- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Post-doc positions in Neuromorphic Engineering - SINAPSE/NUS/Singapore

by Andrei Nakagawa

Dear all, On behalf of the* Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE)*, I would like to present an opportunity for Postdoctoral Researchers. The Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) ( www.sinapseinstitute.org) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) is looking to hire *two* Postdoctoral Research Associates to enhance their research efforts in *neuromorphic engineering,* *neuromorphic sensing, robotics and prosthetics. * The areas of expertise and experience include: - Integrating multi-modal sensing to improve navigation, manipulation or movement; - Deploying machine learning architectures on robotic/prosthetic devices. - Designing novel mechanisms, for hands and grippers, integrating visual, tactile and haptic sensing; - Implementing bimanual object manipulation algorithms; - Designing spike-based machine learning algorithms. Candidates should have a PhD in engineering, science or related field, have experience in designing complex hardware software systems and developing and applying machine learning architectures for tasks such as object detection (visual/tactile), object tracking and object manipulation. In addition, candidates should have good collaborative and communication skills and be able to work in an interdisciplinary team. We are seeking for creative and imaginative people that are passionate about integrating hardware and software to build biologically inspired systems that perceive, act, and interact with the environment; deploying state-of-the-art machine learning on devices in the real world. We are offering competitive salaries contract and relocation assistance. These are positions without teaching obligations, however applicants with academic aspirations will have the opportunity to supervise undergraduate and graduate students, organize and take part in workshops, and electively get involved in research grants or industry partnerships. To indicate interest, please send a CV to: *Dr. Alcimar Soares* *email: alcimar.soares(a)gmail.com <alcimar.soares(a)gmail.com>.* *Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.* *Environment* SINAPSE is a very exciting place to develop high level and novel research. The lab brings together engineers, scientists and clinical researchers with a common goal of making an impact on society, focused on Neurotechnologies for basic science, clinical application and commercialization. Here, you would find an array of advanced technology: microelectronics for building neural interfaces, imaging tools and technologies for studying function and dysfunction of brain, optical methods for manipulating the nervous system, cognitive and computational methods for assessing neural/brain function, robotics for rehabilitation and neuromorphic systems for modeling the nervous system to inspire the next generation of robots and intelligent machines. The National University of Singapore (NUS) is the leading engineering and scientific institution in Asia centered upon education and basic research. Kind regards, *Andrei Nakagawa Silva, MSc* Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology - SINAPSE National University of Singapore - NUS URL: http://www.sinapseinstitute.org Biomedical Engineering Lab Federal University of Uberlandia URL: http://www.biolab.eletrica.ufu.br/en Contact Skype: andrei.nakagawa1 Phone: +65 9397-7263

March 26, 2018

[jobs] Start-up in Berlin seeks biologists for multiple open positions (senior and junior)

by Arnab Chakrabarty

Start-up in Berlin seeks biologists for multiple open positions (senior and junior) neuraltrain GmbH is a newly founded digital health start-up based in Berlin developing innovative, digital mental health solutions. We are looking for biologist(s)/neuroscientist(s) for one of the current projects on a digital therapy solution in depression and affective disorders. Start dates are as soon as possible. RESPONSIBILITIES: * Design, conduct, analyse and present experimental research from the project * In-depth literature review and meta-analyses; in particular, brain oscillations, psychophysics, perceptual learning, depression, internet-based therapy interventions are topics of relevance * Identification and establishment of scientific collaboration with academic partners * Writing reports, grants, publications in English WE DESIRE: * PhD in Neurosciences/ Psychology/ Biology; fresh graduates and post-docs are particularly encouraged to apply * Expertise in the following areas: neuronal oscillations, affective sciences, psychophysics, perceptual learning, EEG, EMG, skin conductance experiments and Depression. * Programming and some app development experience is a strong plus * Experience as an independent researcher in any of the above areas * Knowledge of Python and/or willingness to learn, strong statistical and analytical skills * Entrepreneurial mentality and an ownership/stakeholder attitude to get things done * Knowledge of 'key opinion leaders' in depression and psychiatry, psychology, brain oscillations is a plus You do not have to match all the criteria to apply. We will assess your fit on a case by case basis. We are an equal opportunities employer and favour diversity. We offer a young and dynamic working environment in a hip and exciting co-working space called MINDSPACE right in the heart of Berlin. We are a small, but growing team and are very well-connected in the Digital Health ecosystem. We offer enough flexibility to grow personally and professionally. Location: Berlin Position: Full-time If you feel addressed by this job description, feel encouraged to get in touch at chakrabarty(a)neuraltrain.de<mailto:chakrabarty@neuraltrain.de> with your CV and cover letter describing your motivation for the project and digital health. Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty Founder and CEO, neuraltrain GmbH --- Contact Details: Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty CEO, neuraltrain GmbH Phone: +49 (0)160 97041155 Email: chakrabarty(a)neuraltrain.de<mailto:chakrabarty@neuraltrain.de> --- Company Details: Address: neuraltrain GmbH, c/o F.H. Incubator GmbH, Friedrichstr. 68, 10117 Berlin, Germany Registered at Handelsregister des Registergerichts Charlottenburg; Registernummer: HRB 191630 B UStID: Pending Managing Director: Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty --- This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to company privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Thank you.

