February 2025 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Qualia Structure - Integrated Information Theory Summer School 2025
by Larissa Albantakis 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

*Deadline of application: Mar 14, 2025 * The QStr (Qualia Structure) - IIT (Integrated Information Theory) Summer School offers an exciting opportunity for students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty scholars from around the world to explore the intersection of qualitative aspects of consciousness (or qualia) and scientific objectivity. This event is scheduled to take place in Venice and Bertinoro, Italy from October 5 to 17, 2025. Here is the link to the overview homepage, from which one can apply for it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFmabi5KJQRfocvwhXAehIkwFxrCp_Touxp9-Sn… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFmabi5KJQR…> Participating faculty Larissa Albantakis Melanie Boly Matteo Grasso Yuko Ishihara Christof Koch William Marshall Lucia Melloni Hedda Hassel Mørch Masafumi Oizumi Steve Philliips Hayato Saigo Giulio Tononi Naotsugu Tsuchiya Makiko Yamada

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Apply Now: FRCCS 2025 Awards for Early-Career Researchers in Complex Systems
by Hocine Cherifi 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

CSS France invites applications for the *Bertalanffy Doctoral Student Award* and the *Thom Young Researcher Award*, recognizing outstanding early-career researchers in *Complex Systems*. 🏆 *Bertalanffy Doctoral Student Award* (for Ph.D. candidates under 30) 🔗 Details & Application <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/call-doctoral-student-award/> 🏆 *Thom Young Researcher Award* (for researchers ≤5 years post-Ph.D., under 35) 🔗 Details & Application <https://iutdijon.u-bourgogne.fr/ccs-france/call-young-resarcher-award/> 📅 *Deadline:* March 11, 2025 💰 *Prizes:* €500 (Doctoral) / €1,000 (Young Researcher) + FRCCS 2025 presentation opportunity 🚀 *Don’t miss this chance to showcase your research in Complex Systems at FRCCS 2025—apply now!* Best, HC Join us at COMPLEX NETWORKS 2025 <https://complexnetworks.org/> *-------------------------* Hocine CHERIFI University of Burgundy Franche-Comté Laboratoire* I*nterdisciplinaire *C*arnot de *B*ourgogne - ICB UMR 6303 CNRS Editor in Chief Applied Network Science <https://appliednetsci.springeropen.com/> Plos Complex Systems <https://plos.org/complex-systems-research-journal/#:~:text=PLOS%20Complex%2….> 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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World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11:00 am EST| Songting Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
by David Hansel 23 Feb '25

23 Feb '25

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.on…> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the lecture given by Songting Li Shanghai Jiao Tong University Timescale localization and signal propagation in the large-scale cortical network The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at *11:00 am EST * To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: * In the brain, while early sensory areas encode and process external inputs rapidly, higher-association areas are endowed with slow dynamics to benefit information accumulation over time. This property raises the question of why diverse timescales are well localized rather than being mixed up across the cortex, despite high connection density and an abundance of feedback loops that support reliable signal propagation. In this talk, we will address this question by analyzing a large-scale network model of the primate cortex, and we identify a novel dynamical regime termed "interference-free propagation". In this regime, the mean components of the synaptic currents to each downstream area are imbalanced to ensure signals to propagate reliably, while the temporally fluctuating components of the synaptic inputs governed by upstream areas' timescales are largely canceled out, leading to the localization of its own timescale in each downstream area. Our result provides new insights into the operational regime of the cortex, leading to the coexistence of hierarchical timescale localization and reliable signal propagation. *About VVTNS : Launched as the World Wide Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar (WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in Memoriam (April 20, 2022), 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.*

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Two postdoctoral research positions in Active Inference at the University of Cape Town
by Jonathan Shock 23 Feb '25

