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Call for Workshops/Tutorials at Alife XV
by Izquierdo, Eduardo J. Nov. 16, 2015

Nov. 16, 2015

CALL FOR WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIALS The ALife XV Organizing Committee invites proposals for Tutorials and Workshops to be held in conjunction with the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALife XV), which will be held in Cancun, Mexico on July 4th-8th, 2016. http://xva.life<http://xva.life/> If accepted, ALife will provide the onsite logistics (seminar rooms, projectors, coffee breaks, and lunches) and links from the main conference website. All other organizational issues – including separate review process and proceedings publication, if any – are taken care of by the workshop chairs. Therefore, any workshop-specific requests from participants should be exclusively addressed to them, not to the ALife committee. The internal organization of the satellite workshops and tutorials (website, paper submission, invited talks, proceedings, all deadlines except registration) is entirely left up to their respective organizers. Participation in workshops and tutorials requires conference registration. IMPORTANT DATES Submission of Workshop/Tutorial Proposals is open now. We will receive applications until January 15th, 2016. The notification of acceptance will be given within two weeks of receiving the proposal. Workshop/Tutorial Information and/or submission proposal: workshops(a)xva.life<mailto:workshops@xva.life> WORKSHOP PROPOSALS The ALife XV workshops are intended to be forums to present and discuss new approaches, visions, or critical reflections within a research area. They provide an excellent opportunity to meet people with similar interests, to be exposed to cutting-edge research and to exchange ideas in an informal setting. The organizers of an accepted workshop are responsible for its coordination and its publicity (e.g., for sending out call for papers/abstracts), for collecting and reviewing the papers/abstracts, and for maintaining a webpage providing a list of accepted talks. The workshops are typically half day long. The format can be decided by the organizers who are encouraged to plan interactive sessions. TUTORIAL PROCESS ALife XV tutorials will be presented by domain experts to cover current topics relevant to artificial life researchers and practitioners. Each tutorial will be 3 hours long, then we encourage to include into the tutorial also demos and interactive activities. Accepted tutorial’s slide sets will be published on ALife XV website. SUBMISSION PROCESS Each tutorial/workshop proposal should include: 1) title of the workshop/tutorial 2) name(s) and affiliation(s) of the organizer(s)/inspector(s), with relative contact details 3) a short CV of the organizer(s)/instructor(s) 4) a brief description (half-page) of the workshop/tutorial topics Only for workshops: 5) potential target participants and audience 6) roughly approximated number of participants 7) rough estimate of the number of talks All proposals must be sent to: workshops(a)xva.life<mailto:workshops@xva.life> Looking forward to your submissions. Best wishes, Eduardo J. Izquierdo, ALife XV Workshop Chair Assistant Professor, Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University

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PhD Position: Modelling Spine Calcium Dynamics, University of Exeter
by Tsaneva-Atanasova, Krasimira Nov. 16, 2015

