- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

TEX2022: Bringing together Predictive Processes and Statistical Learning

by Yamil Vidal

Dear all, The registration for “TEX2022: Bringing together Predictive Processes and Statistical Learning” is now open. After our online meeting last year, this summer we want to welcome you for an in-person meeting in Trieste, Italy. The event will consist of morning lectures by the invited speakers and talks/posters by the attendees. There will also be plenty of time for social activities and informal discussions. While all presentations will be delivered in person, it will also be possible to attend online. You can find more information at the event’s website: *https://indico.sissa.it/e/TEX2022* <https://indico.sissa.it/e/TEX2022> If you are active on Twitter, please consider retweeting the event’s announcement: *https://twitter.com/CrepaldiLab/status/1512412553942601740* <https://twitter.com/CrepaldiLab/status/1512412553942601740> We look forward to welcoming you to Trieste this summer! With best regards, Yamil Vidal and Davide Crepaldi Dr. Yamil Vidal Predictive Brain Lab Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging - Donders Institute Nijmegen the Netherlands

April 8, 2022

Final reminder: EMBO Practical Course - Barcelona summer school for Advanced Modelling of Behavior (BAMB!)

by Alexandre Hyafil

The Barcelona summer school for Advanced Modelling of Behavior (BAMB! <http://www.bambschool.org>) teaches advanced techniques in model-based analysis of behavior (humans and other species) to cognitive and computational neuroscientists at PhD and early career levels. This will be achieved through structured lectures, talks, hands-on tutorials and group projects aimed at making knowledge obtained directly applicable to the participants' own research. We want the trainees to acquire both the conceptual bases and the technical skills that will enable them to pursue a full modelling approach on their own when they come back to their lab. The course is intended for PhD students and postdocs in cognitive and computational neuroscience with a solid background in computational/quantitative analysis to benefit maximally from the advanced training offered by the course. Proficiency in either Python or Matlab is also required. We seek a nice blend of experimentalists (cognitive psychology / neuroscience) and theoreticians (with or without experience in cognitive modeling). Scientists from underrepresented groups and countries are especially encouraged to apply. The school is an EMBO Practical Course <https://www.embo.org/conferences-training/> and is organized by the Centre de Recerca Matemática <http://www.crm.cat>. A limited number of travel grants <https://www.embo.org/funding/lecture-travel-and-childcare-grants/travel-gra…> will be available from EMBO. Organizers: Chris Summerfield (Oxford / Deepmind) Klaus Wimmer (CRM, Barcelona) Alex Hyafil (CRM, Barcelona) Confirmed Faculty: Jean Daunizeau (ICM, Paris) Alex Hyafil (CRM, Barcelona) Máté Lengyel (Cambridge) Zhaoping Li (Tübingen) Alfonso Renart (Champalimaud) Marion Rouault (ENS Paris) Kim Stachenfeld (Deepmind) Chris Summerfield (Oxford / Deepmind) MH Tessler (Deepmind) Klaus Wimmer (CRM, Barcelona) Dates and location: September 1-8, downtown Barcelona, Spain Applications are open until April 13. Please see the course website for further details: www.bambschool.org.

April 8, 2022

INCF Neuroinformatics Assembly 2022: Registration and abstract submission are now open!