23 Feb '25

Postdoctoral Positions in Active InferenceUniversity of Cape Town, South Africa The Shocklab research group in conjunction with the Neuropsychology research group at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is seeking two postdoctoral researchers to join our dynamic team working on Active Inference in relation to affective consciousness. This position offers an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of computational, cognitive and affective neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, in collaboration with leading researchers in the field including Dr Ryan Smith at the Laureate Institute and lr Charel Van Hoof MBA at TU Delft. About the Position - Duration: One year with possibility of one- or two-year extension - Start Date: Immediate availability - Salary: R540,000 per year, tax free (equivalent to around R740,000 per annum, taxed) - Location: University of Cape Town, South Africa Research Environment Our research group combines expertise in consciousness studies, Active Inference, and Reinforcement Learning, with leads: - Associate Professor Jonathan Shock, Director of the UCT AI Initiative, head of Shocklab and Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. - Professor Mark Solms, Professor in Neuropsychology, author of "The Hidden Spring" and collaborator with Karl Friston on consciousness and Active Inference. The group currently includes two Masters students, one PhD student and one postdoc, all working on Active Inference in foraging environments in the presence of competing needs. The Shocklab group also has a large number of graduate students working on Reinforcement Learning. Graduate student supervision would be an important part of the postdoctoral role. The work is jointly located in the UCT Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. Project Description The research focuses on studying single and multi-agent Active Inference agents in dynamic environments in which agents must learn to satisfy competing ‘survival’ needs. This programme has a sophisticated inference/sophisticated learning/tree-search focus. The overarching aim is to gain insights into affective consciousness, attention, and need prioritization. This work is supported by donor funding from Conscium, UK. Computing Resources - Access to UCT High Performance Computing cluster - Dedicated Shocklab cluster featuring two RTX 4090 GPUs Required Qualifications - PhD, preferably obtained within the last five years - Strong research background in Active Inference - Programming expertise, particularly in JAX (preferred) Benefits - Competitive salary (R540,000 tax free per year) - Funding for at least one international conference per year, and potential extended research visit at the Laureate Institiute - Opportunity to work in one of the world's most beautiful cities About UCT and Cape Town The University of Cape Town is Africa's leading university, situated at the foot of Table Mountain. The institution has a rich research history and is currently accelerating its research initiatives in AI. Cape Town offers an exceptional quality of life with incredible natural beauty and a flourishing scientific environment. A living costs calculator can be found here: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Cape-Town Application Process Please submit the following materials: - Cover letter and CV - Research history - Future research plans on Active Inference - Three letters of reference Application Deadline: March 15th, 2025 Interviews: late March/early April 2025 Contact: jonathan.shock(a)uct.ac.za with Subject: "ActInf postdoc"

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow: EEG Brain-computer Interface, University of Birmingham
by Howard Bowman 22 Feb '25

22 Feb '25

Postdoctoral Research Fellow: EEG Brain-computer Interface, a Brainwave-based Visual Acuity Test Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology and School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham Closes: 6th March 2025 JOB-DESCRIPTION: The Fringe-P3 method (Bowman et al, 2013; Alsufyani et al, 2019) developed out of a line of theoretical work focussed on temporal attention and perception on the fringe of awareness (Bowman & Wyble, 2007; Craston et al, 2009; Avilés et al, 2020). The method provides a means to present a large number of visual stimuli very rapidly to a participant's brain and then determine with EEG, which of those stimuli the participant finds salient. The method has been proposed as a deception detector, specifically, a (countermeasures-resistant) concealed-knowledge test (Bowman et al, 2013, 2014; Alsufyani et al, 2019; Harris et al, 2021; see https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2077487/) Previous projects with the company Visionmetric (https://visionmetric.com/) used the Fringe-P3 method to develop a system for extracting the memory of a face. This is done by generating a facial morph that is a weighted average of the faces presented in rapid serial visual presentation, with weight determined by the strength of the P3 that face generated. The Research Fellow being advertised will be employed on a recently awarded MRC Impact Acceleration account at the University of Birmingham, with two companies: Visionmetric and Advanced Ophthalmic Systems (https://aos-hub.com/) This will take the Fringe-P3 method and develop it as an objective visual-acuity test, called the Acuity-P3. Many groups, such as young children, those with learning difficulties and dementia patients find it hard to follow the instructions required to complete a standard visual-acuity test (such as a Snellen chart). As a result, clinical decisions, such as whether to perform cataract surgery, often have to be made without a reliable assessment of vision. We will develop a system by which a brain response (the P3) can be used as an objective measure that a letter has been read. This will provide an objective visual-acuity test, not dependent upon a subjective response. We will also improve the efficiency with which P3s are detected with machine learning and will explore alternative detection modalities, such as pupil dilation. At the University of Birmingham, the work will be undertaken within the School of Psychology and Centre for Human Brain Health, with involvement from the School of Computer Science (where the PI, Bowman, also has an appointment). PERSON SPECIFICATION: Batchelors (and potentially also Masters) degree, as well as a PhD or equivalent qualification in Computer Science, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), Psychology, Neuroscience, or related subjects. Candidates with equivalent industrial experience would also be within scope. Strong programming skills, with experience of or the capacity to learn how to program in Python and C++. Experience of neuroimaging, including data collection, or the capacity to learn such methods. Fluency or capacity to become fluent in relevant models, techniques and methods, e.g. Fieldtrip, Statistical Parametric Mapping, EEG-lab, and ability to contribute to developing new methods. Informal enquiries can be made to Professor Howard Bowman and H.Bowman(a)bham.ac.uk. Full application details can be found here: https://edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_6… Alsufyani, A., Hajilou, O., Zoumpoulaki, A., Filetti, M., Alsufyani, H., Solomon, C. J., ... & Bowman, H. (2019). Breakthrough percepts of famous faces. Psychophysiology, 56(1). Avilés, A., Bowman, H., & Wyble, B. (2020). On the limits of evidence accumulation of the preconscious percept. Cognition, 195, 104080. Bowman, H., Filetti, M., Janssen, D., Su, L., Alsufyani, A., & Wyble, B. (2013). Subliminal salience search illustrated: EEG identity and deception detection on the fringe of awareness. PLoS One, 8(1). Bowman, H., Filetti, M., Alsufyani, A., Janssen, D., & Su, L. (2014). Countering countermeasures: Detecting identity lies by detecting conscious breakthrough. PloS one, 9(3), e90595. Bowman, H., & Wyble, B. (2007). The simultaneous type, serial token model of temporal attention and working memory. Psychological review, 114(1), 38. Craston, P., Wyble, B., Chennu, S. & Bowman, H. "The attentional blink reveals serial working memory encoding: Evidence from virtual & human event-related potentials." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(3):550-566, March 2009. Harris, K., Miller, C., Jose, B., Beech, A., Woodhams, J., & Bowman, H. (2021). Breakthrough percepts of online identity: Detecting recognition of email addresses on the fringe of awareness. European Journal of Neuroscience, 53(3), 895-901. -------------------------------------------- Howard Bowman (PhD) Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Birmingham Honorary Professor of Imaging Neuroscience at Functional Imaging Lab, University College London email: H.Bowman(a)bham.ac.uk<mailto:H.Bowman@bham.ac.uk> WWW: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/psychology/bowman-howard ?Howard Bowman - ?Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pcKQix4AAAAJ&hl=en> School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Research Groups: Neuroimaging Methods and AI, Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham Perception, Language and Action, Computer Science, University of Birmingham PLORAS (Predicting Language Outcomes and Recovery After Stroke), Functional Imaging Lab, University College London