March 26, 2018

Faculty jobs in brain stimulation at Stanford University

by Wei Wu

To whom it may concern, I wanted to share a link to this job posting for those who are interested: http://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/psychiatry/documents/ about_us/FacultyJobs/BrainStimulation.pdf

March 26, 2018

11ᵗʰ Advanced Scientific Programming in Python in Camerino, Italy, 3—8 September, 2018

by Jakob Jordan

11ᵗʰ Advanced Scientific Programming in Python ============================================== a Summer School by the G-Node and the University of Camerino https://python.g-node.org Scientists spend more and more time writing, maintaining, and debugging software. While techniques for doing this efficiently have evolved, only few scientists have been trained to use them. As a result, instead of doing their research, they spend far too much time writing deficient code and reinventing the wheel. In this course we will present a selection of advanced programming techniques and best practices which are standard in the industry, but especially tailored to the needs of a programming scientist. Lectures are devised to be interactive and to give the students enough time to acquire direct hands-on experience with the materials. Students will work in pairs throughout the school and will team up to practice the newly learned skills in a real programming project — an entertaining computer game. We use the Python programming language for the entire course. Python works as a simple programming language for beginners, but more importantly, it also works great in scientific simulations and data analysis. We show how clean language design, ease of extensibility, and the great wealth of open source libraries for scientific computing and data visualization are driving Python to become a standard tool for the programming scientist. This school is targeted at Master or PhD students and Post-docs from all areas of science. Competence in Python or in another language such as Java, C/C++, MATLAB, or Mathematica is absolutely required. Basic knowledge of Python and of a version control system such as git, subversion, mercurial, or bazaar is assumed. Participants without any prior experience with Python and/or git should work through the proposed introductory material before the course. We are striving hard to get a pool of students which is international and gender-balanced: see how far we got in previous years <https://python.g-node.org/wiki/archives#stats>! Date & Location =============== 3–8 September, 2018. Camerino, Italy. Application =========== You can apply online: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/applications Application deadline: 23:59 UTC, 31 May, 2018. There will be no deadline extension, so be sure to apply on time. Be sure to read the FAQ before applying: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/faq Participation is for free, i.e. no fee is charged! Participants however should take care of travel, living, and accommodation expenses by themselves. Program ======= • Version control with git and how to contribute to open source projects with GitHub • Best practices in data visualization • Organizing, documenting, and distributing scientific code • Testing scientific code • Profiling scientific code • Advanced NumPy • Advanced scientific Python: decorators, context managers, generators, and elements of object oriented programming • Writing parallel applications in Python • Speeding up scientific code with Cython and numba • Memory-bound computations and the memory hierarchy • Programming in teams Also see the detailed day-by-day schedule: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/schedule Faculty ======= • Ashwin Trikuta Srinath, Cyberinfrastructure Technology Integration, Clemson University, SC USA • Jenni Rinker, Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde Denmark • Juan Nunez-Iglesias, Melbourne Bioinformatics, University of Melbourne Australia • Nicolas P. Rougier, Inria Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, Institute of Neurodegenerative Disease, University of Bordeaux France • Pietro Berkes, NAGRA Kudelski, Lausanne Switzerland • Rike-Benjamin Schuppner, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany • Tiziano Zito, freelance consultant, Berlin Germany • Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek, Red Hat Inc., Warsaw Poland Organizers ========== For the German Neuroinformatics Node of the INCF (G-Node) Germany: • Tiziano Zito, freelance consultant, Berlin Germany • Caterina Buizza, Personal Robotics Lab, Imperial College London UK • Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek, Red Hat Inc., Warsaw Poland • Jakob Jordan, Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Switzerland Switzerland For the University of Camerino Italy: • Flavio Corradini, Computer Science Division, School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino Italy • Barbara Re, Computer Science Division, School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino Italy Website: https://python.g-node.org Contact: python-info(a)g-node.org -- Jakob Jordan Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neuroscience Jülich Research Centre and JARA Jülich, Germany tel.: +49 2461 61-96450 http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 25, 2018

PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience

by Obermayer, Klaus, Prof. Dr.

PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience & Machine Learning Neural Information Processing Group, Fakultät IV, Technische Universität Berlin and Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany Salary grade E13 (TV-L Berliner Hochschulen) Duration: max. 5 years Starting date: October 1st, 2018 Working field: The successful candidate is expected to join collaborative research projects at the interface of computational neuroscience and machine learning. The position is also affiliated with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (https://www.bccn-berlin.de/) and the candidate is welcome to participate in its scientific and training activities. Teaching responsibilities include the supervision of two tutorials per week during the semester associated with the courses taught by the Neural Information Processing Group. For more information about our current research projects see: http://www.ni.tu-berlin.de/. Requirements: Successfully completed university degree (Master, Diplom or equivalent) in Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science or another MINT subject; very good knowledge of machine learning and Computational Neuroscience; experience in teaching (supervision of tutorials) is desirable; very good German and English skills. How to apply: Please send your written application with the reference number (IV-158/18) and the usual documents to Technische Universität Berlin - Der Präsident - Fakultät IV, Institut für Softwaretechnik und Theoretische Informatik, FG Neuronale Informationsverarbeitung, Prof. Dr. Obermayer, Sekr. MAR 5-6, Marchstr. 23, 10587 Berlin or - preferably - by e-mail to klaus.obermayer(a)tu-berlin.de. Closing date: April 20th, 2018 To ensure equal opportunities between women and men, applications by women with the required qualifications are explicitly desired. Qualified individuals with disabilities will be favored. The TU Berlin values the diversity of its members and is committed to the goals of equal opportunities. Please send copies only. Original documents will not be returned.

March 25, 2018

Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) 2018 Computational Summer School

by Matthijs van der Meer

Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) 2018 Computational Summer School https://summer-mind.github.io/ July 30th - August 7th, 2018 Application Deadline: April 29th, 2018 We are delighted to welcome applications for the second annual Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) Computational Summer School. The theme of this year’s summer school is Narratives and Natural Contexts. There has been renewed interest in extending the study of neural and psychological phenomena in highly controlled laboratory settings to more naturalistic paradigms that more closely reflect the rich spatiotemporal structure of the real world. Bridging this divide requires developing new experiments and analytic methods. The goal of our summer school is to provide a forum for gaining hands-on experience with some of the latest computational tools that can help gain insight into understanding how our brains process naturalistic stimuli and contexts. We will offer a mix of expertise at a broad range of spatiotemporal scales and domains (e.g. behavioral, cognitive, social; circuit, whole-brain, and social networks; etc.). In addition, we will maintain our special focus on training students to use and contribute to open-source tools, data sharing, and other “best practices” for open science. For more information, and/or to apply, please visit our website, https://summer-mind.github.io/. Please note that this year’s application deadline is April 29, 2018. You may also find information about last year’s summer school (theme: multiscale network dynamics) along with all course materials here, https://summer-mind.github.io/2017.html. We anticipate a diverse and talented mix of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty will participate in the summer school, and we hope to see you this summer in Hanover! Kind regards, Luke Chang, Jeremy Manning, and Matt van der Meer Directors Jim Haxby, Thalia Wheatley, and Dan Rockmore Advisory Committee This event is sponsored by the Center for Social Brain Sciences, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth Research Computing, and Neukom Institute for Computational Sciences at Dartmouth.

