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IJCNN 2015, final CFP: Papers are due on February 5th, 2015

by Giacomo Boracchi

IJCNN 2015 - International Joint Conference on Neural Networks July 12-17, 2015, Killarney Convention Center, Killarney, Ireland http://www.ijcnn.org This is the final Call for Papers, which are due in 3 days : Thursday, February 5th, 2015!! IJCNN is the premier international conference in the area of neural network theory, analysis, and applications. Co-sponsored by the International Neural Network Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, over the last three decades this conference and its predecessors has hosted [past, present, and future] leaders of neural network research. In an era when neural networks are widely used and reported in many areas, scientists, engineers, educators, and students from all over the world can get the best overall view of neural networks, from neuroscience to advanced control systems to cognition, at the IJCNN. *Competitions are underway!* A winning certificate and free registration will be provided to the winner of each competition who attends IJCNN 2015. Remember to submit and related papers (if that is your intent) through the regular IJCNN2015 paper submission system. If you need any other information about the general organisation of the competitions, please do not hesitate to contact : Abir Hussain. IJCNN2015 Competition Chair. Liverpool John MooresU. UK 1) ChaLearn AutoML challenge http://www.codalab.org/AutoML Here is your chance to realize the dream of many researchers in data science: create the "perfect black box", i.e. a learning machine capable of learning from examples without any human intervention. Until June we are progressively introducing 30 classification and regression tasks, with datasets pre-formatted in feature representations. Until February 14 you can win 2 sets of prizes in the: . Round 0 Tweakathon: result or code submission on well known sample datasets (preparation phase) . Round 1 AutoML: code submission on binary classification problems (novice phase) See the challenge website website for submissions, and for questions contact : Isabelle Guyon ClopiNet. California. USA guyon(a)clopinet.com 2) Speech-Music discrimination algorithms in the context of unseen audio data https://sites.google.com/site/aggelospikrakis/ijcnn Without making any assumptions with respect to the origin of the signals. Although the Speech-Music classification problem is already almost two decades old and several algorithms have been proposed over the years, there still remains to answer the question whether the proposed solutions can address audio streams from diverse sources or audio streams that suffer from (mild) spectral and time-stretching distortions. Most published work focuses on evaluating the respective methods on radio broadcasts over the Internet or, in general, on non-reproducible audio streams. To enter the competition, send an email to : Aggelos Pikrakis Uof Piraeus. Greece pikrakis(a)unipi.gr 3) Predict pathological cases in pregnant women during labour using cardiotography data. The challenge is to detect with high accuracy when a child is genuinely compromised before medical intervention is considered. For this competition, participants will be given an open dataset containing 552 intrapartum recordings, which can be access online via physionet.org. Contact : Paul Fergus. IJCNN2015 Competition on pathological pregnanacies. Liverpool John MooresU. UK p.fergus(a)ljmu.ac.uk 4) Neural Network based Weather Prediction Competition The importance of being able to accurately predict Weather cannot be overstated; beyond predicting catastrophic events such as storms or unusually severe spells of cold or heat, weather has a dramatic effect on a population's day to day health and behaviour and a significant impact on the economy. This competition involves the prediction of minimum maximum Temperatures The Dataset covers historic daily values for the period between 1st January 2007 and 30th September 2014, for the Oak Park Weather Station, which is the closest weather station to the IJCNN2015 conference venue. . 20th April 2015: Brief description of the algorithm used and generalisation results. . 20th May 2015: Announcement of the competition results Inquiries and submissions should be made through : David Reid. Liverpool Hope University. UK, reidd(a)hope.ac.uk Hissam Tawfik. IJCNN2015 Weather Competition. Liverpool Hope University. UK tawfikh(a)hope.ac.uk * PLENARY SPEAKERS - Steve Furber, The ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester "The SpiNNaker Project" - Vincenzo Piuri, Professor in Computer Engineering at the University of Milan, Italy "Computational Intelligence Technologies for 3D Surface Reconstruction" - Lee Giles, The David Reese Professor at the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University "Machine Learning and Data Mining for Scholarly Big Data" - Marios M. Polycarpou, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Cyprus "Fault Detection and Isolation in Uncertain Big-Data Environments" - Barak Pearlmutter, Professor, Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Ireland "Critical Dynamics and Pathological Phenomena in the Brain" - Giacomo Rizzolati, Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, Italy "The double life of the motor system: Action production and action understanding" * Deadlines for Submission: - Paper submission deadline: February 05, 2015 (EXTENDED) - Paper Decision notification: March 25, 2015 - Camera-ready submission: April 25, 2015 - Conference: July 12-17, 2015 * Hotel Reservations: The Killarney region is an extremely popular tourist destination, and rooms that have been reserved for IJCNN 2015 will likely disappear as soon as the contracted booking date has passed. For that reason we strongly recommend that you book your hotel room by 01May2015! (see the IJCNN2015 home page for our accommodations at the Gleneagle Hotel, the Brehon Hotel and the River Apartments). * IJCNN Killarney site video: Marianne van Wagner, Executive Co-ordinator of the International Neural Network Society (INNS), commissioned this delightful promotional video for IJCNN2015, based on her own photographs : Killarney tour. It's well worth looking at for the local Irish scenery, and for background information about the conference. (You may have to download it if your internet connection is slow.) Keep working on your paper submissions, and submit your proposals for Tutorials and Workshops SOON! Email any of the Chairs if you wish to discuss your ideas for proposals. IJCNN General Chair De-Shuang Huang, Tongji University, China, Director - Machine Learning and Systems Biology Laboratory IJCNN Program Chair Yoonsuck Choe, Texas A&M University Director, Brain Networks Laboratory Many thanks to our Sponsors and Contributors: - International Neural Network Society - IEEE Computational Intelligence Society - Failte Ireland, National Tourism Development Authority. -- Giacomo Boracchi, PhD DEIB - Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria Politecnico di Milano Via Ponzio, 34/5 20133 Milano, Italy. Tel. +39 02 2399 3467 http://home.dei.polimi.it/boracchi/