by INCF

INCF Neuroinformatics Assembly 2022: Registration and abstract submission are now open! We're happy to announce that the INCF Neuroinformatics Assembly 2022 <https://neuroinformatics.incf.org/> is scheduled to take place virtually on September 12-16! The Assembly is a unique venue where neuroscience standards developers, infrastructure providers, and software developers have the opportunity to interact with the research community to share the latest advancements in neuroinformatics. INCF Assembly 2022 will be hosted on the Gather platform. Who should attend? If you fit into either of the categories below you don't want to miss the INCF Assembly! - Neuroscience and/or neuroinformatics researchers interested in learning how to implement FAIR data management and sharing practices in their research, tools, and infrastructures. - Standards developers, infrastructure providers, and software developers interested in learning about the latest advancements in the state of the art, increasing community adoption of their infrastructures and software, improving their craft, and those dedicated to working collaboratively with the community to develop solutions that support open, FAIR neuroscience. This year we are covering the following topics: - FAIR data & workflows - Computational neuroscience - Digital brain atlasing - EEG - Neuroimaging - Diversity & inclusion in neuroinformatics Find all session descriptions here <https://neuroinformatics.incf.org/2022/sessions> Important dates: - Registration opens: April 8 - Abstract submission opens: April 8 - Abstract submission closes: May 9 - Assembly: September 12-16: This year's Assembly will include keynotes, workshops, tools and infrastructure demonstrations, investigator presentations from selected abstracts, and poster presentations. New this year is a new platform for a type of “speed dating” for neuroscientists and neuroinformaticians, we have partnered with Zoohuddle to improve the virtual poster presentation experience. Via Zoohuddle, participants will be able to submit abstracts, review other abstracts, and rank other abstracts based on who they would most like to meet. Each abstract submitter will then receive a schedule of 1-1 “huddles.” We hope to see you at the INCF Neuroinformatics Assembly 2022 <https://neuroinformatics.incf.org/>! <https://neuroinformatics.incf.org/> /the INCF Team

April 8, 2022

Funded PhD in large-scale brain modelling

by Goodfellow, Marc

Dear Colleagues, We are offering a funded PhD studentship at the University of Exeter, aiming to advance methods for modelling and understanding large-scale brain dynamics. The successful candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary team, based across the Living Systems Institute, the department of Mathematics, as well as Psychology. They will be part of a vibrant community of researchers focussed on the development of mathematical methods to improve our understanding of the brain in health and disease. I would be very grateful if you could forward the advert below to anyone who may be interested: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4335 Best wishes Dr. Marc Goodfellow, University of Exeter http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/mathematics/staff/mg401

April 8, 2022

NEST Conference 2022 - call for contributions is open

by Hans Ekkehard Plesser

Dear Colleagues, The NEST Initiative is excited to invite everyone interested in Neural Simulation Technology and the NEST Simulator to the NEST Conference 2022. The NEST Conference provides an opportunity for the NEST Community to meet, exchange success stories, swap advice, learn about current developments in and around NEST spiking network simulation and its application. We explicitly encourage young scientists to participate in the conference! This year's conference will again take place as a virtual conference on Thursday/Friday 23/24 June 2022. Submission of contributions is now open! We are inviting contributions to the conference, including talks, "posters" and workshops on specific topics. Please register and submit your contribution(s) via the conference website https://nest-simulator.org/conference. Important dates 30 April 2022 - Deadline for NEST Initiative membership applications eligible for fee reduction 11 May 2022 - Deadline for submission of contributions 03 June 2022 - Notification of acceptance 17 June 2022 - Registration deadline 23 June 2022 - NEST Conference 2022 starts We are looking forward to seeing you all in June! Hans Ekkehard Plesser and the conference organizing committee -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Head, Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

April 7, 2022

PhD and postdoc positions in distributed lifelong learning / RL

by Andrea Soltoggio

Dear All, I would like to advertise a Ph.D. and a postdoc position in my research group at Loughborough University to work on distributed lifelong learning / reinforcement learning, with a particular focus on neuro-modulatory approaches. If interested, please email me. Best regards, Andrea Soltoggio Further additional links to our latest news and papers: https://www.azorobotics.com/News.aspx?newsID=12518 https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-022-00452-0.epdf https://openreview.net/forum?id=BJge3TNKwH https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10371 Details. This new field of AI seeks to create machines that learn during a lifetime similarly to biological brains. This research continues and advances recent progress from the DARPA projects Lifelong Learning Machines (L2M) and Shared Experience Lifelong Learning (ShELL). The researchers will join a growing research group of Ph.D. students and postdocs working in the same area, and have access to the latest computational devices such as Nvidia A100 cards. Collaboration opportunities with world-leading AI laboratories will be encouraged and supported. Loughborough University Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014). In choosing Loughborough for your research, you’ll work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Graduate School, including tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career. -- Dr. Andrea Soltoggio (he/him or they/them) Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Artificial Intelligence Department of Computer Science, School of Science & Intelligent Automation Centre https://www.intelligent-automation.org.uk/about-us/centre-staff & Centre for Information Management https://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sbe/cim/ Haslegrave Building, N.2.03 Loughborough University LE11 3TU, UK Email: a.soltoggio(a)lboro.ac.uk<mailto:a.soltoggio@lboro.ac.uk> Web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/compsci/staff/dr-andrea-soltoggio.html

