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EITN Fall School in Computational Neuroscience : Applications open!

by Zélie Tournoud

Dear colleagues, We are happy to let you know that applications for the *EITN Fall School in Computational Neuroscience* are currently open, until the 2nd of July 2021. This *10-days intensive course in computational neuroscience* will take place in *P**aris, France from 15 to 24 September 2021*. This is a yearly event, although previous occurrences took place in the spring. We choose to keep it relatively small-scale in order to facilitate interactions between participants and teaching staff, there are about 20 seats available. There will, therefore, be a selection made after applications are closed. We encourage you to share the word widely with your collaborators and networks so that everyone who might be interested can get the chance to apply. Applications need to be addressed by email with a *resume (CV)* and a *cover letter* at *eitn(a)neuro-psi.fr*. Please make sure to use an explicit email title such as "Application to EITN Fall School". *Why join?* * 10 days of intensive training in computational neuroscience provided by researchers from all over Europe * Small scale event: get to connect! * A complete program: o Cellular models, and models of brain signals Circuit models and networks o Mean-field models o Whole-brain models * Hands-on learning schedule based on: o Morning classes and tutorials o Group projects in the afternoon o Free time in the evenings to visit Paris *Selection criteria:* 1. Work or study in neuroscience or related 2. Experience in python programming would help 3. Priority to PhD students, although Master students and post-docs are welcome to apply *Practical information:* * Subscription fee 400€. * If selected, you will need to bring your own laptop with a few pre-installed programs. * The tuition fee includes lunch, coffee, access to conference facilities and internet connection during the 10 days of the course. You can also consult these information online <https://www.eitn.org/index.php/calendar-event/eventdetail/737/-/eitn-fall-s…> or by downloading the PDF flyer: https://www.eitn.org/images/events/EITN-FallSchool-2021_Flyer.pdf Thank you very much for applying or sharing with your relevant contacts. Kind regards, The EITN Team

June 8, 2021

Postdoc Position at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre

by Jiaxiang ZHANG

[Apologize for cross-posting] Dear all, We are seeking an enthusiastic early-career scientist for a research associate position at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). The successful candidate will join a collaborative and multidisciplinary research team to work on the neurocognitive mechanisms of human decision-making, integrating multimodal brain imaging (MEG, functional MRI and diffusion MRI) and computational modelling. The post holder will develop computational models that describe data from behavioural and brain imaging experiments, in particular to take a lead role in integrating large-scale computational simulations with imaging results from multiple modalities. The research aims to understand the computational and neurocognitive processes of human decision-making, and how decision deficits may arise due to brain injury or neurodegeneration. The research associate will also be expected to collaborate with other researchers in the team on imaging data analyses and data curation. You will have access to imaging facilities at CUBRIC and several multimodal imaging datasets. Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) houses a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities and world-leading expertise, with 4 human MRI systems (2 x Siemens Prisma, 1 x Siemens Connectom, 1 x Siemens 7T), MEG, EEG, TMS, tDCS, clinical research units and testing labs. Further details of CUBRIC can be found on our webpage (http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cubric) This is a full-time, fixed-term position until February 2023, available to start now. Remote working is possible if COVID-19 restrictions are in place. For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Jiaxiang Zhang ( zhangj73(a)cardiff.ac.uk) A formal application needs to be submitted via the link online ( https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CEQ831/research-associate) *Application deadline: June 13th, 2021.* *Essential Criteria* 1. A PhD degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics or psychology) 2. Research experience or a strong interest in human decision-making 3. Strong experience in computational models of cognitive processes and/or macroscopic neural systems, including the use of neural mass models or neural field models 4. Experience of analysing brain imaging data in one or more modalities (e.g., diffusion MRI, BOLD functional MRI, MEG/EEG), using common software packages 5. Strong programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python, C/C++ or R) 6. Experience with Unix/Linux environment for data analysis, including bash scripting and parallel computing on high-performance clusters 7. Proven ability to publish high-quality research in peer-reviewed academic journals 8. Knowledge of software development cycles and best programming practices, including coding standards, version control administration, debug and code sharing, with strong commitments to open science practices 9. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, evidenced by publications and/or conference presentations 10. Strong interpersonal skills, including proven ability to work cooperatively within a team while also being able to take the initiative *Desirable Criteria * 1. Experience of brain functional and structural connectivity analyses 2. Experience in statistical methods (e.g., GLM, mixed models, multivariate statistics, hierarchical models and Bayesian statistics) and/or machine learning methods 3. Experience in deep learning models of imaging processing --- Dr. Jiaxiang Zhang Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) School of Psychology Cardiff University Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ https://ccbrain.org

