- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

GEM 2025 - Abstract submission deadline 15.03.25

by Vinita Samarasinghe

*REMINDER*: Abstract submission deadline for *GEM 2025* is on *15.03.25*. Please have your submissions in by the deadline. https://www.conftool.net/gem202 <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>5/ <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>. The DFG-funded research consortium “FOR 2812 – Constructing scenarios of the past” is proud to announce a *call for abstracts* for its biennial conference “/Generative Episodic Memory: Interdisciplinary persepectives from neuroscience, psychology and philosophy/” *GEM 202**5.* It will be held *in person* at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany from 2^nd to 4^th June, 2025. For more information please visit https://for2812.rub.de/gem2025. Episodic memories are widely regarded as memories of personally experienced events. Early concepts about episodic memory were based on the storage model, according to which experiential content is preserved in memory and later retrieved. However, overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that the content of episodic memory is – at least to a certain degree – constructed in the act of remembering. Even though very few contemporary researchers would oppose this view of episodic memory as a generative process, it has not become the standard paradigm of empirical memory research. This is particularly true for studies of the neural correlates of episodic memory. Further hindering progress are large conceptual differences regarding episodic memory across different fields, such as neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. This interdisciplinary conference therefore aims to bring together researchers from all relevant fields to advance the state of the art in the research on generative episodic memory. *Keynote speakers: * Ali Boyle (LSE); Neil Burgess (UCL); Iris Engelhard (U. Utrecht); Johannes Mahr (York U.); Jeremy Manning (Dartmouth) *Funding for early career researchers is available *(visit our ECR page <https://for2812.rub.de/gem2025/early_career_researcher_programs> for more details). *Abstract* submission deadline: 15.03.2025 Submission guidelines: Abstracts must be submitted in English and be no longer than 500 words. Submitted work must be original and unpublished and submitted electronically at https://www.conftool.net/gem202 <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>5/ <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>. Types of submissions: * Talk * Symposium: Must comprise 3 talks and be interdisciplinary in nature, i.e., talks must cover at least two of the following disciplines: computational neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience. * Poster /*For more information please visit https://for2812.rub.de or contact Vinita Samarasinghe at for2812(a)rub.de */ Follow us on bluesky @for2812.bsky.social/* */ <https://bsky.app/for2812.bsky.social> Kind regards, Vinita Vinita Samarasinghe M.Sc., M.A. Science Manager Arbeitsgruppe Computational Neuroscience <https://rub.de/cns> Institut für Neuroinformatik Ruhr-Universität Bochum, NB 3/73 Postfachnummer 110 Universitätstr. 150 44801 Bochum Tel: +49 (0)234 32 27996 Email: samarasinghe(a)ini.rub.de

Feb. 27, 2025

Conference Invitation GRS - inhibition in the CNS!

by Vissers, Nicole

Join Us for the 2025 GRC and GRS on Inhibition in the CNS! The 2025 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Inhibition in the Central Nervous System (CNS) this year is taking place July 5–6, 2025 (GRS) and July 6–11, 2025 (GRC). The GRC will explore inhibition's role in neural circuits related to behavior, focusing on interneuron subtypes, inhibitory synapse organization, sensory processing, memory, and computational approaches. It will also cover inhibition in the adult neurogenic niche, model organisms like mice and primates, and its role in neuropsychiatric disorders. The GRS, for early-career researchers, will focus on subcortical GABAergic neurons, glial and neuromodulatory inhibition, and computational analyses. It offers networking, mentorship, and presentation opportunities, promoting collaboration before the main GRC event. Both events aim to foster idea exchange and scientific collaboration. We look forward to seeing you in Maine for a week of science, collaboration, and community. Don't miss this chance to connect with global leaders in the field of inhibitory neuroscience! For more information, visit: GRS: https://www.grc.org/inhibition-in-the-cns-grs-conference/2025/ GRC: https://www.grc.org/inhibition-in-the-cns-conference/2025/ Or feel free to contact GRS Chair, Nicole Vissers: n.vissers(a)ucl.ac.uk

Feb. 27, 2025

Global Research & Entrepreneurship Summit on Open Problems for AI. Tokyo, Japan, 9-11th April 2025 at the Miraikan Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