Nov. 16, 2015

PhD Position: Modelling Spine Calcium Dynamics, University of Exeter ----------------------------------------------------------- Based within the EPSRC Centre for Predictive Modelling in Healthcare at the University of Exeter, a £2M initiative bringing together mathematicians, statisticians and clinicians, you will work on a project aiming to investigate the mechanisms and hence understand the regulation of calcium transient dynamics (shown to be a critical trigger for synaptic plasticity) in dendritic spines. The project involves development and analysis of three-dimensional mathematical models using finite element methods. Therefore I am looking for candidates trained in quantitative fields whose interest has turned to the study of synaptic plasticity and calcium dynamics. This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the South West Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (SWBio DTP). The SWBio DTP is a BBSRC-funded PhD training programme in the biosciences, delivered by a consortium comprising the Universities of Bristol (lead), Bath, Cardiff and Exeter and Rothamsted Research. The SWBio DTP projects are designed to provide outstanding interdisciplinary training in a range of topics in World-Class Bioscience, underpinned by training in mathematics and complexity science. Each project is supervised by an interdisciplinary team of academic staff and will follow a structured training 4 year PhD model. In particular the project on "Modelling spine calcium dynamics: implications for synaptic plasticity" stems form a long-standing collaboration between Prof Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova (main supervisor, Exeter) and Dr Jack Mellor (co-supervisor, Bristol http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/people/66711/) To Apply: Candidates with strong quantitative training (e.g. a BSc or MSc in Physics, Mathematics, Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science, or Engineering) and evidence of scientific achievement are invited to apply. Knowledge of neuroscience is a plus. Please apply using the following link: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=1977 ----------------------------------------------------------- Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova Professor of Mathematics for Healthcare College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences University of Exeter Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QF, UK tel: +44 (0) 1392 723615 email: k.tsaneva-atanasova(a)exeter.ac.uk<mailto:k.tsaneva-atanasova@exeter.ac.uk> web: http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/mathematics/staff/kt298 ALTEREGO - Enhancing Social Interaction with an AlterEgo artificial agent http://www.euromov.eu/alterego/homepage

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Intracranial Human Electrophysiology Postdoctoral Position, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
by Ghuman, Avniel Nov. 16, 2015

Nov. 16, 2015

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position using intracranial recordings in humans to study the neural basis of face recognition and social and affective perception, at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. The research will focus on understanding the dynamic neural code that underlies the recognition of faces, bodies, facial expressions, and other social and affective stimuli. Of particular interest is how this information is coded in interactive neural circuits at the level of large-scale brain networks. The neural data will primarily be local field potentials/ event related potential from intracranial surface electrodes (electrocorticography, ECoG), cortical depth electrodes, and subcortical depth electrodes in humans. Multivariate techniques and advanced signal processing will be applied to the millisecond-scale activity recorded simultaneously from multiple electrodes in areas related to social processing while participants perform social and affective perception tasks. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or a related field. Advanced skills in signal processing, multivariate statistics, machine learning and/or computational neuroscience are required. Experience with multivariate analysis of neural data is required and experience with electrophysiological data is desirable. Applicants should have a strong track record of publication. The position is fully funded. The initial period is 1 year with additional years depending on fit and progress. Interested applicants should send a letter of interest, a CV, and the names and contact information for 3 researchers who can provide a recommendation. For further information or to submit an application, please contact Avniel Ghuman, Ph.D. at ghumana(a)upmc.edu . The position is available immediately and applications will be considered until the position is filled.

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6th GDR multielectrode meeting in Grenoble/Autrans (Jan 5-8, 2016): Deadline extended to Nov 30
by Blaise Yvert Nov. 15, 2015

Nov. 15, 2015

Dear Colleagues, This is the second call for registration and submission for the next GDR multielectrode meeting that will take place in Grenoble (school) and Autrans (conference) on Jan 5-8, 2016. We already received many registrations, so it is going to be a great meeting! We would like to let you know here that Daniel Shulz, Editor in Chief of The Journal of Physiology (Paris) has proposed the possibility of publishing the lectures given during the meeting as a special collection in the Journal of Physiology Paris produced by Elsevier. Oral presenters will thus have the opportunity to submit a paper related to the topic of their presentation for consideration for this special issue. As a consequence, we have decided to extend the registration and submission deadline to Nov 30. IMPORTANT: It will not be possible to extend further this deadline. Indeed, all accommodation organization should be finalized early December. Hence, if you did not register yet, please do so very quickly to help this being possible. You will find all useful information on the conference website : http://gdr2904grenoble.sciencesconf.org/. Also, when registering, please be so kind as to select in priority a double room option, especially for students and young scientists. Indeed, extremely few single rooms are available. Hence, at the moment, we have put on hold all single-room requests as we cannot satisfy all of them. You may indicate the name of the person you would like to share the room with on the registration page. Thank you so much for your understanding. As a reminder, here are the different steps of the registration procedure : 1) Go and fill in the registration webpage : http://gdr2904grenoble.sciencesconf.org/register 2) You will receive a first pre-registration confirmation email 3) After your pre-registration has been validated, you will then receive a new email asking to choose for a payment method 4) Then follow the link given in this email to go back to the meeting page and choose a payment option (for instance purchase order) 5) Send PO or payment to the address indicated on the page Abstract submissions are independent of conference registration and have to be made on a separate dedicated web page: http://gdr2904grenoble.sciencesconf.org/submission/submit Looking forward welcoming you in Grenoble and Autrans, Best regards, Blaise on behalf of the whole organizing committee. http://gdr2904grenoble.sciencesconf.org/ http://www.escandille.com -- Blaise Yvert, PhD. Inserm Research Director Clinatec Laboratory UA01 Biomedical Research Center Edmond J Safra CEA-INSERM-UJF-CHU Grenoble Minatec Campus 17 rue des Martyrs 38054 Grenoble cedex 09 Tel. +33 4 38 78 91 38 / +33 6 32 88 75 90 Fax. +33 4 38 78 53 55 http://www.clinatec.fr (under construction)