Feb. 2, 2015

Masters in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems at University of Sussex

by Thomas Nowotny

Dear comp-neuro community, The Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems MSc is open for applications. One of its core strengths is Computational Neuroscience. For the first time the University of Sussex is offering additional scholarships to MSc students this year. For more information see the EASy MSc website<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/smsc>, download the Flyer<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/documents/easymscposter2015.pdf> or read on below. If you have students who may be interested in this opportunity, please pass this information on and/or consider posting the Flyer<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/documents/easymscposter2015.pdf>. With best regards, Thomas Nowotny -- Prof. Thomas Nowotny CCNR, Sussex Neuroscience Phone: +44-1273-678593 Engineering and Informatics Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny — Detailed information: Since 1996, the University of Sussex has offered a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (EASy). The study of natural and articial evolutionary and adaptive systems is at the heart of rapidly developing areas from articial intelligence, adaptive behaviour and autonomous robotics to computational neuroscience, consciousness and cognitive science. Sussex is internationally renowned for its research in these areas. The EASy MSc provides a solid foundation with topics including: articial life, adaptive systems, computational neuroscience, neural networks, biologically inspired robotics, dynamical systems approaches to cognition, mathematics of complex systems, neuroscience of consciousness, evolutionary computation and biological Modelling. The well established EASy programme is taught by leading experts and there are many opportunities to interact with the thriving Sussex research community, including the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR), the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Sussex Neuroscience and the Centre for Cognitive Science (COGS). Students have access to specialist facilities including robotics labs, high-performance computing and neuroscience research facilities. Students take eight taught courses, followed by an individual research project during the summer. The project is supervised by a member of faculty. It is not unusual for dissertation work to be published in international conference proceedings or journals. Of the large number of students who have graduated from the EASY MSc, 50% have later obtained doctorates and some have gone on to glittering careers in research. Others have forged thriving business careers, with several setting up highly successful companies. Grants of up to £10,000 are available at Sussex (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/money/scholarships/ ). Additionally, due to a generous donation from Andrew Pegge, two Pegge Scholarships are awarded annually to EASy MSc students. The scholarships are open to all, and awarded on merit. How to Apply: To apply to the EASy MSc please go to: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/applying/ and choose the EASy MSc taught programme. Is EASy Right for Me? Are you excited by fundamental questions in adaptive behaviour, biology and technology such as: How are insects so successful despite their tiny brains? Or, can we build machines as intelligent as animals? Are you interested in embodied AI? The origin of consciousness? Complexity? Whatever your background, if you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, our MSc is right for you. More information: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/smsc or email Andy Philippides <andrewop(a)sussex.ac.uk>