April 7, 2022

Assistant Professor / Postdoc Researcher in computational neuroscience and/or developmental robotics at the University of Tokyo

by nagai.yukie＠mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Dear colleagues, The International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN) at the University of Tokyo is looking for highly motivated full-time Assistant Professor / Postdoc researchers in the field of computational neuroscience and/or developmental robotics. The selected candidates will join Cognitive Developmental Robotics Laboratory head by Prof. Yukie Nagai and investigate the underlying mechanisms of human cognitive development and disorders by means of computational approaches. We design computational neural networks inspired by the human brain and examine what enables the networks to acquire human-like intelligence. Please send the required documents if you are interested in being considered. Assistant Professor / Postdoc Researcher at IRCN, the University of Tokyo https://ircn.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/20211220_IRCN_Nagai_lab_2EN.pdf Cognitive Developmental Robotics Laboratory (Nagai Lab) http://developmental-robotics.jp ---------- 1. Job title / Number of positions Project Research Associate or Project Researcher (Postdoctoral Fellow) / One or two 2. Employment period Starting Date: Negotiable Contract duration: until March 31, 2022 3. Renewable The contract is renewable on a fiscal year basis (from April 1 to March 31; every year) according to research budget, research activity, and research achievements. Contract duration is until March 31, 2026. 4. Place of work International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo, 113-0033 JAPAN 5. Description Successful applicants will work in the fields of computational neuroscience, cognitive developmental robotics, machine learning, and relevant topics. They will investigate the principle of human cognitive development and disorders by modeling computational neural networks inspired by the human brain and/or analyzing human cognitive behaviors. Please see the lab homepage (https://developmental-robotics.jp/en/) for more details. 6. Salary and benefits Salary: To be determined in accordance with the University of Tokyo Regulations Commuter allowance: JPY55,000 per month at maximum No retirement benefits or bonuses 7. Qualifications - PhD in engineering, computer science, cognitive science, neuroscience, or relevant fields - Communication skills in English - Programming skills - Experiences in computational neuroscience and/or cognitive developmental robotics are preferred 8. Application documents (1) Cover letter (A4 1 page) (2) Curriculum vita (3) Publication list (4) Research plan (A4 2-3 pages) (5) Name, affiliation, and email address of two references, one of which should be a previous employer or supervisor 9. Submission Please send the application documents (PDF) to yukie(a)ircn.jp 10. Application deadline / Selection process When the position is filled All applications will be screened, and only those qualified will be scheduled for an interview (on-site or online). 11. Inquiries Please contact Prof. Yukie Nagai at IRCN, the University of Tokyo yukie(a)ircn.jp — Yukie Nagai, Ph.D. Project Professor, The University of Tokyo nagai.yukie(a)mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp | https://developmental-robotics.jp CREST Cognitive Mirroring: https://cognitive-mirroring.org CREST Cognitive Feeling: https://cognitive-feeling.jp