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Fwd: [seminar.wwtns] Summer School NeuroBridges2025 | In partnership with VVTNS series
by David Hansel 20 Feb '25

20 Feb '25

* NeuroBridges 2025* *A Mediterranean, Middle Eastern Summer School in Neuroscience* *Deadline to apply: April 15, 2025* NeuroBridges 2025 is a summer school which will take place between September 7 and September 18, 2025 in Le Centre de Conferences Internationales de Cluny, France (CCIC) <https://streaklinks.com/B3KEKFd397UPDx5n8gyfD1BJ/https%3A%2F%2Fcollegecluny…> . The school will provide an overview of theoretical and experimental frameworks used to study a variety of decision making processes. It will cover different model systems from rodents to humans and a plethora of decision making mechanisms. Another objective of NeuroBridges is to bring together Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scientists, in order to promote scientific cooperation between young researchers from these countries. The organizers of NeuroBridges are convinced that such scientific collaborations can lead to personal relations, which eventually may alleviate the political distress in the Middle East. The school is intended for graduate students and postdocs, primarily, but not only, from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, either working in their home countries or abroad. Applicants should have some background in related fields in neuroscience or cognitive psychology. All costs of registration and accommodation will be covered by the organizers. A limited number of travel grants will also be available. *Faculty:* - Alaa Ahmed (U. Colorado) <https://www.colorado.edu/mechanical/alaa-ahmed> - Rava Azeredo da Silveira (IOB) <https://www.silveira-lab.com/rava-azeredo-da-silveira> - Ahmed El Hady (Max Planck Institute) <https://www.ab.mpg.de/person/111828> - David Hansel (CNRS) <https://incc-paris.fr/people/david-hansel/> - Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS) <https://pages.isir.upmc.fr/mkhamassi/> - Carole Levenes (CNRS) <https://incc-paris.fr/people/carole-levenes/> - Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/people-directory/faculty-members/yonatan-loewenstei…> - Zach Mainen (Champalimaud), TBC <https://mainenlab.org/> - Israel Nelken (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/people-directory/faculty-members/israel-nelken/> - Drazen Prelec (MIT) <https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/drazen-prelec> - Reza Shadmehr (John Hopkins U.) <https://www.shadmehrlab.org/> NeuroBridges is co-organized by Ahmed El Hady (Max Planck Institute), David Hansel (CNRS, Paris), Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Carole Levenes (CNRS, Paris), Shir Shapira (Hebrew University of Jerusalem). NeuroBridges 2025 is supported by the Simons Foundation, the Cyril Taylor Charitable FoundationELSC, and is in partnership with VVTNS ( https://www.wwtns.online/) For more information and application, visit our website: https://neurobridges.net/