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Graduate Training at the University of Chicago
by Sliman Bensmaia Nov. 13, 2015

Nov. 13, 2015

Apply for *graduate training in neuroscience <http://neuroscience.uchicago.edu/graduate-training/>* at the University of Chicago, where a large *neuroscience faculty <http://neuroscience.uchicago.edu/faculty>* provides stimulating research opportunities at levels ranging from genes and molecules to computation and human behavior, in laboratories distributed across eight departments in the biological, social, and physical sciences. *Applications <http://neuroscience.uchicago.edu/graduate-training/graduate-training-list-p…> for entry in the Fall of 2016 are now being accepted, with a deadline of December 1, 2015. * Graduate training is organized into three programs with different emphases. For information about each program and how to apply, follow the links: - The *Program in Neurobiology <http://neuroscience.uchicago.edu/graduate-training/neurobiology-apply/> *covers a broad spectrum of subfields, including molecular and developmental neurobiology, cellular and synaptic electrophysiology and imaging, and neurobiology of disease. - The *Program in Computational Neuroscience <http://neuroscience.uchicago.edu/graduate-training/computational-neuroscien…>* emphasizes quantitative approaches to experimental neuroscience, including mathematical methods and computational modeling of the nervous system. - The *Integrative Neuroscience Program <https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/admissions>* focuses on the biological basis of complex behaviors. -- ________________________________________________________ Sliman Bensmaia Associate Professor Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy University of Chicago 773.834.5203 http://bensmaialab.org ________________________________________________________

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University of Sussex 4-year PhD Programme in Neuroscience
by Miguel Maravall Rodriguez Nov. 12, 2015

Nov. 12, 2015

Dear all, Please find below this year's announcement for our PhD Programme in Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. Please distribute to interested students - we are very interested in applications from students with quantitative (physical sciences/computing/math) backgrounds. Thank you Regards, Miguel Maravall University of Sussex 4-year PhD Programme in Neuroscience Sussex Neuroscience is now inviting applications for September 2016 entry to our funded PhD Programme, which includes a first year of laboratory rotations and taught modules. These support a transition into neuroscience from other science disciplines such as physics and computing, and provide students with the opportunity to both broaden and deepen their experience of different neuroscience fields and techniques. More than 30 supervisors are offering research projects across the following thematic areas: Circuits, Systems and Computational Neuroscience Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience Translational and Clinical Neuroscience Consciousness Science Application Deadline: January 11th 2016 The Sussex campus is home to one of the largest neuroscience research communities in the UK, with strong interdisciplinary interactions between the biological and computational sciences. Our PhD Programme attracts some of the brightest students internationally. Home/EU fees are waived for all students, and a stipend is provided. We also offer financial support for students to attend conferences and additional training opportunities in the UK and overseas throughout their PhD. For further information about the 4-year PhD Programme and all of our postgraduate opportunities, please visit: www.sussex.ac.uk/sussexneuroscience/study<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sussexneuroscience/study>