April 7, 2022

Postdoc positions in nanoscale modeling of astrocytes, neurons or synapses

by Erik De Schutter

The Computational Neuroscience unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (https://www.oist.jp) Japan has been spearheading nanoscale stochastic modeling of astrocytes, neurons and synapses (https://groups.oist.jp/cnu) We have two postdoctoral positions open and Japan is finally issuing visa again. The selected candidates will build on previous work in modeling of cerebellar or hippocampal astrocytes, neurons and synapses using our STEPS software (http://steps.sourceforge.net) research project depending on experience and interests of the candidate. Previous experience in neural modeling required, preferentially as subject of PhD. Competences: A recent PhD in a relevant discipline such as neuroscience, molecular biology, biophysics or biochemistry. Experience in programming in Python. Fluent English conversation and writing skills. Benefits / Offer: A competitive salary and relocation package are offered. This an ideal position to gain experience in a prominent computational neuroscience lab and take part in our international collaborations. Please contact Prof. Erik De Schutter (erik(a)oist.jp) for inquiries.

April 7, 2022

CAMP summer course on computational neuroscience: announcement.

by U.S.Bhalla

Dear Colleagues, We would like to announce CAMP@Bangalore 2022 from 23 July 2022 to 7 August 2022, in Bangalore, India. CAMP (Computational Approaches to Memory and Plasticity at NCBS, Bangalore) is a 16-day summer school where students will be trained in theoretical and computational modeling, pertaining to memory and plasticity in the brain, spanning different scales of space, time and complexity. This flavor of CAMP will focus on — Neuromodulation and Cell Diversity. The course will have lectures, hands-on tutorials, and project work to launch students into the exciting field of computational neuroscience. The course is supported by the Simons Foundation. Students worldwide are encouraged to apply. Accommodation and food will be free for the selected students. The NCBS Campus has pleasant grounds, sports facilities, and the weather in late July is mild with moderate rain. There is no registration fee. Students are advised to obtain independent travel grants. Please visit the course website https://camp.ncbs.res.in/ for more details about this year's course and past courses. Application deadline: 30 April 2022 Referee letters must reach by 2 May 2022 Speakers include: Arvind Kumar KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Gilad Silberberg Karolinska Institutet, Sweden K.T. Blackwell George Mason University, USA Peter Dayan Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany Raffaella Tonini Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy Rishikesh Narayanan Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Sho Yagishita University of Tokyo, Japan Srikanth Ramaswamy Newcastle University, UK Upinder Bhalla National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore Vatsala Thirumalai National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore Thank you, Course Organizers CAMP 2022 Arvind Kumar Rishikesh Narayanan Upinder S. Bhalla

April 6, 2022

Available Ph.D. Position in Developmental Robotics / Human-Robot Interaction

by Amir Aly

Dear All, *Apologies for cross-posting* We are pleased to announce an opportunity for a funded Ph.D. studentship about (*Computational Modelling of Language Compositionality through Human-Robot Interaction*) at the Center for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) at Plymouth University, UK. The closing date for applications is *12 noon on 04 May 2022* *(funding conditions for the international (non-home fees / non-UK-based) students are available in the link below)*. This exciting project tries to investigate language compositionality (*from the word to sentence levels*) through human-robot interaction with a view to making a robot able to understand human instructions. This requires *inferring the* *latent syntactic structure* of language through perceptual information (e.g., visual and/or haptic perception) and defining its mechanism of compositional development. This project will set the basis for learning the meaning of words and their syntactic categories (e.g., nouns, verbs) through perception in the surroundings, and learning language grammar - through an unsupervised approach - so as to understand phrases and sentences (*more details and research questions are available in the link below*). More details *about the topic*, *how to apply*, *eligibility criteria for home students / international students*, *and* *funding conditions* are available at: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/computational-modelling-of-language-c… <https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/computational-modelling-of-language-c…> Computational Modelling of Language Compositionality through Human-Robot Interaction at University of Plymouth on FindAPhD.com <https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/computational-modelling-of-language-c…> PhD Project - Computational Modelling of Language Compositionality through Human-Robot Interaction at University of Plymouth, listed on FindAPhD.com www.findaphd.com If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, Regards ---------------- *Dr. Amir Aly* Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Center for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS) School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics Room B332, Portland Square, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA University of Plymouth, UK

April 5, 2022