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Registration open for the NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago IL
by William L. Kath 19 Feb '25

19 Feb '25

*The NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago, IL Registration, Abstract Submission and Travel Award Applications now open!* More details at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference We are calling for talks and posters discussing challenging problems in biology that are inspiring new mathematics, statistics, theory and computation, and mathematics that is generating important new insights into biology. If you are a mathematician working on biology or a biologist using mathematics, or just someone who would like to learn more about research at the interface between mathematics and biology, we encourage you to attend. * *Registration:* The number of attendees at the conference is finite. We are asking participants to pay a small fee ($100) to hold their place. * *Abstracts:* Register before 15 April if you would like to submit an abstract. * *Travel Awards:* We are proud to offer travel award to students and early career researchers. A brief application is required for consideration - deadline April 15. * Travel awards fund up to $650 for domestic travel and $800 for intercontinental travel, plus reimbursement for local hotel costs and for meals not provided by the conference (gsa.gov rates apply). Award recipients must lodge at The Drake Hotel (140 East Walton Place Chicago, IL 60611) to receive reimbursement. *Registration/submission steps:* 1. Register at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference 2. Upon entering your information, you will be directed to a payment site. 3. After confirmation of payment (please note your confirmation number), you will be sent links with which to submit an abstract and/or apply for a travel award. If you have questions, please email nitmb(a)nitmb.org I_mportant Dates:_ Abstract Submission April 15, 2025 Travel Award Application April 15, 2025 Early Registration (to be considered for a presentation) ($100) February 15 - April 15, 2025 Notification of selection for an Oral Talk or a Poster Late May Regular Registration (no presentation) ($100) February 15 - July 14, 2025 Late Registration ($200) July 15 - August 4, 2025 Hotel Registration (at the Drake) Mid-April - July 15, 2025 *Confirmed plenary speakers:* *Alexander Auhlela, The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)* Dr. Aulehla uses dynamical systems to study how a vertebrate embryo forms the unique number of body segments that make up the vertebrae. *Carina Curto, Brown University* Dr. Curto combines mathematical tools from algebra, geometry, topology and dynamical systems to elucidate complex patterns of activity in networks of neurons. *Lorin Crawford, Microsoft Research and Brown University* Dr. Crawford uses machine learning and statistical tools to study the genotype-to-phenotype map for complex traits and diseases. *Michael Hawrylycz, The Allen Institute* Dr. Hawrylycz studies the cellular constitution and organization of the brain using single-cell transcriptomics and cutting-edge computational and statistical tools. *Anna-Liisa Laine, University of Helsinki* Dr. Laine studies complex problems in ecology across a spectrum of length and time scales. *Reidun Twarock, University of York* Dr. Twarock uses mathematics to study the symmetries of animal viruses and how they self-assemble inside host cells.

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First Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience
by James Bower 19 Feb '25

19 Feb '25

I thought some on this list might be interested in knowing about the first annual meeting for the newly formed Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience, to be held May 1-3, 2025 at Washington University in St. Lewis, Missouri, USA. https://www.philandneuro.com/?utm_campaign=e5e3edd6-f129-4005-9ca3-804ea034… HOME | SPAN philandneuro.com Just FYI, I will be part of a symposium considering: "What can we learn about current neuroscience practice from its history." I was considering giving a talk on what you can and can’t learn about the brain using AI, but decided instead to discuss: Correlation as a substitute for causality: how FMRI has reinforced correlation-based story telling in neuroscience and in the process the cerebellum has replaced 42 as the answer to everything. According to Goggle’s AI overview, the function of the cerebellum includes motor coordination, balance and posture, motor learning, attention, memory and emotional regulation. The AI bott missed: sleep, stress, thirst, hyperactivity, psychosis, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, urinary tract function, mutism, language acquisition, and much more. In 1996, I published an FMRI study in Science that is generally regarded as providing the first evidence that the 150 year assumption that the cerebellum was only a motor control device was incorrect. In fact, that study was designed to test whether the cerebellum was involved in motor control at all, based on predictions made by realistic computational models built from experimental evidence (i.e. non-Ptolemaic models). So what has happened since? This talk will consider how fMRI, employed as the ultimate correlation seeking technique, has distorted not only our understanding of the overall function of the cerebellum, but has also, in effect, undermined and distorted basic neuroscientific study of this remarkable structure. As such, epistemologically, the cerebellum may represent the ultimate example of what is wrong with neuroscience as well as how it can be fixed. Best to all in troubling times, Jim Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D. 541-499-7502 Simulating a 17th century landed gentry scientist. Also: Affiliate Professor of Biology Southern Oregon University Visiting Professor of Computational Neuroscience Biocomputation Research Group School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science University of Hertfordshire, UK Linked in <https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-m-bower-130163/> Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Bower>