June 8, 2021

[jobs] One-year Postdoc on “Sparse coding for bio-inspired vision models” at CentraleSupèlec, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

by PERRINET Laurent

Dear Colleagues, Applications are invited for a one-year Postdoc position, starting in September 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter, to work under the joint supervision of Dario Prandi<https://dprn.github.io/> (CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay), Luca Calatroni<https://sites.google.com/view/lucacalatroni/home> (CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur), and Laurent Perrinet<https://laurentperrinet.github.io/> (CNRS, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone). The position is financed by the ANR Rubin-Vase (https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-20-CE48-0003) and the research focus will be on linking the bio-inspired models studied by D. Prandi and L. Calatroni (see e.g. [1]) to the sparsity promoting neural architectures investigated by L. Perrinet (see, e.g., [2]). The successful applicant will have a strong applied mathematical background, ideally in the fields of sparse optimization and/or dynamical systems, and a good familiarity with neural architectures and the associated implementation issues. Strong skills in coding and programming using standard optimization/deep learning languages (e.g., Python, PyTorch, Julia, MATLAB…) are required. The gross salary is of 50k-59k euros (depending on the seniority of the applicant), and the position comes with no teaching duties. Although the position is officially based at CentraleSupèlec (Université Paris-Saclay), the successful applicant is expected to spend fairly long periods at the INT in Marseille and I3S in Sophia-Antipolis, to work with the co-supervisors. Candidates are asked to write directly to Dario Prandi (dario.prandi(a)centralesupelec.fr<mailto:dario.prandi@centralesupelec.fr>), attaching a CV, a short description of current research interests, and names and contact addresses of at least two reference contacts (no formal letters of recommendation are required). Applications are reviewed continuously, until positions are filled, with a first evaluation round starting on the 14th of June, 2021. Thanks for distributing this announcement to potential candidates! References [1] Bertalmío, M., Calatroni, L., Franceschi, V. et al. Cortical-Inspired Wilson–Cowan-Type Equations for Orientation-Dependent Contrast Perception Modelling. J Math Imaging Vis 63, 263–281 (2021). https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.06808 [2] Boutin V, Franciosini A, Chavane F, Ruffier F, Perrinet L (2021) Sparse deep predictive coding captures contour integration capabilities of the early visual system.<https://laurentperrinet.github.io/publication/boutin-franciosini-chavane-ru…> PLoS Comput Biol 17(1): e1008629. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008629 -- Laurent Perrinet - INT (UMR 7289)/CNRS https://laurentperrinet.github.io/

June 7, 2021

[news] Call for Participation - The Chef's Hat Cup @ IJCAI2021

by Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros

Deadline Extended! - The Chef's Hat Cup @ IJCAI2021 I. Aim and Scope Most of the current Reinforcement-Learning solutions, although having real-world-inspired scenarios, focus on a direct space-action-reward mapping between the agent's actions and the environment’s state. That translates to agents that can adapt to dynamic scenarios, but, when applied to competitive and/or cooperative cases, fail to assess and deal with the impact of their opponents. In most cases, when these agents choose an action, they do not take into consideration how other agents can affect the state of the scenario. In competitive scenarios, the agents have to learn decisions that a) maximize their chances of winning the game, and b) minimize their adversaries' goals, while in cooperative scenarios b) is inverted. Besides dealing with complex scenarios, such solutions would have to deal with the dynamics between the agents themselves. In this regard, social reinforcement learning is still behind the mainstream applications and demonstrations of the last years. We introduce here the Chef's Hat Cup, a competition that aims at the development of the most challenging artificial players! The competition is separated into two tracks: a competitive and a cooperative scenario. In the first track, the participants will use the already available simulation environment to develop the most effective agents to play the Chef’s Hat card game and be the winner. In the second track, they will have to develop an agent that can increase the chances of a dummy agent winning the game. More information: https://www.whisperproject.eu/chefshat#competition II. Deadlines Starting Date: April 20, 2021 Final submission: July 15, 2021 Winners Announcement: July 29, 2021 III. Team Registration Teams of up to five persons are invited to participate in the competition. You can register by sending the following information: Team name Participant Names and affiliation to this email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it IV. Prizes The prizes will be sponsored by the Contact Unit at the Italian Institute of Technology, and will be organized as follows: Competitive Track - Winner – 300 EUR - Second – 150 EUR - Third – 50 EUR Cooperative Track - Winner – 300 EUR - Second – 150 EUR - Third – 50 EUR V. Organizers Pablo Barros, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy Leandro Honorato, University of Pernambuco, Brazil Marco Matarese, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy Alessandra Sciutti, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy ---------------------------------------- Dr. Pablo Barros Postdoctoral Researcher - CONTACT Unit Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – Center for Human Technologies Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B 16152 Genova, Italy email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it website: https://www.pablobarros.net<http://www.pablobarros.net><https://www.p> twitter: @PBarros_br

