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INTERNATIONAL NEURAL NETWORK SOCIETY (INNS) - FREE Inaugural Virtual Workshop on Explainable AI on November 6, 2020, Friday, 9 am to 1 pm EST - REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW

by Asim Roy

Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce that INNS (the International Neural Network Society) is launching a Virtual Technical Event series that will feature workshops, seminars, tutorials, discussions and so on. These technical events will occur throughout the year for a worldwide audience. We welcome proposals on challenging and controversial research topics and ones that provide new insights on biological learning. Through this series of virtual technical events, we would like to serve the growing need for advanced education in a variety of fields that are linked together such as AI, machine learning, neural networks, cognitive science, robotics and so on. Further details on proposal submission are available at https://www.inns.org/virtual-technical-events. We also welcome proposals from the industry and industry sponsorship of these events. FREE Inaugural Virtual Workshop on Explainable AI on November 6, 2020, Friday, 9 am to 1 pm EST This inaugural workshop focuses on Explainable AI (XAI), a topic that is highly important for us to widely deploy our AI/ML systems. We invited five prominent scholars to present their thoughts in this virtual workshop. Further details are provided below including where to register for the event. WORKSHOP SPEAKERS 1. Stephen Grossberg, Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University, http://sites.bu.edu/steveg/ 2. Juergen Schmidhuber, Scientific Director of IDSIA<http://www.idsia.ch/>, http://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/ 3. Jeff Krichmar, Professor of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma 4. Vladimir Cherkassky, Professor of ECE, Univ. of Minnesota, https://ece.umn.edu/directory/cherkassky-vladimir/ 5. Lee Giles, Professor of Information Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, https://clgiles.ist.psu.edu/ MODERATORS: Asim Roy, Professor, Arizona State University (https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.asim.roy) Daniel Levine, Professor, University of Texas at Arlington (https://www.uta.edu/psychology/people/daniel-levine.php) FORMAT: Each speaker - 35 minute presentation + 10 mins Q&A REGISTRATION - https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/explainable-ai-xai-virtual-workshop-registratio… With regards, Irwin King INNS President, FIEEE, FHKIE, DMACM, BoG APNNS & INNS Chair, Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering o +(852) 3943-8398 The Chinese University of Hong Kong f +(852) 2603-5024 Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong http://www.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/irwin.king<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cse.cuhk.edu.hk_irw…> Asim Roy VP, Industry Relations, INNS Chair, Committee for Virtual Technical Events, INNS Professor, Arizona State University https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.asim.roy

Oct. 21, 2020

PhD in ML and AI - two VC Scholarships

by Konstantin Nikolic

Two Vice-Chancellor Scholarship PhD positions in Machine Leaning are available in the “Learning and Intelligence” group of Prof Konstantin Nikolic at University of West London, UK. The group’s interests are mostly in modelling biological systems and AI/ML related to bio-inspired themes. Potential project topics include (but are not limited to, since these scholarships are not project linked): Learning in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), Neuromorphic robots controlled by SNNs (available are SpiNNaker boards, Dynamic Vision Sensors, etc, for example see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=135fH21QXtg) Data-driven ML algorithms based on information theory and their applications (such as medical diagnostics, video/image analysis, financial/economic or some other large dataset analysis), Neural microcircuits of learning and cognitive modelling, etc. We are also interested in developing ML algorithms for controlling neuromodulatory implants. Research related to Theoretical and Computational neuroscience could be also interesting, especially if exploring some new ideas related to learning in relatively simple biological systems. The researchers will be based in the School of Computing and Engineering at University of West London, with possible close collaboration with the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology at Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London. Informal enquires can be directed to konstantin.nikolic(a)uwl.ac.uk<mailto:konstantin.nikolic@uwl.ac.uk>. The School enjoys state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure and continues to invest heavily in its improvement. The UWL, sourcing its origins from the Lady Byron School in 1860, is a leading modern university in the UK, consistently progressing in the league tables for the past several years. The life on campus is enriched with frequent high-quality live performances and plays given by the students from our London College of Music and London School of Film, Media and Design, the two hubs of talent and creativity. The positions are advertised here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CCB695/phd-in-machine-learning-and-artificial-in…<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jobs.…> Konstantin Nikolic, PhD Professor in Computer Science (AI, ML, Data) at University of West London Viiting Professor at Imperial College London (Institute of Biomedical Engineering) School of Computing and Engineering University of West London Ealing campus St Mary’s Road London W5 5RF UK email: konstantin.nikolic(a)uwl.ac.uk<mailto:konstantin.nikolic@uwl.ac.uk>, k.nikolic(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:k.nikolic@imperial.ac.uk> web: https://www.uwl.ac.uk/users/konstantin-nikolic, https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.nikolic