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IRMA: Machine learning-based harmonization of 18F-FDG PET brain scans in multi-center studies
by Michael Biehl 19 Feb '25

19 Feb '25

Our paper "IRMA: Machine learning-based harmonization of 18F-FDG PET brain scans in multi-center studies" by Sofie Lövdal et al. has been published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and is available online (open access): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00259-025-07114-4 In this work we apply interpretable machine learning systems for the analysis of 18-FDG PET brain scans from different medical centers. We show that the center origin of healthy control brain images acquired with different scanners/protocols can be identified with high confidence. Consequently, machine learning models trained with data from different scanners may be heavily impacted by this bias when applied to a clinically relevant problem, e.g. the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. We propose IRMA (Iterated Relevance Matrix Analysis) as a recursive method to learn and disregard bias in PET feature vectors. Related code is freely available at https://github.com/SofieLovdal/IRMA-harmonization --------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Michael Biehl Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence P.O. Box 407, 9700 AK Groningen, NL https://www.cs.rug.nl/~biehl m.biehl(a)rug.nl

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[Meeting] CRNS Talk Series - Live Talk by Dr. Yumi Iwashita - NASA JPL, USA
by Amir Aly 18 Feb '25

18 Feb '25

Dear All * *Apologies for cross-posting** The* Center for Robotics and Neural Systems* (CRNS) and *UK-Ireland IEEE RAS Chapter* are pleased to announce the talk of *Dr. Yumi Iwashita* from *NASA JPL, USA* on Wednesday, *February 26th *from *3:30 PM* to *5:00 PM* (*London time*) over *Zoom*. *Thank you for forwarding the invitation to any of your colleagues who might be interested*. >> *Events*: The CRNS talk series will cover a wide range of topics including Social and Cognitive Robotics, Computational Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Computational Linguistics, Cognitive Vision, AI and Machine Learning, and healthcare. More details are available here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/robotics-neural-systems/whats-on <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.plymo…> >> *Link for the next event (**No Registration is Required**)*: Join Zoom Meeting *https://plymouth.zoom.us/j/95753314935?pwd=B9cuV9Dj6MWkhgrWEZrGsVz9brL21Q.1&from=addon <https://plymouth.zoom.us/j/95753314935?pwd=B9cuV9Dj6MWkhgrWEZrGsVz9brL21Q.1…>* >> *Title of the talk: **Exploring Moons: Preparing for Future Missions to Europa and the Moon* *Abstract*: Each planet has one or more moons, many of which hold immense potential for unlocking fundamental questions about the origins of life. Among the numerous moons in our solar system, Jupiter’s Europa, Earth’s Moon, and Saturn’s Enceladus are of particular scientific interest. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has undertaken several projects focused on these celestial bodies. In this talk, I will introduce two key projects related to Europa and the Moon. The first project, the Europa Lander Mission Concept, faces significant challenges, including a highly limited operational lifetime, constrained energy supply, intermittent communication with prolonged blackouts, and hazardous environmental conditions. Moreover, its extreme distance from Earth prevents reliance on real-time human control. To address these constraints, we developed an autonomous software prototype to test and validate planning and execution strategies for science-driven missions with minimal human intervention. Additionally, we demonstrated autonomous sampling techniques at Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. The second project, LuNaMaps, focuses on autonomous lunar landing. Successful planetary landings require precise localization with respect to the targeted site. However, landing on the Moon presents unique challenges, including insufficient global high-resolution data, the need to validate existing datasets, and extreme illumination conditions—especially at the poles. To address these issues, we have developed methodologies for generating high-quality Digital Elevation Maps (DEMs) and tools to evaluate their accuracy and reliability, supporting future lunar exploration missions. >> If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, Regards -------------------------------------------- *Dr. Amir Aly*, PhD, FHEA, SIEEE Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme Manager of Artificial Intelligence UK and Ireland IEEE RAS Chapter Vice Chair Director of the Centre 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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