March 23, 2018

Job openings at Jülich Supercomputing Centre

by Jochen Martin Eppler

Dear all, at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, we currently have two open positions in the context of the Human Brain Project: * Scientific programmer in computational neuroscience<http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2018-061-EN…> * Senior scientific developer in computational neuroscience<http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2018-062-EN…> For details about the institute and the positions, please follow the links. Best regards, Jochen! -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49(2461)61-96653 ---------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 23, 2018

Brain Dynamics Toolbox for Matlab

by Stewart Heitmann

Dear all, The Brain Dynamics Toolbox (http://www.bdtoolbox.org <http://www.bdtoolbox.org/>) is open-source software for simulating dynamical systems in neuroscience. It is for researchers and students who wish to explore mathematical models of brain function using Matlab. It includes a graphical tool for simulating dynamical systems in real-time as well as command-line tools for scripting large-scale simulations. Custom systems of differential equations can typically be defined in less than 100 lines of standard matlab code. The graphical interface is designed to be used as both a research tool and a teaching tool. Its hub-and-spoke architecture allows new combinations of numerical solvers and interactive plots (time plots, phase plots, bifurcation diagrams, space-time plots, etc) to be applied to any model with no additional programming effort. Version 2018a of the Brain Dynamics Toolbox has just been released and is available from http://www.bdtoolbox.org <http://www.bdtoolbox.org/> The Handbook for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox is available from https://www.amazon.com/dp/198057250X <https://www.amazon.com/dp/198057250X> The toolbox will be featured at the at the Australian Connectomics School (ACS-2018) in Melbourne, 30 May to 1 June 2018. Best Regards Stewart Heitmann & Michael Breakspear QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Systems Neuroscience Group

March 23, 2018

Now hiring: The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, CAMH - Toronto, Canada

by Sean Hill

The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics (www.krembilneuroinformatics.ca<http://www.krembilneuroinformatics.ca>) based at CAMH (www.camh.ca<http://www.camh.ca>), and fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Canada, is hiring world-leading specialists to transform our understanding of mental health by organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and modelling data across all levels of the brain —from genes to circuits to behaviour. This multimodal data is gathered across the clinical environment including genetic, epigenetic, MRI, DTI, fMRI, hd-EEG, actigraphy and electronic medical record data. Teams will employ state-of-the-art techniques including topological data analysis, machine learning and multiscale computational modeling to accelerate identification and treatment of mental health disorders. Research is performed in an open, team science environment, with an emphasis on reproducible data-driven research and a patient-centric approach. A focus on global collaboration is key to transforming our understanding of mental health and its treatment. The centre will operate as an incubator for medical technologies to identify, manage and treat mental illness, while shaping policy at national and global levels. The centre is expanding with the following openings (see http://krembilneuroinformatics.ca/apply for full details and to apply): *Independent Scientist for Computational Genomics The Independent Scientist for Computational Genomics will build and lead a team of talented bioinformatics researchers, computational biologists, and computer scientists who employ and develop state-of-the-art genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic analyses and predictive models to provide new insights into mental health and brain disorders in a data driven way, making outcome predictors and identifying optimal intervention opportunities. *Independent Scientist for Brain Circuit Modelling The Independent Scientist for Brain Circuit Modelling will build and lead a team responsible for the development, simulation and analysis of dynamic and perturbable computational models of biophysically detailed brain circuitry (for both preclinical and human brains), integrating genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic data, and ion channel, cellular and synaptic biophysics. The team will work in close collaboration with other groups involved in detailed biophysical modeling, e.g. the Blue Brain Project and Allen Institute for Brain Science. The team will also be responsible for curating and maintaining data, literature and models to enable data-driven modeling of brain circuitry in health and disease, in addition to the concurrent construction of