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Research Assistant - Impaired Consciousness at Cambridge
by Srivas Chennu Nov. 12, 2015

Nov. 12, 2015

-- This position provides an exciting opportunity to conduct novel research at the translational interface between clinical medicine and the neuroscience of consciousness at a world-leading clinical and academic environment. The post will be based within the Cambridge Research Into Impaired Consciousness (CRIC) group at the University of Cambridge ( http://www.wbic.cam.ac.uk/Members/cric/) The research will be a part of a study funded by the Evelyn Trust, and led by Dr. Srivas Chennu, the Senior Research Associate in the group (http://www.wbic.cam.ac.uk/Members/sc672/) It will involve on-site assessments of those in vegetative and minimally conscious states using non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG). These assessments will pilot the clinical deployment of the latest advances in the neuroscience of human consciousness. Drawing upon these advances, neuroscientists at Cambridge have developed bedside tools to aid more accurate assessments of such patients. The researcher will be involved in one of the first systematic studies to use such tools to assess and follow-up patients at regular intervals to monitor the recovery of brain networks and cognitive function. The role will also involve interaction with clinical neurorehabilitation experts. The findings from this research are expected to be published in leading academic journals, and aims to generate the necessary evidence for integration with clinical service delivery and exploitation of commercialisation potential. Salary range: £24,775 - £28,695 Location: Cambridge, UK Fixed-term: until 30th September 2018 in the first instance. Closing date for application: 4 December 2015 For more details and to make an application, please go to: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/8586/ --

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POSTDOCTORAL POSITION AVAILABLE
by Miren Itsaso Olasagasti Rodriguez Nov. 12, 2015

Nov. 12, 2015

We have a postdoc position available at the Auditory Language Group<https://sites.google.com/site/auditorylanguagegroup/home> led by Prof. Giraud at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) to explore the link between predictive coding and cortical oscillations in speech processing. The project reaches beyond one sensory modality to ask a question of broad interest to basic neuroscience, namely, the role of oscillations in information transfer in the brain. We are looking for a candidate to work on the computational side of the project who would also work closely with the experimental team (EEG, MEG, ECoG). The computational part aims at understanding the role of oscillations through their modeling in physiologically plausible spiking neural networks and would build on previous work from the lab (Hyafil, A., Fontolan, L., Kabdebon, C., Gutkin, B., & Giraud, A.-L. (2015). Speech encoding by coupled cortical theta and gamma oscillations. eLife, 4, 1-23. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06213) We specially favor computational models built on a strong neurophysiological basis informed by experimental findings. The team includes researchers with backgrounds in neurophysiology, psychology, physics and engineering and it's part of the Biotech campus<http://www.campusbiotech.ch/en/> and the Geneva NeuroscienceCenter<http://neurocenter.unige.ch/>. Applicants should send a CV, statement of research interest, and two reference contacts to Anne-Lise.Giraud(a)unige.ch Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Start date: january-april 2016. Contract Duration: 2/3 years.

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2016 Nengo Summer School - Applications Open
by Peter Blouw Nov. 10, 2015