June 3, 2021

PostDoc in Machine Hearing

by Sarah Verhulst

Dear list, We have a 3-yr post-doc vacancy in my Hearing Technology lab in Ghent, Belgium. We do research on the interface between computational neuroscience and audio signal processing to develop human-inspired machine-hearing applications. More info on the position and application info can be found here (closing date 5th of July): https://tinyurl.com/4h9m497b Feel welcome to distribute, With best regards, Sarah —— Sarah Verhulst Associate Professor Hearing Technology @ WAVES Department of Information Technology Technologiepark 126, 9052 Zwijnaarde T +32 9 331 48 44 T admin +32 09 264 33 21 www.waves.intec.ugent.be/hearing-technology<http://www.waves.intec.ugent.be/hearing-technology> www.gasp.ugent.be<http://www.gasp.ugent.be> @HearingTechLab @GentAuditorySci GitHub: HearingTechnology

June 2, 2021

Research fellowships at the Univ. of Birmingham/UK

by Michael Biehl

*Two research fellowships at the * *Centre for Systems Modelling and Quantitative Biomedicine, College of Medical and Dental SciencesUniversity of Birmingham /UK **Full time, fixed term for 3.5 years* *Closing Date *27th June 2021. Online interviews will take place on 20th July 2021 For further details and information about how to apply visit *https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CGC736/research-fellows <https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CGC736/research-fellows> * (do not reply to this message, do not contact M. Biehl directly) The successful candidates will be educated to PhD level and have experience in one or more of the following areas: Position 1: mathematical models; complex networks, (nonautonomous) dynamical systems, bifurcation theory or numerical continuation. Having relevant experience in biology or medicine will be advantageous. Position 2: computational methods; machine learning, neural networks, data visualisation and analytics, artificial intelligence, Bayesian inference, or algorithm development. Having relevant aligned experience in biology, medicine, or wearable technologies will be advantageous. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Michael Biehl Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence P.O. Box 407, 9700 AK Groningen The Netherlands Tel. +31 50 363 3997 https://www.cs.rug.nl/~biehl m.biehl(a)rug.nl

June 2, 2021

EITN workshop on "Computational Neuroscience in EBRAINS", 10 june 2021

by Zélie Tournoud

Dear colleagues, We are happy to invite you to attend to the EITN (European Institute for Theorethical Neuroscience) workshop on "Computational Neuroscience in EBRAINS" taking place online on *June 10th, 2021, starting from 13:00 CEST*. Attendance is free and open to everyone upon registration, feel free to share the event to your collaborator who might be interested in the topic. To automatically receive your access link by email before the event, *register online* on this page: Register to the Zoom meeting <https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0vd-CoqzkoHNTvv9UhOQ0Qbnex9MikG2F1>. The detailled program is available on this page <https://www.eitn.org/index.php/calendar-event/eventdetail/744/-/workshop-on…> that will be kept updated. * *Description of the workshop:* Organized by Andrew Davison (CNRS), Viktor Jirsa (AMU) and Alain Destexhe (CNRS). EBRAINS is a open-access platform built by the Human Brain Project and which provides tools for various applications in neuroscience. The aim of this workshop is to introduce some of the EBRAINS tools that are of particular interest for applications in computational neuroscience. These tools provide help to simulate models, from the cellular to the whole-brain level. Each tool will be introduced, then a "live demo" will be provided to demonstrate its use. As a companion to this workshop, we plan to provide recordings of each session on a YouTube channel, as well as scripts that were used in for the live demos. * *List of speakers:* Egidio d'Angelo (Pavia) Claudia Casellato (Pavia) Florent Bonnier (CNRS) Petrut Bogdan (U Manchester) Andrew Davison (CNRS) Alain Destexhe (CNRS) Timo Dickscheid (Jülich) Jan Fousek (AMU) Alice Geminiani (Pavia) Jennifer Goldman (CNRS) Brent Huisman (Jülich) Viktor Jirsa (AMU) Carmen Lupascu (CNR) Armando Romani (BBP/EPFL) Michael Schirner (Charité) Sam Yates (CSCS) We look forwards on seeing you on the 10th of June! Thank you and have a great day, /The EITN Team/