atlases, development of analysis approaches and identification of biomarkers to define mental health and brain disorders in a data driven way, such as aberrant dynamical processes. *Independent Scientist for Whole Brain Modelling The Independent Scientist for Whole Brain Modelling will build and lead a team responsible for the development of dynamic and perturbable causal models of the human brain, in health and in the context of mental illness, incorporating multi-modal neuroimaging and expression data including, but not limited to, structural, functional, diffusion and spectrometry MRI, PET/CT and EEG. The team will also be responsible for the concurrent construction of atlases, development of analysis approaches and identification of biomarkers to define mental health and brain disorders in a data driven manner. *Independent Scientist for Whole Person Modelling The Independent Scientist for Whole Person Modeling will build and lead a team responsible for the development and application of predictive modeling approaches for individual citizen, patient and population trajectories and outcomes. This includes tools, pipelines and approaches for the exploration, visualization and analysis of complex high-dimensional data, with the aim of the data-driven definition of mental health and brain disorders, and the establishment of outcome predictors and identification of optimal intervention opportunities. *Independent Scientist for Brain and Health Knowledge Management The Independent Scientist for Brain and Health Knowledge Management will build and lead a team responsible for organizing and disseminating data, models and literature related to the definition and treatment of mental health disorders to support both researchers and clinicians. This team will maintain and curate ontologies of brain disorders and link to data, analyses, visualizations, literature and models supporting their definition. This clinical support platform will support reasoning and inference across definitions and datasets to bridge psychiatric and neurological disorders. *Knowledge Engineering Lead The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics is launching a knowledge engineering initiative to structure and map vast quantities of clinical and research data into a unified schema and develop a knowledge graph. This initiative will lay the technical foundation to support supervised and unsupervised content discovery, enable data mining, and facilitate interactive modes of engagement with our data corpus. A new Knowledge Engineering team is being established to spearhead the implementation of this initiative. This is a unique opportunity to partner with world-class researchers in the creation of unprecedented knowledge discovery tools. *Brain Imaging Data Engineer The Brain Imaging Data Engineer role will be accountable for managing and enhancing the solution for collecting, storing, curating and integrating brain imaging data sets across the organization, including, but not limited to the following modalities: MRI, PET and EEG. You will work closely with the senior architects on the technology team as well as collaborating with scientific leads. You will be accountable to evolve the technology solution to keep up with industry changes to ensure the solution remains optimal. *Molecular Data Engineer The Molecular Data Engineer role will be accountable for managing and enhancing the solution for collecting, storing, curating and integrating molecular data sets across the organization. You will work closely with the senior architects on the technology team as well as collaborating with scientific leads. You will be accountable to evolve the technology solution to keep up with industry changes to ensure the solution remains optimal. *Senior Project Manager – BrainHealth Databank The Senior Project Manager will work with multiple stakeholders both internal and external to CAMH and be responsible for the hands-on leadership and oversight for the development and execution of work plans, accountabilities, and timelines associated with the BrainHealth Databank initiative. The BrainHealth Databank platform will be specifically designed to support multidimensional phenotyping studies that combine digital phenotyping and laboratory-based data across existing and future clinical studies at CAMH. All data will be organized within the knowledge graph of the BrainHealth Databank. The platform will support configuration of studies that integrate common data elements and CRFs, wearable and mobile devices, voice samples, electronic medical record (EMR) extracts, outcome assessments and health care system usage. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. AVIS DE CONFIDENTIALITÉ : Ce message électronique, ainsi que tout fichier qui y est joint, est reserve à l'usage exclusif du destinataire visé et peut contenir des renseignements confidentiels et privilégiés. Toute lecture, utilisation, divulgation ou distribution non autorisée est interdite. 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March 22, 2018

