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

PhD position in Sensory Neurotechnology
by Reichenbach, Tobias June 18, 2025

June 18, 2025

Dear all, I am excited to announce an opening for a PhD position at the Chair for Sensory Neuroengineering, Department Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering at FAU in Germany. The PhD student will work on an innovative project in the neurobiology of communication. The project will investigate neurobiological mechanisms and electrophysiological markers of speech comprehension. The PhD student will therefore develop and employ EEG hyperscanning, in which the neural activity of several subjects engaged in a conversation will be measured simultaneously. They will furthermore develop AI algorithms to analyse the obtained data. The results will contribute to better customization and real-time adaptation of hearing aids to their wearers. FAU is the most innovative university in Germany and ranks second among the most innovative European universities. It is located in one of the most attractive regions in Germany. Erlangen is a bicycle-friendly city with 100,000 inhabitants, former home of the Huguenots as well as a key location for industry. It is close to Nuremberg, a city with a population of half a million and a metropolitan flair. The mixture of academia, innovative companies, art and culture makes the region the perfect place for creative minds, keen athletes and nature lovers. More information is available here: https://www.neurotech.tf.fau.eu/phd-position-in-sensory-neurotechnology/ With best regards ------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Tobias Reichenbach Chair of Sensory Neurotechnology Department Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering (AIBE) Friedrich-Alexander-University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg Nürnberger Strasse 74 91052 Erlangen https://www.neurotech.tf.fau.eu/

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Thinking About Thinking: Call for web designer to join our team
by Ruairidh Battleday June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Dear all, We are looking for a web designer to join our wonderful design team, and help build the online platform for these activities. That person would liaise with our head of design, two content designers, web developer, and webmaster. Thinking About Thinking <http://www.thinkingaboutthinking.org/> is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that aims to cultivate and spread new computational ideas about intelligence in an open-access manner. We run Summits <http://www.algopreneurship.ai/> on Open Problems for AI and an annual conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI <http://www.neuromonster.org/>, and will soon be launching a range of online material to complement the in-person events. We are looking for someone with good experience in website design (e.g., Squarespace) that is passionate about and currently studying a degree related to intelligence (or has done in the past). This is a great organization to blend your academic and professional interests, in this case in design! If you are interested, or know someone that might be, please do let us know, including your resume and samples of past work. This will be a very fun role, working with enthusiastic volunteers and junior researchers to build a globally recognizable brand. The position would be paid, at $30 per hour on an hourly basis, with an expected time commitment of 1 hour per week on average. We look forward to hearing from you! Ruairidh and the team -- Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday BMBCh (Oxon) PhD President Thinking About Thinking (www.thinkingaboutthinking.org) Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, MIT

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CNS*2025 workshop 'Linking structure, dynamics and function in neuronal networks'- July 8-9, Florence, Italy
by Wilhelm Braun June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Dear Colleagues, We are excited to announce the workshop Linking structure, dynamics and function in neuronal networks: old challenges and new directions at CNS*2025 on the mornings of July 8 and 9 in Florence, Italy. This workshop provides a platform to discuss possible approaches for integrating the fundamental aspects of structure, dynamics, and function. In particular, the workshop aims to identify the properties of neural networks that make them suitable models for neural computation. Additionally, it seeks to define a minimal set of features leading to functional neural networks, thereby addressing conserved evolutionary principles. Details about the program can be found on our workshop homepage: https://sites.google.com/view/cns2025workshop-strudynfun/ Below is the list of confirmed speakers: Gorka Zamora-Lopez Mariia Popova Douglas Zhou Friedrich Schuessler Petra Vertes Lidia Ripoll-Sánchez Anna Levina Katharina Wilmes Leo Agueci Agostina Palmigiano Melika Payvand The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion moderated by Claus C. Hilgetag. We are looking forward to seeing you soon in Florence! Best wishes from Kiel, Cambridge and Hamburg Wilhelm Braun, Kayson Fakhar and Claus C. Hilgetag --- Wilhelm Braun Junior Research Group Leader CAU Kiel, Faculty of Engineering Department of Electrical and Information Engineering Nanoelectronics Guest Research Associate, UKE Hamburg Web: wilhelmbraun.github.io