Oct. 20, 2020

Online workshop series - Neural Control: From data to machines

by DPI, plan4act

We are pleased to announce the online workshop series Neural Control: From data to machines with weekly Zoom-sessions starting on November 5th, 2020. Topic: Movement disorders leave individuals unable to control parts of their bodies, creating a disconnect between their brain and the world around them. This workshop series looks at how neural activity can be mapped to control smart systems, producing desired movements on demand. To discuss the implied problems and solutions, we have brought together experts from the different involved scientific fields. Details and registration at: https://alexandria.physik3.uni-goettingen.de/cns-group/projects/webinars/ Confirmed Speakers: * Dario Farina * Silvestro Micera * Tonio Ball * Nick Ramsay * Juan Álvaro Gallego * Florentin Wörgötter * Alexander Gail * Christian Tetzlaff * Michael Fauth * Tomoki Fukai * Petra Ritter * Valerio Mante * Hans Scherberger * Gordon Cheng * Poramate Manoonpong * Jan-Matthias Braun * Eugenio Gaeta * Daniel Durstewitz * Yukie Nagai Please forward to anyone who may be interested. Best, Florentin Wörgötter and Christian Tetzlaff

Oct. 20, 2020

Call for papers : Special Issue on Deep Learning Approaches for Brain-Computer Interfaces (Signals - MDPI)

by Panagiotis Petrantonakis

Call For Papers for a Special issue on: *Deep Learning Approaches for Brain-Computer Interfaces* https://www.mdpi.com/journal/signals/special_issues/Brain_Computer_Interfac… *Special Issue Information* Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) decipher and translate brain signals into commands for the surrounding environment. Different types of brain signals, e.g., EEG and fMRI, have been used as a means to decode intended user commands, and various machine learning approaches have been tested in such a task. With the advent of the deep learning (DL) era, new studies have emerged that exploit the advantages of the deep network architectures for BCI systems and depict more efficient and reliable brain signal decoding systems. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a collection of forefront works investigating the deployment of various deep network types in different BCI applications using a variety of brain signals either of unimodal or multimodal signal processing framework. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following: - Deep network architectures for BCIs; - Transfer learning in BCIs; - Big data for DL-based BCIs; - Fusion of multiple brain signals for BCIs using DL methods. *Guest Editor* Panagiotis Petrantonakis (ppetrant(a)iti.gr) Please do not hesitate to contact me for additional questions. Kind regards, Panagiotis

Oct. 20, 2020

PhD position in Insect-Inspired AI at Edinburgh

by Barbara Webb

The Insect Robotics lab at the University of Edinburgh, led by Professor Barbara Webb, has a fully-funded PhD studentship (3 years fees and stipend) available to study 'Insect-Inspired AI'. The position could commence any time from now. The project will develop an alternative architecture for intelligent autonomous systems based on the insect brain. Insects are hugely successful at a number of tasks that are still major challenges for artificial intelligence, including rapid learning from minimal data and sophisticated navigation and robust coordination of behaviour in dynamic environments. The focus of the work will be to obtain a functional understanding of the computations occurring in the insect ‘mushroom body’ (MB) neuropil. Specifically, the PhD topic is to understand how the input and output organisation of the MB support adaptive and context dependent associative learning of complex sensory patterns for the control of behaviour. This will be applied to robot navigation tasks. A suitable candidate would have a strong first degree in computing, maths or engineering; ideally with some background in computational neuroscience, neuromorphic computing, robotics or similar topics; and a strong interest in obtaining biological understanding of brain mechanisms for control of behaviour. Interested candidates should in the first instance contact Professor Barbara Webb <B.Webb(a)ed.ac.uk>. More details about graduate study at the School of Informatics and the formal application process can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/informatics/postgraduate/research-degrees -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

Oct. 19, 2020

NEURONUS 2020 IBRO Neuroscience Forum (8-11 December 2020, ONLINE)