Nov. 10, 2015

Hello! [All details about this school can be found online at http://www.nengo.ca/summerschool] The Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo is inviting applications for our 3rd annual summer school on large-scale brain modeling. This two-week school will teach participants how to use the Nengo software package to build state-of-the-art cognitive and neural models to run in simulation and on neuromorphic hardware. Nengo has been used to build what is currently the world's largest functional brain model, Spaun [1], and provides users with a versatile and powerful environment for designing cognitive and neural systems to run in simulated and real environments. We welcome applications from all interested graduate students, research associates, postdocs, professors, and industry professionals. No specific training in the use of modeling software is required, but we encourage applications from active researchers with a relevant background in psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, robotics, neuromorphic engineering, computer science, or a related field. For a look at last year's summer school, check out this short video: https://goo.gl/wy4dNC [1] Eliasmith, C., Stewart T. C., Choo X., Bekolay T., DeWolf T., Tang Y., Rasmussen, D. (2012). A large-scale model of the functioning brain. Science. Vol. 338 no. 6111 pp. 1202-1205. DOI: 10.1126/science.1225266. [ http://nengo.ca/publications/spaunsciencepaper] ****Application Deadline: February 15, 2016**** *Format*: A combination of tutorials and project-based work. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas for projects, which may focus on testing hypotheses, modeling neural or cognitive data, implementing specific behavioural functions with neurons, expanding past models, or providing a proof-of-concept of various neural mechanisms. Hands-on tutorials, work on individual or group projects, and talks from invited faculty members will make up the bulk of day-to-day activities. A project demonstration will be held on the last day of the school, with prizes for strong projects! *Topics Covered*: Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to: - build perceptual, motor, and sophisticated cognitive models using spiking neurons - model anatomical, electrophysiological, cognitive, and behavioural data - use a variety of single cell models within a large-scale model - integrate machine learning methods into biologically oriented models - interface Nengo with various kinds of neuromorphic hardware (e.g. SpiNNaker) - interface Nengo with cameras and robotic systems - implement modern nonlinear control methods in neural models - and much more… *Date and Location*: June 5th to June 17th, 2016 at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. *Applications*: Please visit http://www.nengo.ca/summerschool, where you can find more information regarding costs, travel, lodging, along with an application form listing required materials. If you have any questions about the school or the application process, please contact Peter Blouw (pblouw(a)uwaterloo.ca) We look forward to hearing from you!

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Announcing the first NESTML community workshop
by Jochen Martin Eppler Nov. 10, 2015

Nov. 10, 2015

Announcing the first community workshop on NESTML, the novel modelling language to create neuron models for the NEST simulator for spiking neuronal networks (nest-simulator.org) Abstract ^^^^^^^^ Currently, neuron and synapse models in NEST are written as C++ classes. These classes implement the simulator API for updating the neuronal dynamics, sending and receiving events, and auxiliary tasks such as initialization, recording of internal variables, calibration and handling of parameters. As the model code is hand-written and often created by copy and paste, this method is prone to errors and hinders the programmatic re-use of components such as neuronal dynamics, post-synaptic responses and synaptic plasticity mechanisms. Moreover, as many neuroscientists are not experts in C++, the process of creating models is often seen as complicated and in many cases the resulting model implementations are not optimal with respect to performance, consistency and testability. To ease writing models for NEST and improve the general quality of the code, we have created the NEST Modelling Language. NESTML comprises a language specification to describe neuron models in terms of neuroscience concepts and a set of tools to generate efficient C++ code for NEST from this description. During the workshop, we will give a general introduction to model creation for NEST and an in-depth introduction to the concepts and application of NESTML. In hands-on sessions the participants have the opportunity to write their own models in NESTML with the assistance of experienced tutors. The feedback collected in a dedicated session will be used to shape the future design and development of NESTML. Target Audience ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The workshop aims at students and researchers in computational neuroscience who want to create their own neuron models in NEST. Some understanding of programming and experience with one of the simulators NEST, NEURON, or Brian will be helpful, but are not strictly required. Location and date ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The workshop will take place at the Chair of Software Engineering (se-rwth.de) of RWTH Aachen University from Monday, December 7 to Wednesday, December 9, 2015. Details and registration Workshop attendance is possible free of charge. However, in order to be able to plan rooms, lunches and coffee breaks, we require registration. For details and enrolment, visit www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc/nestml-ws. With best regards, Jochen! -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49 2461 61-9471 ---------------------------------- Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience Jülich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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