June 2, 2021

[Journals] 2nd CFP: Special Issue on "Theory of Mind in Humans and in Machines"

by Bogdan Ionut Cirstea

Dear colleagues, Apologies for cross-posting. Together with Prof. Fabio Cuzzolin (Oxford Brookes University, UK), Prof. Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian (University of Cambridge, UK) and Dr. Christelle Langley (University of Cambridge, UK), we are organizing a special issue (Frontiers Research Topic) on the emerging topic of "Theory of Mind in Humans and in Machines" under the "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence" and "Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience" journals. We would like to invite you to contribute articles to the Research Topic. For more information on this special issue, please visit the website at https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/16802/theory-of-mind-in-humans-… Papers may be submitted until the 30th of July 2021 (manuscript submission extended deadline). Submitted papers should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. We also encourage authors to send a short abstract (via the platform) to ensure compliance with the topic and scope of the Frontiers journals as early as possible. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, theoretical proposals, computational experiments, and case studies of: • Computational Theory of Mind • Learning from Demonstrations • Cognitive Models for Learning from Demonstration and Planning • Neuroscience-inspired models of Theory of Mind • Human-Robot Interaction • Cooperative Inverse Reinforcement Learning (assistance games) • Learning from Preferences If you intend to send an article to the special issue, please do let us know by hitting the "Participate" button in the web interface. If you have any questions or need any kind of assistance from us, please do not hesitate to let us know. On behalf of the topic editors, -- Bogdan-Ionut Cirstea Topic Editors: Prof. Fabio Cuzzolin, Oxford Brookes University, UK < fabio.cuzzolin(a)brookes.ac.uk> Prof. Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, University of Cambridge, UK < bjs1001(a)cam.ac.uk> Dr. Bogdan-Ionut Cirstea, Oxford Brookes University, UK < bcirstea(a)brookes.ac.uk> Dr. Christelle Langley, University of Cambridge, UK <cl798(a)medschl.cam.ac.uk >

June 1, 2021

Evolving Neural Networks workshop

by manuel molano

Dear all, We are glad to announce the 1st Evolving Neural Networks Workshop (June 17, 2021). The goal of the workshop is to bring together experts from Systems and Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning and the Evo-Devo field to discuss if and how knowing the evolutionary history of neural circuits can help us understand the way the brain works, as well as the relative importance of learned VS innate neural mechanisms. We have a great list of speakers from the fields of Systems and Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning and Evolutionary Developmental (Evo-Devo) biology. If you are interested REGISTER HERE<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfO69TaE5Tk4eUysh4eCnJ7tlJYRTCcE_m…>, it is free! For more information visit our webpage<https://sites.google.com/view/evolving-nns/home> or contact evolvingneuralnetworks(a)gmail.com<mailto:evolvingneuralnetworks@gmail.com> We hope to see you soon! SCHEDULE (Eastern Time) 8-8.10 Intro 8.10-8.35 Pamela Lyon What basal cognition can do for you (neuroscientists) 8.35-9.00 Luis Puelles Brain evolution crosses an ontogenetic 'ant's country' that escapes analysis 9.00-9.25 Paul Cisek The evolution of the human brain, long before humans 9.25-9.50 Robert Yang Evolving the Olfactory System with Machine Learning 09.50-10.20 Discussion 10.20-10.40 Break 10.40-10.50 Intro 10.50-11.15 Linda Wilbrecht Considering contextual factors at acute and evolutionary timescales in the study of learning and decision making 11.15-11.40 Ida Momennejad TBA 11.40-12.05 Dayu Lin Neural mechanisms of aggression 12.05-12.30 Tony Zador Learning through the Genomic Bottleneck 12.30-13.00 Discussion

June 1, 2021

Job: Engineer in MEG-EEG signal processing and open-source software development

by Franco Pestilli

The Paris Brain Institute is recruiting a motivated individual to join the *MEEGbrainlife* project, introducing MEG and EEG data processing pipelines on the open-access brainlife.io cloud computing platform. This is a 18-24 months contract funded jointly by the French ANR and the American NIH under the international program call « Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience » (CR‐CNS). The successful candidate will be responsible for planning, developing, and maintaining *MEG‐EEG data processing Apps into brainlife.io <http://brainlife.io/>* and *contribute to innovative research projects* on the platform. In close collaboration with the expert members of the MEEGbrainlife consortium, he/she will define data specifications, code architecture, data and code output quality check procedures to set the groundwork for the rapid development of a full data processing pipeline for MEG‐EEG data into brainlife.io. *More information and contact* for the application available here: https://owncloud.icm-institute.org/index.php/s/MBrIpIFcH3F9lV5 *FRANCO PESTILLI*, *Ph.D.* | *Associate Professor* Department of Psychology <https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/index.php> | College of Liberal Arts <https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/> | The University of Texas at Austin <https://www.utexas.edu/> he/him | pestilli(a)utexas.edu | web <https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/fp4834> | GitHub <https://github.com/francopestilli> | brainlife.io CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

May 31, 2021