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CNS*2025 Workshop "Mechanisms for Oscillatory Neural Synchrony"
by Canavier, Carmen C. June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Dear Colleagues, We are excited to announce the upcoming CNS*2025 Workshop "Mechanisms for Oscillatory Neural Synchrony", to be held on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Florence, Italy. https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/cell_biology/cns_2025.aspx This workshop will bring together researchers who have recently published on synchronization networks of coupled oscillators, with an emphasis on phase response curve (PRC) theory. Carmen Canavier: A Mean Field Theory for Pulse-Coupled Oscillators based on the Spike Time Response Curve ; LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Joshua A Goldberg: Empirical study of dendritic integration and entrainment of basal ganglia pacemakers using phase response curves; Hebrew University of Jerusalem Dimitri M Kullmann: Phase response curves in the hippocampus and cerebellar cortex; University College London Hermann Riecke: Paradoxical phase response of gamma rhythms facilitates their entrainment in heterogeneous networks; Northwestern University Yangyang Wang: Variational and phase response analysis for limit cycles with hard boundaries, with applications to neuromechanical control problems; Brandeis University Brandon Williams Fast spiking interneurons generate high frequency gamma oscillations in the medial entorhinal cortex; Boston University

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Call for Applications: MSc Health Data Science at the University of Plymouth
by Vesna Vuksanovic June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Dear All * Apologies for cross-posting* We are pleased to invite applications for our MSc Health Data Science programme at Swansea University, UK. Our MSc programme offers a comprehensive curriculum covering key areas including Machine Learning, Health Data Modelling, Visualisation and Linkage. The programme is designed to provide the knowledge, skills and understanding that can be used across various healthcare areas and focuses on developing practical, healthcare-ready skills alongside strong theoretical foundations. Our students benefit from hands-on projects to gain relevant, transferable technical skills and software proficiency for working with and manipulating health data, and to learn how to use and apply advanced statistical and machine learning methods with real-world data. 🔗 Learn more: MSc Health Data Science - Swansea University<https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/medicine/health-data-science-…> 📅 Applications are open for both September and January intakes. For further information or specific queries, please feel free to contact me directly. We look forward to welcoming the next generation of health data scientists! Kind regards Vesna Vuksanovic, PhD, FHEA Programme Director, MSc Health Data Science Senior Lecturer Health Data Science _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Swansea University Medical School Data Science Building Swansea SA2 8PP UK

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CNS*2025 Workshop "Modeling extracellular potentials: principles, methods, and applications" – Speaker Lineup and Schedule
by Nicolo Meneghetti June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce the CNS*2025 Workshop “Modeling extracellular potentials: principles, methods, and applications” which will take place on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Florence, Italy. Simulating large-scale neural activity is a key step in understanding brain dynamics and in linking in silico models to experimentally measurable signals such as LFP, EEG, and MEG. These simulations, ranging from detailed biophysical reconstructions to simplified proxies, enable us to connect microscale neuronal activity with meso- and macro-scale brain signals. They offer powerful tools to interpret experimental data, refine analytical techniques, and investigate brain function. Recent developments have underscored the clinical and theoretical relevance of such models, helping to elucidate mechanisms underlying neural oscillations, excitation-inhibition balance, and biomarkers of neurological disorders including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. This workshop will showcase state-of-the-art methodologies, and a wide array of applications for brain signals simulation. By bringing together experts from diverse fields, it aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange and advance our understanding of both healthy and disordered brain function. Abstracts of all talks are available on the workshop website: https://nicolomeneghetti.github.io/ECP_CNS2025_Wshop/ Workshop program: 09:15 – 09:50 | Dominik Peter Koller, Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany Title: "How structural connectivity directs cortical traveling waves and shapes frequency gradients" 09:50 – 10:25 | Gaute T. Einevoll, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Title: "Modeling electric brain signals and stimulation" 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break 11:00 – 11:35 | Johanna Senk, Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6), Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany Title: "Large-scale modeling of mesoscopic networks at single-neuron resolution" 11:35 – 12:10 | Pablo Martínez Cañada, Research Centre for Information and Communications Technologies (CITIC), University of Granada, Granada Title: "Inverse Modelling of Field Potentials from Simulations of Spiking Network Models: Applications in Neuroscience Research and Clinical Settings" 12:10 – 12:40 | Nicolò Meneghetti, The Biorobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy Title: "From microcircuits to mesoscopic signals: a kernel approach to efficient and interpretable LFP estimation" 12:45 - 14.00 | Lunch Break 14:15 – 14:50 | Emily Patricia Stephen, Department of Math and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States of America Title: "Connecting biophysical models to empirical power spectra using Filtered Point Processes" 14:50 - 15:25 | Madeleine Lowery, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Title: "Modelling Neural Activity During Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease" 15:30 - 16:00 | Coffee Break 16:00 – 16:35 | Meysam Hashemi, Aix Marseille University INSERM, INS, Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Marseille, France Title: "Principles and Operation of Virtual Brain Twins" 16:35 - 17:10 | Katharina Duecker, Brown University and University of Birmingham, USA/UK Title: "The Human Neocortical Neurosolver as an interactive modeling tool to study the multi-scale mechanisms of human EEG/MEG signals" We look forward to your participation in what is shaping up to be a lively and insightful workshop. With best regards, Nicolò Meneghetti and Eleonora Russo

