- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

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

Four lectureships available at University of Sussex

by Thomas Nowotny

Dear comp-neuro, four permanent positions at the level of lecturer (assistant professor) are available at University of Sussex due to our rapid expansion in Computer Science and AI. The lectureships are for any topics in Computer Science/Informatics, including computational neuroscience and bio-inspired AI. Please get in touch if you want to know more. The full advert is here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/jobs/lecturer-com-sci-8058 Come and work with us in the beautiful city of Brighton on the South coast of England. Best regards, Thomas -- Prof. Thomas Nowotny Head of AI Research Group CCNR, Sussex Neuroscience Phone: +44-1273-678593 Engineering and Informatics, Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny<http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny> [../../owa/redir.aspx?C=9e11bb0e527242938402b42d9b5498ea&URL=http%3a%2f%2fsussex.ac.uk%2finformatics%2ftnowotny] I support the University of Sussex Community Pledge, as I continue to help those around me during the pandemic. Small acts of collaboration, kindness and integrity can make a big difference. www.sussex.ac.uk/community-pledge<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/community-pledge>

April 4, 2022

The interplay of complex and coherent dynamics in brain function; Cergy (France) May 18-22 2022

by bgutkin

The HYBRID workshop The interplay of complex and coherent dynamics in brain function https://complexityparisseine.wordpress.com/ <https://complexityparisseine.wordpress.com/> will take place at Cy Advanced Studies , Neuville sur Oise (France) from 18-20 May 2022. This international workshop is the final act of the ANR Project Exact Reduction of Multiscale Neural Dynamics ERMUNDY involving CY Cergy Paris Université, École Normale Supérieure in Paris and Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes in Marseille. Our aim is to bring in Neuville-sur-Oise scientists working in different disciplines ranging from applied mathematics to neuroscience, from physics to biology in order to address a topic of general interest as the emergence of complex and coherent dynamics in the brain. If you are interested to follow the workshop via ZOOM you should register here: https://univ-amu-fr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuceypqjItE9ASdbQAOwoovh7EJc… <https://univ-amu-fr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuceypqjItE9ASdbQAOwoovh7EJc…> In case you would like to come (even for 1 single day) and eventually present a poster, you should register here : https://complexityparisseine.wordpress.com/contact/ <https://complexityparisseine.wordpress.com/contact/> due to COVID restrictions only 20 places are left and they will be reserved in priority for those presenting a poster. The organizing committee A. Torcini, B. Gutkin, D. Battaglia, M. di Volo

April 4, 2022

Coordinator position 'Diversity Internship Programme', Tuebingen, Germany

by Susan Fischer

---- Apologies for cross-posting ---- In an exciting venture, the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics has created a new internship programme, targeting students from currently underrepresented communities. The Institute investigates information processing in the brain for which it uses experimental, theoretical and computational methods to study perception, memory, decision-making, motor performance and more, and to develop appropriate recording and imaging techniques. We now invite applications for a part-time position for a Coordinator of the Computation and Cognition Tübingen Summer Internship (CaCTüS internship) (m/f/d;). This position is limited until 31 October 2023 in the first instance. The internship aims to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in animal, human and machine intelligence research by offering paid research stays to students from currently underrepresented groups to work on projects suggested and supervised by early career researchers. By providing hands-on research experience, access to first-class research facilities and scientific networks at the start of the students’ careers, the initiative counteracts systemic disadvantages and empowers students to continue their academic career and to develop their full potential. Key Duties & Responsibilities: In your role as CaCTüS Coordinator you will be responsible for the implementation and the overall management of the internship. You will contribute to the planning, organisation, implementation and maintenance of the programme’s activities, systems and processes and serve as the point of contact for potential candidates/enrolled interns. You will also identify and assess further potential external funding opportunities and contribute to the strategic development and promotion of the initiative. Full job description and detailed information about the position can be found on our website at: https://jobs.tue.mpg.de/jobs/168 ************************************************ Susan Fischer Coordinator Alexander von Humboldt Professorship Prof Peter Dayan & Department for Sensory and Sensorimotor Systems, Prof Zhaoping Li Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen & Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics AI Research Building R 20-7/A21 Maria-von-Linden-Str. 6 72076 Tübingen Germany susan.fischer(a)tue.mpg.de ************************************************

April 4, 2022