by Michał Zaręba

*REGISTRATION for NEURONUS 2020 IBRO Neuroscience Forum is open only UNTIL OCTOBER 31! The fee has been lowered to 12€. The number of the participants is limited only to 1000 – hurry up! More information and registration forms can be found on our website: **http://neuronusforum.pl/* <http://neuronusforum.pl/>*.* With prominent speakers and an unique atmosphere of Krakow, one of the oldest and most beautiful Polish cities, NEURONUS IBRO Neuroscience Forums have established themselves in the European calendar of scientific events as a platform for communication between scientists from different fields of neuroscience. Unfortunately, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to move our event to the virtual plane. The program of the conference consists of numerous sessions on biological, cognitive, computational and medical aspects of neuroscience, creating a dynamic environment for sharing knowledge. The schedule of the meeting is further complemented with lectures by invited guests, and we invest a lot of effort to attract as influential neuroscientists as possible. This year’s keynote speakers include: - *Karl Friston *(University College London, the UK) - *Pico Caroni *(University of Basel, Switzerland) - *Karin Roelofs *(Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands) - *Alejandro Schinder *(Leloir Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina) - *Adam Hampshire *(Imperial College London, the UK) - *Dayu Lin *(New York University School of Medicine, the USA) Furthermore, a special panel concerning the Future of Neuroscience will be held. We have confirmed participation of three pioneering researchers: - *Viktor Jirsa *(Aix-Marseille University, France) - *Panayiota Poirazi* (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Heraklion, Greece) - *Dominik Paquet *(Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany) During the upcoming 11th edition of the conference, we will traditionally continue to put *emphasis on development of early-career researchers*. The main purpose of this event is to provide means for both young and experienced neuroscientists to share the latest discoveries, knowledge and experience in neuroscience, as well as make valuable contacts with scientists representing various fields of neurobiology. We actively promote young scientists through preferentially allocating oral presentations of their experimental results. We strongly encourage you to join this special initiative, and hope to see you soon! On behalf of the Organising Committee, Michał Zaręba

Oct. 19, 2020

PhD-positions in computational neuroscience at the University of Oslo as part of CompSci grant in EU Horizon 2020

by Gaute Einevoll

CompSci is a Doctoral Programme launched and managed by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo (UiO). It is partly funded by the EU Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) - Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND). The CompSci Doctoral Program will recruit 32 PhDs in two calls. In this Call, we open for applications to the 1st cohort of 16 PhD fellowship positions, that will join our PhD programme starting autumn 2021 at UiO. The possible PhD-projects span over a wide range of topics where methods from computational science are applied to different fields in the natural sciences: https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/ Four of the possible projects in Call 1 are within computational neuroscience: * Bio-inspired neural networks for navigation<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/bioscience/bio-inspired-neur…> Supervisors: Anders Malthe-Sørenssen<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/malthe-sorenssen…>, Gaute T. Einevoll<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/einevoll.html> * Large-scale recordings of neurons to reveal mechanisms of learning and memory<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/bioscience/learning-and-memo…> Supervisors: Marianne Fyhn<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/fyhn.html>, Anders Malthe-Sørenssen<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/malthe-sorenssen…> * Large-scale network simulations of mouse visual cortex<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/bioscience/neural-networks.h…> Supervisors: Gaute T. Einevoll<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/einevoll.html>, Marianne Fyhn<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/fyhn.html> * Modelling systems levels changes in brain aging induced by genome instability<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/bioscience/brain-aging.html> Supervisors: Hilde Nilsen<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/nilsen.html>, Gaute T. Einevoll<https://www.mn.uio.no/compsci/english/projects/supervisors/einevoll.html> For information about how to apply, see https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/193610/compsci-call-1-marie-… . The application deadline for Call 1 is: January 3rd 2021 Questions about the individual projects should be sent to the supervisors listed above.

Oct. 18, 2020

Re: [Comp-neuro] Lecture video about Explainable and Reliable AI: Deep Learning and Adaptive Resonance

by Grossberg, Stephen

Dear Colleagues, On September 19, I gave a pre-recorded keynote lecture on Zoom to the 13th International Conference on Brain Informatics about Explainable and Reliable AI, a topic that's of considerable interest these days. The lecture's title and url are: Explainable and Reliable AI and Autonomous Adaptive Intelligence: Deep Learning, Adaptive Resonance, and Models of Perception, Emotion, and Action http://sites.bu.edu/steveg/files/2020/10/Grossberg-keynote-for-BI-on-9-19-2… The lecture can also be found on my web page sites.bu.edu/steveg along with a pdf of its powerpoint slides and various other lectures and articles. 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

Oct. 17, 2020

How to find your scientific neighbours, future colleagues

by Tim Vogels

Dear Colleagues, For those of you who are looking for a position as a postdoc (or faculty), consider posting your info to world-wide.org/neighbors <http://world-wide.org/neighbors>. It's a place to find your closest scientific neighbours, and maybe your next position. Fill in & submit your info, and a few minutes later we will post it, if you want to with the best matching labs. /neighbors <http://world-wide.org/neighbors> is an extension of the popular worldwideneuro.com <http://worldwideneuro.com/>, and currently works best for neuroscience matches. For those of you who are looking for postdocs and advertising positions for postdocs to HIRE, it may be interesting to also post your ads on world-wide.org/neighbors <http://world-wide.org/neighbors>. Posting your ad to the website will make it visible for a much longer time than a single fleeting email. And while you are here, come brows through the info on people looking for jobs. Finally, you can also just browse if you're just “curious”, and check out who your closest neighbours are. Or find some amazing talks on worldwideneuro.com <http://worldwideneuro.com/> or https://www.world-wide.org/Physics-of-Life/ <https://www.world-wide.org/Physics-of-Life/> If you want to, let us know if you like it, and what improvements you’d like to see. All the best, (Panos Bozelos and ) Tim Vogels ------------- Vogelslab.org <http://vogelslab.org/> IST, Austria