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Gordon Research Conference in Robotics, Ventura (USA), Jan. 11-16 2026: Call for posters and participation
by Auke Ijspeert June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Call for posters and participation, GRC Robotics, Ventura (USA), January 11-16 2026. Dear computational neuroscientists, We are happy to announce the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Robotics that will take place in Ventura (USA), January 11-16 2026. We have a great list of speakers and discussion leaders (see below and the website). The call for participation and for posters in now open, see https://www.grc.org/robotics-conference/2026/ This year’s conference will focus on *adaptive behavior and learning in animals and robots*. We will explore how biological inspiration drives advancements in robotics, from simple reactive behaviors to complex planning and learning systems. Insights from biomechanics, neuroscience, and animal studies are increasingly shaping the design and control of robots, making them more robust and adaptable. A key focus will be on *embodied intelligence, enabling robots to excel in locomotion, manipulation, and interactions with other agents*. Conversely, robotics research is also contributing to biology. Studies of perception and action in robotic systems are leading to new mathematical models that help integrative biologists understand locomotion, manipulation, and collective behavior in animals. By *bringing together experts from robotics, biomechanics, and neuroscience*, this conference aims to foster cross-disciplinary insights that will push the boundaries of both fields. Join us for a dynamic exchange of ideas at the intersection of robotics and biology, where engineering meets evolution. /The Robotics GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes an array of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field./ Best regards, Auke Ijspeert and Vijay Kumar, organizers./ / *Invited speakers:* Alin Albu-Schaeffer Nora Ayanian Spring Berman Oliver Brock Rod Brooks Bingni Brunton Henrik Christensen Kenji Doya Nadia Figeroa Josie Hughes Marco Hutter Dan Koditschek Cecilia Laschi Tony Prescott Amanda Prorok Daniela Rus Michael Rubenstein Dorsa Sadigh Giulio Sandini Stefan Schaal Claire Tomlin Kotaro Yasui *Invited discussion leaders:* Josie Hughes Dan Koditschek Cecila Laschi Chen Li Barbara Mazzolai Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin Stefan Schaal Giulio Sandini Barry Trimmer -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Auke Jan Ijspeert (he/him) Biorobotics Laboratory EPFL-STI-IBI-BIOROB, ME D1 1226, Station 9 EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Office: ME D1 1226 Tel: +41 21 693 2658 Fax: +41 21 693 3705 www:http://biorob.epfl.ch Email:Auke.Ijspeert@epfl.ch -----------------------------------------------------------------

