence. They will complete small boat work and field data collection at a world leading field station enhancing their data collection skills and providing benefits of interaction across two institutions. The student will also benefit from access to the Scottish bottlenose dolphin project longitudinal dataset to inform the individual level analysis that underpins this project, as well as a highly skilled field team to facilitate data collection and individual training. They will receive dedicated training in UAS operation and maintenance and depending on background may receive training in ecology, bioacoustics, artificial intelligence applications and R and Matlab programming. *Supervisory team* The project will be supervised by Dr. Nicola Quick <https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/nicola-quick>, Dr. Clare Embling <https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/clare-embling>, Dr. Barbara Cheney <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sbs/people/profiles/b.cheney>, and Dr. Amir Aly <https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/amir-aly> If you have questions, pls don't hesitate to ask, Regards ---------------- *Dr. Amir Aly* Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme Manager of Artificial Intelligence Center for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Room A307 Portland Square, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA University of Plymouth, UK

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