Re: [Comp-neuro] [meetings] **DEADLINE EXTENDED to APRIL 2ND, 2018** Final CFP, Special session - Hybrid Life: Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systems, ALife 2018 (Tokyo)

by Manuel Baltieri

**DEADLINE EXTENDED to APRIL 2ND, 2018** ********** Final Call for Papers ********** Special session - Hybrid Life: Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systems https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/ <https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/> 2018 Artificial Life conference (ALife) Tokyo, JAPAN, 23-27 July 2018 - http://2018.alife.org/ <http://2018.alife.org/> Invited panelists: Ryota Kanai, Jun Tani, Masahiko Inami and Mizuki Oka. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION: The main focus of ALife research is the study of natural systems with the goal of understanding what life is. More concretely, ALife defines ways to investigate processes that contribute to the formation and proliferation of living organisms. In this session we focus on three common approaches to tackle this investigation, proposing ways to integrate, extend and possibly improve them. More specifically we refer to: 1) the formalisation of the necessary properties for the definition of life, 2) the implementation of artificial agents, and 3) the study of the relation between life and cognition. For this special session we propose to start from these well-established Alife methodologies, and extend them through: a unified formal language for the description and modelling of living, as well as artificial and cognitive systems, e.g. control theory, Bayesian inference, dynamical systems theory, etc., the exploration of biological creatures enhanced by artificial systems (or artificial systems augmented with organic parts) in order to investigate the boundaries between living and nonliving organisms, and the evaluation of coupled biological-artificial systems that could shed light on the importance of interactions among systems for the study of living and cognitive organisms. This special sessions aims to invite contributions from alife as well as the fields of psychology, computational neuroscience, HCI, theoretical biology, artificial intelligence, robotics and cognitive science to discuss current research on the formalisation, combination and interaction of artificial/living/cognitive systems from theoretical, modelling and implementational perspectives. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: Formalisation of life and cognition (e.g. dynamical systems theory, stochastic optimal control, Bayesian inference, etc.) Cognitive robotics Autopoiesis Life-mind continuity thesis Systems biology Origins-of-life theories with relationships to artificial and cognitive systems Animal-robot interaction Bio-inspired robotics Bio-integrated robotics Human-machine interaction Augmented cognition Sensory substitution Interactive evolutionary computation Artificial perception PANELISTS: Ryota Kanai Ryota Kanai is a neuroscientist working on the computational principles underlying consciousness and the brain, and the founder and CEO of an AI startup, Araya, Inc. in Tokyo. His goal is to create artificial consciousness using intrinsic motivation, deep neural networks, and integrated information while taking inspirations from neuroscience. He formerly led a cognitive neuroscience lab at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. Araya Inc.: http://www.araya.org/ <http://www.araya.org/> <http://www.araya.org/>Jun Tani Jun Tani is a Full Professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Okinawa, Japan. He is directing the Cognitive Neurorobotics Research Unit. He has investigated the problem of embodied cognition by applying the predictive coding framework to neurorobotics experimental study for more than 20 years. His study has been summarized in his book, “Exploring Robotic Minds: Actions, Symbols, and Consciousness as Self-Organizing Dynamic Phenomena." published from Oxford Univ. Press in 2016. CNRU at OIST: https://groups.oist.jp/cnru <https://groups.oist.jp/cnru> Masahiko Inami Masahiko (Masa) Inami is a Professor in the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is also directing the Inami JIZAI Body Project, JST ERATO. His research interest is in Augmented Human, human I/O enhancement technologies including perception, HCI and robotics. He received BE and MS degrees in bioengineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and PhD in the Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) from the University of Tokyo in 1999. He joined the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tokyo, and in 1999, he moved to the University of Electro-Communications. In April 2008, he joined Keio University, where he served as a Professor of the Graduate School of Media Design and the Vice-director of the International Virtual Reality Center till October 2015. In November 2015, he rejoined the University of Tokyo. His installations have appeared at Ars Electronica Center. He proposed and organized the Superhuman Sports Society. InamiLab at Todai: https://inamilab.org <https://inamilab.org/> Mizuki Oka Mizuki Oka is an associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Obtained the International Baccalaureate at the United World College of the Adriatic in 1998. Studied computer science at the University of Tsukuba where she obtained the Doctor of Engineering in 2008. Served also as a research fellow for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science from 2005 to 2008. Worked at the Center for Knowledge Structuring at the University of Tokyo as a post-doc from 2008 to 2013 in Japan. Gave a talk at TEDxTokyo in 2012 and at TEDxTsukuba in 2013. Her current research interests are Web Science and Artificial Life. She is also a founder of ALife Lab. and CO-CEO of Alternative Machine Inc. Personal website: http://mizoka.jp/english/ <http://mizoka.jp/english/> Important Dates 2nd April 2018 – Paper submission deadline 7th May 2018 – Paper acceptance notification 4th June 2018 – Camera-ready version 23-27th July 2018 – Artificial Life conference (ALife), Tokyo, Japan Paper Submission Papers and abstracts submitted to this special sessions will be reviewed by a selected group of experts from the a-life community as well as from other key areas, specifically chosen for this review process. If you are submitting to a special session you will be given the opportunity to select it during the submission process. Submissions to special sessions follow the same format, instructions and deadlines of regular ALife papers, as specified here http://2018.alife.org/instructions-for-authors/ <http://2018.alife.org/instructions-for-authors/>. Organizers Manuel Baltieri, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. m.baltieri(a)sussex.ac.uk <mailto:m.baltieri@sussex.ac.uk> Keisuke Suzuki, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. k.suzuki(a)sussex.ac.uk <mailto:filippo.m.bianchi@uit.no> Hiroyuki Iizuka, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan hiroyukiiizuka(a)gmail.com <mailto:hiroyukiiizuka@gmail.com> Contacts For questions, enquiries and more information please check our website https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/ <https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/> or get in touch with Manuel, m.baltieri [at] sussex.ac.uk. All the best, Manuel, Keisuke, Hiro

March 21, 2018