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Call for Participation - IEEE ARSO 2025 (Osaka, Japan | July 17-19)
by nagai.yukie＠mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Dear colleagues, (Apologies for any cross-posting.) We are pleased to announce that the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2025) will be held from July 17 to 19, 2025, at JAM BASE in Grand Green Osaka, a central hub in Osaka, Japan. Early registration is open until June 21, 2025. A special public session titled "Emergence of “cohabitant” robots and their ELSI implications" will be held on July 18 from 16:40 to 18:00. This session will be conducted in Japanese (AI-powered English captions projected on-screen) and is fee of charge. We warmly invite your participation in ARSO 2025 and look forward to welcoming you in Osaka. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2025 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2025) https://ieee-arso.org * Date: July 17th-19th, 2025 * Venue: Blooming Camp on the 3rd floor of Grand Green Osaka "JAM BASE", Osaka, Japan * Registration: https://ieee-arso.org/registration/ Advanced robots are expected to enter in promising applications in our future society and bring substantial impacts. The increasing implementation of AI-based components even broaden their fields of application. To ensure that these impacts are positively reflected, today, we need to extend views not only on technical aspects but also on social challenges that we might face, including safety, regulation, ethics, human factors, and philosophy. The topics of ARSO 2025 include, but are not limited to the following: * Human-robot interaction in physical & psychological aspects * Safety standards for advanced robots & autonomous systems * Legal and ethical issues for advanced robots * Impact of robotics on society, e.g. robot business, marketing & economic impact * Robotics for sustainability, climate change or civil aid * Advanced industrial robots for future manufacturing * Healthcare & medical applications * Rehabilitation and transfer robotics * Service & assistance applications * Entertainment & education robotics * Robotics & autonomous driving * Bio-inspired robotics * Soft and wearable robotics Keynote Talks: 1. "The role of AI and robotics in society: Challenges and considerations" Arisa Ema (The University of Tokyo, Japan) 2. "Do robots really care?" Raja Chatila (Institut Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), France) 3. "Towards ethical lethal autonomy: Are reductions in noncombatant casualties achievable?" Ronald C. Arkin (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) General Chairs: Minoru Asada, Japan Silvia Rossi, Italy Program Chairs: Kensuke Harada, Japan Emel Demircan, USA Astrid Weiss, Austria ARSO 2025 Special Public Session "Emergence of “cohabitant” robots and their ELSI implications" https://ieee-arso.org/special-public-session/ * Date: July 18th (Fri.) 16:40 - 18:00 * Venue: Blooming Camp on the 3rd floor of Grand Green Osaka "JAM BASE", Osaka, Japan * Language: Japanese (AI-powered English captions projected on-screen) * Participation fee: free of charge * Registration: https://forms.gle/xGgycTG2rHzNJ83q7 Purpose of the session: We are now entering an era in which robots are becoming part of our homes and everyday spaces—living with us as “cohabitant robots.” These robots are not mere tools; they are increasingly viewed as companions that mediate emotional connections and relationships. Cohabitant robots have the potential to enhance our well-being by supporting the elderly emotionally, assisting children’s learning, and providing personalized engagement. At the same time, however, they also raise new social and ethical concerns, such as risks to privacy and the potential for emotional manipulation. At the 21st IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2025), we are organizing—for the first time—a special session open to the general public. This commemorative session will begin with a keynote lecture by Mr. Yoichiro Masuda, a product designer at Panasonic Corporation, who led the development of the cohabitant robot NICOBO. In his talk, titled “NICOBO: Idea, Design, and Development,” he will share the story behind NICOBO’s creation and the philosophy that shaped it. Following the keynote, three expert talks will be delivered from the perspectives of roboethics, psychology, and anthropology, exploring the societal impacts and challenges posed by cohabitant robots. After the talks, a general discussion with the audience will be held. We warmly invite your questions and comments as we reflect together on how humans and robots may co-exist in the future. Program: 16:40–16:45 – Opening Remarks Tatsuhiko Inatani (Professor of Law, Kyoto University) 16:45–17:05 – Keynote Talk "NICOBO: Idea, Design, and Development" Yoichiro Masuda (NICOBO Project Leader, Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co., Ltd.) 17:05–17:15 – Talk 1 "Rethinking Roboethics: Aesthetics of Existence, Social Transformation, and Agile Governance" Minoru Asada (Vice President, International Professional University of Technology in Osaka; Specially Appointed Professor, The University of Osaka) 17:15–17:25 – Talk 2 "Care and Learning in Human-Robot Interaction: Psychological Mechanisms and Well-Being" Hiroko Kamide (Program-Specific Associate Professor, Kyoto University) 17:25–17:35 – Talk 3 "Cultivating Polyphonic Companionship: Imperfection, Misalignment, and the Making of Robotic Intimacy in Contemporary Japan" Hirofumi Katsuno (Professor of Anthropology, Doshisha University) 17:35–17:55 – General Discussion Moderator: Tatsuhiko Inatani (Professor of Law, Kyoto University) Best regards, Yukie Nagai, on behalf of the organizing committees — Yukie Nagai, Ph.D. Project Professor, The University of Tokyo nagai.yukie(a)mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp | https://developmental-robotics.jp CREST Cognitive Feelings: https://cognitive-feeling.jp CREST Cognitive Mirroring: https://cognitive-mirroring.org