Feb. 2, 2015

PostDoc position: stochastic signal processing and probability computation

by Pierre Bessière

PostDoc position: stochastic signal processing and probability computation Position available at ISIR (Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique) from Sorbonne Université - Université Pierre et Maris Curie, 4 place Jussieu, Paris: http://www.isir.upmc.fr/ <http://www.isir.upmc.fr/> Context: The framework of this position is the FP7-ICT European project BAMBI (Bottom-up Approaches to Machines dedicated to Bayesian Inference) launched in January 2014 for 3 years: https://www.bambi-fet.eu/ <https://www.bambi-fet.eu/> Content: The objective of the position is to develop theoretical studies and simulations of several ways to encode probability distribution with stochastic signals and to process these signals to implement probabilistic inferences. These studies should be done in strong interaction with our partners of the project working in the fields of fundamental electronics and spintronics. The researcher will have first to do a review of existing studies, including ongoing works done in our group and partners. He will then propose methods for the evaluation of building blocks performing basic probabilistic computation with stochastic signals, with a special focus on dynamic properties. Outcomes of these works will be published in international conferences and project deliverables. Competences: Good mathematical proficiency, especially in the field of probability theory and Markov models, is required. A perfect mastering of programming languages (C/C++, Python, Matlab) is also necessary. Duration: One year starting in spring 2015, with a possible prolongation until the end of the project (December 2016). Salary: Around 2500 euros/month, depending on previous research experience. Please submit CV and references by mail to Pierre Bessière (pierre.bessiere(a)isir.upmc.fr <mailto:pierre.bessiere@isir.upmc.fr>) and Jacques Droulez (jacques.droulez(a)isir.upmc.fr <mailto:jacques.droulez@isir.upmc.fr>). _________________________________ Pr. Pierre Bessière - CNRS ********************** SORBONNE Universités - UPMC - ISIR http://bayesian-programming.org <http://bayesian-programming.org/> Tel: +33 1 44 27 51 54 Skype: Pierre.Bessiere Pyramide - T55/65 CC 173 - 4 Place Jussieu 75005 Paris FRANCE _________________________________

Feb. 2, 2015

Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS)

by Tomas Hromadka

Dear colleagues, Please find below an announcement about the fourth edition of the Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS). We would be very grateful if you could forward this announcement to potentially interested people. Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS) June 1-19, 2015. The Pike Lake, Transylvania, Romania www.tenss.ro TENSS will concentrate top-level international expertise to teach a dozen students techniques and concepts in experimental systems neuroscience. We will focus on modern optical and electrophysiological methods to study the connectivity and function of neuronal circuits. The course is designed to be intensive and highly interactive, including both lab sessions and theoretical lectures. Coursework will take place in a land of myth and legend, beyond large forests (Transylvania), on the shores of a picturesque natural reserve called Pike Lake. Applications are welcome from interested (and interesting) graduate students and postdocs. Please note that the registration fee has been reduced and there is a significant number of full and half waivers available for supporting our applicants. Application deadline -- March 1st, 2015 Notification of acceptance -- March 21st, 2015 Summer School -- June 1-19th, 2015 Confirmed lecturers: Acsády, László -- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Albeanu, Florin -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA Battaglia, Francesco -- Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands Bhalla, Upinder -- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India Burrone, Juan -- King's College, London, UK Engert, Florian -- Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA Gradinaru, Viviana -- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA Häusser, Michael - University College, London, UK Hofer, Sonja -- Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland Hromádka, Tomáš -- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic Hübener, Mark -- Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany Ji, Na -- HHMI, Janelia Farm, USA Kampff, Adam -- Champalimaud Foundation, Institute for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal Keller, Georg -- Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland Mrsic-Flögel, Tom -- Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland Muresan, Raul -- Coneural, Romanian Institute of Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Monyer, Hannah -- University of Heidelberg, Germany Murthy, Venkatesh -- Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA Nikolic, Danko -- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany Roska, Botond -- Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland Rumpel, Simon -- University of Mainz, Germany Singer, Wolf -- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany Whitlock, Jonathan -- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Trondheim, Norway Organizers: Muresan, Raul -- Coneural, Romanian Institute of Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Kampff, Adam -- Champalimaud Foundation, Institute for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal Albeanu, Florin -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA Information about how to apply can be found here: http://tenss.ro/apply/. Best regards, TENSS Organizing Committee contact(a)tenss.ro