by Ruairidh Battleday

Global Summit on Open Problems for AI. Miraikan Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan, 9-11th April 2025. What are the next set of challenges for AI algorithms? What are the open problems in regulation & application? We are most excited to announce the Algorithmic Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Summit on Open Problems for AI <http://www.algopreneurship.ai>. Miraikan Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan, 9-11th April 2025. Join world-leading AI researchers, policy makers, and entrepreneurs in this global Summit over three days of keynote talks, panels, and breakout sessions. Day 1 - Algorithms We ask what the fundamental challenges for developing AI algorithms are, as well as promising avenues for overcoming them. We’ll be hearing from Dr Shane Gu (Google DeepMind), Dr Taro Toyoizumi (Riken CBS), Dr Kai Arulkumaran (Araya Inc.), Dr Emityaz Khan (Riken AIP), Professor Masanori Koyama (University of Tokyo), Dr James Whittington (Stanford & Oxford University & Zyphra), Dr Lucy Lai (Harvard University), Dr Yusuke Iwasawa (University of Tokyo) Panel on “Is this the end of Scale?” Panel on “How should we fund AI research?” Day 2 - Ethics We ask what the fundamental ethical challenges and opportunities are for AI. Keynotes: Professor Yuko Harayam (Tohoku University; GPAI), Professor Arisa Ema (University of Tokyo & RIKEN CAIP), Dr Colin Rowat (Rakuten, Cambridge), Dr Joe Ledsam (Google Health), Kenny Song (Citadel AI) Panel: Micro Ethics - What Can Individual Researchers Do for Ethical AI? Chair: Nicolay Hagen (NTNU) Panel: Meso Ethics - What Can Organizations Do for Ethical AI? Chair: Professor Skyler Wang (McGill) Panel: Macro Ethics - If AI is the answer, what is the question? Chair: Dr Collin Conwell (Johns Hopkins) Day 3 - Applications and entrepreneurship We ask what the fundamental challenges and opportunities are in applications for social good and entrepreneurship. Keynotes: Professor Yukie Nagai (University of Tokyo), Professor Dan V. Nicolau Jr (Kings College London), Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday (Harvard & MIT), Dr Aran Komatsuzaki (Eleuther AI), Dr Conglong Li (Google Deepmind), Takahiro Matsumoto (Cisco / Robust Intelligence), Dr Jungo Kasai (Kotoba Tech) This should be an exciting and productive event, and we expect an audience of 400 of the world’s best AI researchers and entrepreneurs at student, early-stage, and full career levels. Student tickets: $20 for all three days Scientist & Entrepreneur tickets: $20 per day Corporate tickets: $100 per day Reserve your place now! <http://www.algopreneurship.ai> Ruairidh <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruairidh-battleday-648a2b65/>, <https://www.jcrwhittington.com/>Lucy <https://lucylai.com/>, James <https://www.jcrwhittington.com/>, and Dan <https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dan-nicolau> Thinking About Thinking <https://www.thinkingaboutthinking.org/>

Feb. 27, 2025

Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Neuroscience

by Fleur Zeldenrust

*My lab is looking for a computational neuroscience postdoctoral researcher:* http://ru.nl/en/working-at/job-opportunities/postdoctoral-researcher-in-com… For the Vidi project ‘Top-down neuromodulation and bottom-up network computation,’ we seek a postdoc to study neuromodulators in efficient spike-coding networks. Using our lab’s data on dopamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin from the mouse barrel cortex, you’ll derive models connecting single cells, networks, and behavior. The aim of this project is to explain the effects of neuromodulation on task performance in biologically realistic spiking recurrent neural networks (SRNNs). You will use the efficient spike coding framework <https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003…>, in which a network is not trained by a learning paradigm but deduced using mathematically rigorous rules that enforce efficient coding <https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008…>(i.e. maximally informative spikes). You will study how the network’s structural properties such as neural heterogeneity influence decoding performance and efficiency. You will incorporate realistic network properties of the (barrel) cortex based on our lab’s measurements <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12021-022-09576-5> and incorporate the cellular effects of dopamine, acetylcholine and serotonin <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://doi.org/10.1101…>we have measured <https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/7/12/giy147/5232232> over the past years into the network, to investigate their effects on representations, network activity measures such as dimensionality, and decoding performance. You will build on the single cell data, network models and analysis methods available in our group, and your results will be incorporated into our group’s further research to develop and validate efficient coding models of (somatosensory) perception. Therefore, we are looking for a team player who is willing to learn from the other group members and to share their knowledge with them. *Profile* - You hold a PhD in computational neuroscience, mathematics, physics, computer science, AI or a similar computational field. - You have experience working with coding models in computational neuroscience and can perform network simulations, analytical derivations and advanced data analysis. - You are a highly motivated, independent, critical and creative researcher who wants to bridge the gap between real data and abstract theoretical models. - You are a team player, ready to collaborate in a diverse, multidisciplinary research group. - You have an excellent command of spoken and written English. - You have coding experience (in Python and/or Matlab) You will be appointed at the Biophysics of Neural Computation group <https://www.ru.nl/en/departments/donders-centre-for-neuroscience/biophysics…> , Donders Center for Neuroscience <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-centre-for-neuroscience>, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-institute>. This vibrant and multidisciplinary institute studies the organisation and function of neural circuits across scales and techniques, from genes and proteins to behaviour and from in vitro and in vivo experiments to computational modelling. It is an open and international environment, where young scientists from different backgrounds share a fascination for the interaction between brain structure and function. There is a lively community <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-institute/talent-development/postdoc-support> of postdoctoral researchers who are provided with specialised support. *We offer* - We will give you a temporary employment contract of 26 months. - Your salary within salary scale 10 <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.ru.nl/en/st…>depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week. - You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. - You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days <https://www.ru.nl/en/staff/services/employment-conditions/working-time/flex…> of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. Fleur Zeldenrust -- Fleur Zeldenrust Associate Professor Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour Donders Centre for Neuroscience Faculty of Science, Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135, room HG 00.111 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands tel +31 24 36 53195 fleurzeldenrust.nl *Due to my own family/work balance, you may receive emails from me outside of normal working hours. I do not expect a response from you outside of your own working pattern, nor do I expect an immediate response when you are working.*