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World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 11:00 am EDT| Riccardo Zecchina , Bocconi University, Milano
by David Hansel June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

[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 Riccardo Zecchina Bocconi University, Milano Local Deep Learning without Gradients in Asymmetric Recurrent Networks The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at *11:00 am EDT * To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: * We introduce a statistical physics framework for learning in neural architectures composed of single or interconnected asymmetric attractor networks. These systems can exhibit a manifold of global fixed points capable of implementing sophisticated input-output mappings, which we characterize analytically. Learning from extensive datasets is achieved through the stabilization of fixed points via a fully distributed and local learning process, implemented at the single-neuron level. This simple mechanism yields performance comparable to that of conventional feedforward deep neural networks trained using gradient-based methods. The effectiveness of the model stems from the dense and accessible manifolds of stable fixed points, which encode the internal representations of data. Unlike other approaches to deep learning without backpropagation, our method does not attempt to estimate gradients. *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.* ᐧ ᐧ

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CNS*2025 Workshop "Brains and AI" – Speaker Lineup and Schedule
by Bazhenov, Maksim June 14, 2025

June 14, 2025

Dear Colleagues, We are excited to announce the upcoming CNS*2025 Workshop "Brains and AI", to be held on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Florence, Italy. This workshop will explore the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence - bringing together researchers applying AI to brain data and those leveraging insights from neuroscience to build better AI systems. https://users.sussex.ac.uk/~tn41/CNS2025_workshop/ Advances in neuroscience techniques have dramatically increased the volume of data we can now collect from animal and human brains. However, this surge in data has introduced new challenges in extracting meaningful insights. Fortunately, these developments have coincided with breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI), which holds the potential to transform how we analyze and utilize scientific information. While there is significant potential here, we are just starting to figure out how to apply modern AI models to interpret and process scientific data, and significant challenges remain. The trend of applying AI to better understand the brain concurs with another reviving trend: applying knowledge from neuroscience to developing new AI. Indeed, despite the tremendous progress, the existing generation of AI shows significant limitations, including a lack of continual learning, poor generalization, dependence on enormous amounts of data for training, bias, and safety problems. These are features where the biological brain excels, highlighting the strong need to learn once more from neuroscience how to develop the next generation of AI. The proposed workshop will combine these two complementary trends, bringing experts from the field together to discuss how AI can facilitate new scientific discoveries and how knowledge of the brain can help improve AI. Below is the list of confirmed speakers: * Fleur Zeldenrust * Vassilis Cutsuridis * Spyridon Chavlis * Andreas Tolias (online) * Robert Legenstein * Max Garagnani * Martin Trefzer * Julian Göltz * Maxim Bazhenov * Dhireesha Kudithipudi * Thomas Nowotny The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion and open debate. We look forward to your participation in what promises to be a thought-provoking and engaging event. Thomas Nowotny, Vassilis Cutsuridis, Maxim Bazhenov

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