Feb. 2, 2015

Call for Participation: VISUM Summer School (25 days until deadline)

by Ricardo Gamelas Sousa

Apologies for cross-posting. --- Call for Participation 3^rd VISion Understanding and Machine intelligence summer school, Porto, Portugal First Computer Vision Summer School with an industrial track 2-9 July, 2015 http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/|Facebook: http://goo.gl/FbVNtq *Important Dates* Application Deadline March 1, 2015 Decision March 8, 2015 Early Registration April 10, 2015 Late Registration May 8, 2015 Summer School July 2-9, 2015 *Visum will comprise three main tracks* 1.Fundamental subjects 2.Examples of computer vision applications 3.Industrial session Each one with extensive practical “hands-on” sessions* * *Topics* Randomised Decision Forests and Tree-structured Algorithms in Computer Vision Tae-Kyun Kim, Imperial College London, UK Local Features Extraction and Description Jiri Matas, Czech Technical University, CZ Document Image Analysis Alicia Fornes, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ES Scene Understanding Martial Hebert, CMU, USA Automatic Facial Expression Recognition Michel Valstar, University of Nottingham, UK RGB-D Cameras Thomas Whelan, Imperial College London, UK *Applications* Point Clouds 3D* João P. Costeira, IST, PT ** *Tentative titles *Industry Track* http://asap54.com/ Daniel Heesch www.enermeter.pt/en Manuel João Ferreira www.philips.com Jacek Kustra *Venue* visum will take place in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city, European Best Destination 2012 and Lonely Planet’s top 10 for 2013. Here, you can find famous baroque style monuments, the worldwide known Port Wine cellars, always having the World Heritage Douro River as the background of this youthful, active and charming city. visum’s program includes social activities. *Accommodation*** *Tattva Design Hostel* Students will have 10% of discount. The prices include: Buffet breakfast, Wi-Fi all over the building, 4 computers in Lounge area, free linen, free locks, free City Maps, free Luggage Storage, free Portuguese Lessons, free Walking Tours, Happy Hour (exclusive prices for TattvaBar for guests). *Hotel da Música* All accepted participants will have a special price included in visum’s fees. Hotel da Música is a luxurious 4-star property set in a prime location in the centre of Porto. Local tourist attractions such as Rotunda da Boavista, Casa da Musica and Hospital Militar are not far from the hotel. Hotel da Música is equipped with free wifi. For more details please follow the link: http://www.hoteldamusica.com/and do not forget to check the special conditions at http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/ Please visit our webpage for up to date information: http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/. We are looking forward for your participation! visum organising committee Tiago Esteves, INEB, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Kelwin Fernandes, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Eduardo Marques, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Ana Rebelo, INESC TEC, Universidade do Porto Ricardo Sousa, INEB, Universidade do Porto Luís Teixeira, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/visum/402527539813446 Google+: https://plus.google.com/104076275960053201744/posts Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/visumschool

Feb. 2, 2015

Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course 2015: application deadline soon

by Erik De Schutter

OKINAWA/OIST COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2015 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 8 - June 25, 2015 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc The aim of the Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to learn the latest advances in neuroscience, and for those with experimental backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling. We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate in the course, held from June 8th through June 25th, 2015 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. Applications are through the course web page (https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc) only; they will close February 8th, 2015. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. The course has a strong hands-on component based on student proposed modeling or data analysis projects, which are further refined with the help of a dedicated tutor. Applicants are required to propose their project at the time of application. Like in preceding years, OCNC will be a comprehensive three-week course covering single neurons, networks, and behaviors with ample time for student projects. The first week will focus exclusively on methods with hands-on tutorials during the afternoons, while the second and third weeks will have lectures by international experts. We invite those who are interested in integrating experimental and computational approaches at each level, as well as in bridging different levels of complexity. There is no tuition fee. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and may support travel for those without funding. We hope that this course will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental neuroscientists to meet each other and to explore the attractive nature and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan. Invited faculty: • Gordon Arbuthnott (OIST) • Axel Borst (MPI, Münich, Germany) • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Eugene Izihikevich (Brain Corporation, USA) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Peter Latham (Gatsby Unit, UCL, UK) • Miguel Nicolelis (Duke University, USA) • Steve Prescott (University of Toronto, Canada) • John Rinzel (New York University, USA) • Jackie Schiller (Technion, Israel) • Greg Stephens (OIST) • Jeff Wickens (OIST) • Taro Toyoizumi (RIKEN BSI, Japan) • Xiao-Jing Wang (New York University, USA) • Wako Yoshida (ATR, Japan)