Oct. 17, 2020

Call for papers : Special Issue on Brain Simulation and Spiking Neural Networks ( Cognitive Computation - Springer)

by Vassilis Cutsuridis

*Call For Papers:Journal : Cognitive ComputationSpecial Issue : Brain Simulation and Spiking Neural Networks* https://www.springer.com/journal/12559/updates/18336610 *Scope and Motivation* During the past 10 years, many experiments have been implemented with the aim of improving our understanding on the brain’s structure and function. Alongside, simulation neuroscience has become an important strategy to investigate how the brain works. The Human Connectome Project in the US started in 2009 and aimed to provide a big human brain mapping dataset on which many brain models have already been tested. In the Human Brain Project in the EU, a large-scale virtual rodent brain simulation is being built with the purpose of revealing various brain activities. In Japan, whole human-scale brain simulations on the Fugaku supercomputer are being established to investigate how neural networks develop their learning process. On the other hand, the foundation of cognitive computing and control mechanism can be revealed from the simulations of brain circuits and the neural dynamics. Moreover, these are also critical to improve current artificial intelligent systems and for building brain intelligence level algorithms. In this special issue, we invite researchers to present their state-of-the-art approaches, introduce recent advances and therefore show the potential of brain-simulation-related technologies. *Guest Editors* Jordi Solé-Casals (jordi.sole(a)uvic.cat) Cesar F. Caiafa (ccaiafa(a)fi.uba.ar) Zhe Sun (zhe.sun.vk(a)riken.jp) Vassilis Cutsuridis (vcutsuridis(a)lincoln.ac.uk) *Topics* Topics include but are not limited to: • Brain Connectivity mapping and functional mapping • Data analysis methods for connectome data • Multi-scale neural system simulation • Neuromorphic hardware • High-performance computing system for large scale simulations • Neural system inspired spiking neural network • Neuro-robotics systems • Sensorimotor learning model *Deadlines* *Submissions Deadline*: *April 1, 2021* First notification of acceptance: June 1, 2021 Submission of revised papers: August 1, 2021 Final notification to the authors: Oct 1, 2021 Submission of final/camera-ready papers: Nov 1, 2021 Publication of special issue: Nov 22, 2021 *Submission Instruction:* Prepare your paper in accordance with the Journal guidelines: www.springer.com/12559. Submit manuscripts at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/cogn/. Select “SI: Brain Simulation and Spiking Neural Networks” for the special issue under “Additional Information.” Your paper must contain significant and original work that has not been published nor submitted to any journals. All papers will be reviewed following standard reviewing procedures of the Journal. *Author Resources* Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality, original work that has neither appeared in, nor is under consideration by other journals. All papers will be reviewed following standard reviewing procedures for the Journal. Papers must be prepared in accordance with the Journal guidelines: www.springer.com/12559 Springer provides a host of information about publishing in a Springer Journal on our Journal Author Resources <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author> page, including FAQs <http://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/frequently-asked-…> , Tutorials <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-a…>along with Help and Support. <https://support.springer.com/en/support/home> Other links include: - editorial policies <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> - publication policies <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/publication-policies> - copyright transfer <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/publication-policies/copyright-tran…> - self-archiving <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/publication-policies/self-archiving…> - OA funding <https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/funding> - open choice <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/springer-open-choice> - funder compliance <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/publication-policies/funder-complia…> - read and publish agreements <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/springer-open-choice/springer-compa…> - preprint sharing <https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/preprint-sharing/16718886> - my publication process <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> - production <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> - publication <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> - post-publication <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> - ORCID <https://www.springernature.com/de/researchers/orcid?utm_source=springer&utm…> - Publons <https://www.springernature.com/gp/reviewers/publons> - article sharing <https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/sharedit> - citation alerts <https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-h…> If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Best regards, Vassilis --- Dr Vassilis Cutsuridis Senior Lecturer School of Computer Science & Lincoln Sleep Research Center University of Lincoln Lincoln UK Tel: +44 (0) 1522 83 5701 Email: vcutsuridis(a)lincoln.ac.uk Web: http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/vcutsuridis Personal website: http://www.vassiliscutsuridis.org/

Oct. 16, 2020