Feb. 26, 2025

Deadline extended: Transatlantic Behavioural Neuroscience School, Argentina, Aug 11-22 2025

by Mateusz Kostecki

Hello! We are happy to announce that we have extended the deadline for application to Transatlantic Behavioral Neuroscience School till March 2nd! During our school you will learn how to deliver stimuli or modify the environment in which the animal is embedded with Arduino-based devices and Bonsai code; you will design and 3D-print cases and holders for your instruments. And then you will apply cutting-edge tools (like Deeplabcut or CEBRA) – to extract as much information as possible from your data. But that’s not everything. At TBNS you will listen to fascinating lectures and interact with speakers, who explored bold ideas and made their unique career paths. You will look at what behavior is through many lenses. Most importantly though, you will meet people with similar interests and goals. And you may become a part of our global Open Lab community, and help us to spread the knowledge further! More information and the application form can be found here - https://nenckiopenlab.org/tbns2025/. The deadline for application is Feb 25th, the fee is EUR 1500 but we have secured funding for fee waivers and travel grants if needed. With best wishes, TBNS Team -- --- Mateusz Kostecki PhD Student Knapska Laboratory Nencki Institute 02-093 Warsaw, Pasteura 3, Poland https://twitter.com/mtkostecki https://evolvingbehavior.blog/

Feb. 25, 2025

6th International Conference on Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI (Split, Croatia, 27-30 May 2025) - abstract submission extended to 16th March

by Ruairidh Battleday

We are extending abstract submissions for this year’s Conference on Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI to March 16th AOE: www.neuromonster.org In this high-profile conference we hear about new computational theories of the brain and mind, as well as data that challenges old theories. We then take findings and theory back into the creation of robust, generalizable, and scalable AI. We hear from leading researchers over four days, spanning biocomputation, neural theory, cognitive science, and machine learning & artificial intelligence (AI): Keynote Speakers Professor Wolfgang Maas (Graz), Professor Eve Marder (Brandeis), Professor Jay McClelland (Stanford), Professor Christine Constantinople (NYU), Dr Kim Stachenfeld (DeepMind), Professor Kanaka Rajan (Harvard), Dr Ida Momennejad (Microsoft Research), Professor Jacob Foerster (Oxford / Meta). Session Chairs Dr Valeria Fascianelli (Columbia; Biocomputation) Dr Francesca Mignacco (CUNY & Princeton; Biocomputation) Yasmine Ayman (Harvard; Neural theory) Dr James Whittington (Oxford & Stanford; Neural theory) Professor Bill Thompson (UC Berkeley; Cognitive science) Dr Maria Eckstein (DeepMind; Cognitive science) Mikey Lepori (Brown & DeepMind; Machine learning & AI) Professor Ilia Sucholutsky (NYU; Machine learning & AI) Invited Speakers Professor Alex Cayco-Gajic (ENS) Dr Jenelle Feather (Flatiron Institute) Dr Joao Barbosa (Institute for Neuromodulation) Tejas Ramdas (Harvard) Professor Vijay Namdoodiri (UCSF) Professor Annegret Falkner (Princeton) Dr Chen Sun (Mila) Dr Chris Hillar (New Theory AI) Professor Bonan Zhao (Edinburgh) Professor Lisa-Marie Vortmann (Groningen) Dr Felix Sosa (Harvard) Dr Lio Wong (MIT) Location The conference will be held at Croatia’s National Opera Theatre in Split, 10 minutes walk from the ancient harbour. Split is served by two nearby international airports (Split and Dubrovnik) with low-price carriers as well as several ferry lines from the wider Mediterranean. Submissions The submission format is an abstract of 250 words, and we invite submissions for each session via the following Google form: https://forms.gle/a9JDH5B4Z5otS69Y7 These will be accepted for poster, with the best 6 papers in each session category given an additional spotlight talk. Submission deadline is 16th March AOE. We have a very open acceptance policy, and are happy to hear about relevant work that has been submitted to other events. Early bird tickets A limited number of early-bird registrations have been posted on our website! Normal registration will follow after the submission deadline. Come and join the fun! Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday (Harvard & MIT) Dr James Whittington (Oxford & Stanford) Dr Ivana Kaljc (DeepMind) Professor Dan V. Nicolau Jr (Kings College London) The Organizing Committee. -- 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

Feb. 25, 2025

Qualia Structure - Integrated Information Theory Summer School 2025

by Larissa Albantakis

*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

Feb. 24, 2025

Apply Now: FRCCS 2025 Awards for Early-Career Researchers in Complex Systems

by Hocine Cherifi

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/>

Feb. 24, 2025

World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11:00 am EST| Songting Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

by David Hansel

[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.*

Feb. 23, 2025

Two postdoctoral research positions in Active Inference at the University of Cape Town

by Jonathan Shock

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"

Feb. 23, 2025