Feb. 2, 2015

European Spring School on Integrated Cognitive Systems (Herbert Jaeger)

by Herbert Jaeger

Invitation to Participate: INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLEGE 2015 www.interdisciplinary-college.de An intense, decidedly interdisciplinary Spring School in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning, Psychology, AI and Philosophy. Guenne, Lake Moehne, Germany - March 6-13, 2015 Chairs: Herbert Jaeger, Ansgar Bueschges Fokus theme 2015: From Neuron to Person: Assembling Behavior and Cognition *The Interdisciplinary College* (IK) is an annual European one-week spring school, now in its 18th year. It offers a dense, rich, 4-track state-of-the-art course program in the wider sciences of intelligent/cognitive systems. The perspective and mission is decidedly interdisciplinary. The IK is also a unique social and networking event. Minds meet, music is played, and friends are made in long evening and night sessions in the welcoming conference site at Lake Moehne. Each IK is centered on a *focus theme*. In 2015 the focus is on integrated, complex cognitive systems. Research in the wider cognitive and neurosciences (including AI, machine learning and robotics) often deals with specific subsystems or functions, like "motor control", "object recognition", "working memory", etc. There are numerous reasons for this fragmentation: a divide-and-conquer strategy of isolating subsystems has been very successful in the sciences; commercially relevant applications mostly are centered on single functionalities; interdisciplinary research is not easy in practice. Defying these obstacles, the IK 2015 will cast its focus on complete, autonomous agents -- animals, humans, robots, and software characters. An offering of 25+ courses (each course 4-6 hours) is grouped under the following perspectives: - *Modeling cognitive architectures*: theoretical / mathematical / computational frameworks to analyse or design complete intelligent agents - *Person, Identity, Dignity*: philosophical / psychological / ethics perspectives on sentient beings - *Engineering Agents*: technological approaches to build robots and software agents - *Neurons, Muscles, Bodies*: "bottom-up" modeling of sensing and motor control in neurobiology, genetics and motor science - *Language and Thought*: "top-down" modeling of higher cognitive capacities in cognitive psychology and linguistics Please visit www.interdisciplinary-college.de for the detailed program, venue and registration and everything else, including the IK's 30-year-long history. Participants from outside Europe are of course most welcome too! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Herbert Jaeger Professor for Computational Science Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH Campus Ring 28759 Bremen, Germany Phone (+49) 421 200 3215 Fax (+49) 421 200 49 3215 email h.jaeger(a)jacobs-university.de http://minds.jacobs-university.de ------------------------------------------------------------------

Feb. 1, 2015

Call for Applications: School on Neurotechnologies 2015 (March 23-27, 2015) at Padova, Italy.

by Mufti Mahmud

Dear All, Sorry for the cross posting of this message. I am glad to communicate that the NeuroChip Laboratory of University of Padova, Padova, Italy is organizing a School on Neurotechniques with special emphasis on "Tools for Investigating the Function of Neural Circuits". The school will be held from March 23 – 27, 2015 and the deadline for application is February 20, 2015. The following topics will be covered in the school: 1. Multi-electrode and multi-transistor arrays 2. Implantable brain probes for acute and chronic recording 3. Calcium imaging 4. Voltage sensitive dye imaging 5. Optogenetics 6. Transcranic magnetic stimulation and EEG 7. Mixed electrophysiology, genetics and behavior approaches 8. Information theory and the analysis of neuronal population signals 9. Closed-loop electrophysiology and hybrid neuromorphic-neural systems Thank you for your attention. Best regards, Mufti Mahmud Call for participation ------------------------- School on Neurotechniques 2015: The toolbox for investigating the function of neural circuits 23-27 March 2015 NeuroChip Lab, University of Padova, Italy Website: http://www.vassanellilab.eu/school-neurotechniques/ OBJECTIVE Investigating information processing and identifying operational rules of brain neural circuits relies on the capability to selectively record and stimulate multiple neurons within a network. The toolbox of available techniques conceived to meet this need is rapidly expanding. The CSN School on Neurotechniques 2015 will offer an overview on advanced electrical- and light-based recording methods of neuronal excitability, focusing on those that are most relevant for the investigation of neural networks ‘in vitro’ and ‘in vivo’ and for application in neuroprosthetics. Techniques derived from information theory for the analysis of neuronal population signals will be presented and practical demonstrations of experimental recording sessions provided. The school targets doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, scientists working in the related fields. Since the school's topics are interdisciplinary covering neurobiology, neuronal biophysics, microscopy, and electronics, preliminary knowledge in these fields is highly recommended. SPEAKERS Luca Berdondini, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Paolo Del Giudice, National Institute of Health, Italy Stefano Ferraina, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy Marta Giacomello, University of Padova, Italy Michele Giugliano, University of Antwerp, Belgium Bernd Kuhn, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology, Japan Gabriele Losi, CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, Italy Sergio Martinoia, University of Genova, Italy Marcello Massimini University of Milan , Italy Silvestro Micera, EPFL, Switzerland & SSSUP, Italy Ofer Yizhar, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Stefano Panzeri, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Patrick Ruther, University of Freiburg, Germany Roland Thewes, University of Berlin, Germany Paul Verschure, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain Guenther Zeck, NMI at the University of Tuebingen, Germany Ralf Zeitler, MPI for Intelligent Systems, Germany REGISTRATION To apply, please register at ( http://www.vassanellilab.eu/school-neurotechniques/registration/) on or before February 20, 2015. If you have any further questions, please contact silviamaria.lattanzio(a)unipd.it or stefano.vassanelli(a)unipd.it The registration is FREE, however, the number of places are limited. The registration is sponsored by the European Commission, Project CSNII csnetwork.eu (GA No 601167, FP7, FET Proactive, Neuro-Bio-Inspired Systems). Travel and accommodation costs are not funded. LOCATION The school will be hosted by the NeuroChip Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via f. Marzolo 3, 35131 - Padova, Italy. The location is very close the city centre and is easily reachable from the railway or bus station of Padova. WHEN March 23-27, 2015. Target audience (N = ~25 active full-time): PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, scientists, members of associated EC CSNII consortia.

Jan. 31, 2015

Workshop announcement at the EITN March 2-4 2015

by EITN

More information and registration on the following website http://eitnconf-020315.sciencesconf.org/ *Due to a limited number of seats, the registration is free however mandatoty **March 2nd-4th 2015, EITN Paris 1^st community workshop HBP network simulator* *“Are we building the right thing? – Requirements from theory for simulation environments and neuromorphic computing”* http://www.eitn.org Organized by Andrew Davison, Jeff Muller, Jochen Eppler, David Lester, Abigail Morrison and Markus Diesmann in collaboration with the EITN.** ***Abstract* The HBP creates novel ICT infrastructure for the neuroscience community. Simulation engines in software and hardware for different levels of description are accessible through a unified collaboration portal (UP) providing version control and provenance tracking. The simulation engine for networks of abstract spiking neuron models called the network simulator provided by the software NEST particularly targets theoretical neuroscience and neurorobotics. This workshop presents the capabilities of the network simulator and the corresponding PyNN expressions as available at the end of the ramp-up phase of the HBP in March 2016. Neuromorphic hardware provided by the NM-PM1 (Heidelberg) and SpiNNaker (Manchester) systems enable the translation of a restricted set of software models to a platform with accelerated speed and reduced power consumption for high-throughput studies and interaction with the real world. With this background, the main part of the workshop is reserved for a discussion of the scientific challenges and plans of theoretical neuroscience to derive future requirements on the simulation engine. This will help developers to optimize the roadmap of the second phase of the HBP with the aim to maximize usefulness, uptake, and impact.

Jan. 30, 2015

CFP: Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment, ECAL 2015

by Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi

*** CALL FOR PAPERS *** 13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2015) Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment Session paper submission deadline: 2 March 2015 Notification of acceptance of papers: 17 April 2015 Paper Camera-Ready-Copy deadline: 18 May 2015 Conference convenes: 20-24 July 2015, York, United Kingdom Conference website: http://ecal2015.alife.org <http://ecal2015.alife.org/> Special Session website: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html <http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html> There is a growing acknowledgement in the artificial life and artificial intelligence community that embodiment is a key for the understanding of cognitive systems. Despite the consensus about the importance of embodiment, there is no clear definition of what the agent’s embodiment actually is. We believe that a quantitative approach can help to answer this open question. This is inspired by Einstein’s answer to the question ”What is time?”, to which he replied ”Time is what clocks measure”. Although this seems to be a trivial answer, it reveals that what we mean by time depends on the way we measure it. We are interested in quantifications of embodiment from various view points and different fields. A non-exclusive list of examples is: • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on sensing • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on cognitive processes • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on acting • Quantifications of brain-body-environment separation We are open to quantifications from any formal approach. Examples are information theory and dynamical systems, but others are highly welcome too. The ideal outcome of the special session would be a good overview of different concepts and quantifications of embodiment and an understanding how they overlap and differ, thereby leading to a better understanding and a clearer picture of what embodiment actually is. Papers are submitted via the ECAL paper submission form and published in the conference proceedings. Special Session Chairs: Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Christoph Salge, Georg Martius, Daniel Polani

Jan. 30, 2015