- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

CNS*2016 Call for Workshop Proposals

by Thomas Nowotny

CNS 2016 Jeju, South Korea: Call for Workshops We are requesting proposals for workshops from the international community of computational neuroscientists. Proposals from all levels of faculty as well as advanced postdoctoral fellows are welcome. This is a great opportunity to organize a small meeting with just a few of the headaches of actually organizing it. Workshop proposal submission instructions for CNS 2016 The last two days (July 6-7) of the 25th annual CNS meeting will be devoted to workshops, in which computationally related neuroscience topics can be presented and discussed. Workshops can be anywhere between one half to two days in duration. Usually several speakers are invited to introduce a unifying theme, but ample time for discussion should also be planned. Submit workshop proposals to: workshops(a)cnsorg.org<mailto:workshops@cnsorg.org>. The Past Meetings page<http://www.cnsorg.org/past-meetings> gives access to archives of workshops held at previous CNS meetings. The proposal should be submitted as a Word or pdf file and MUST include the following sections: 1. Workshop Title 2. Organizers (list primary organizer first; include affiliations and emails) 3. Duration (half day, one or two days, there are 2 sessions per day) 4. Number of expected speakers 5. Brief Description (~150 words; if possible, say why this is significant or timely) 6. Speakers (mark expected or confirmed) Also please note the following rules which were approved by the OCNS Board on July 15, 2013: * Each individual can be the organizer or co-organizer of only one workshop. * The number of confirmed speakers is one of the criteria for accepting the proposal. * Overlapping proposals may be asked to be combined. If the organizers do not wish to combine the proposals, only one of the proposals may be accepted. Workshops submitted before January 31, 2016 will be given priority in acceptance. Workshop proposals arriving after January 31, 2016 will be evaluated based on remaining space for additional workshops. No further workshop acceptances are anticipated after May 15, 2016. We are looking forward to your submissions. Thomas Nowotny, Workshop Organizer CNS*2016 -- 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

Jan. 11, 2016

CfP - MLUB 2016 - International Workshop on Machine Learning for Understanding the Brain

by Emre Akbas

Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this call. 1st International Workshop on Machine Learning for Understanding the Brain, MLUB 2016 June 28-29 2016, Ankara, Turkey http://mlani.ceng.metu.edu.tr/ * Call for papers: International Workshop on Machine Learning for Understanding the Brain (MLUB) welcomes original and unpublished work on theory, systems, algorithms and applications related to Machine Learning and understanding techniques for modeling and analysis of brain in various modalities, such as, fMRI, sMRI, EEG, MEG, fNIRS. The workshop focuses on but is not limited to the following topics: - Learning and inference on neuroimaging data - Cognitive state classification - Functional Connectivity - Sparse Techniques - Multimodal Learning - Multi-Subject Learning - Efficient Algorithms for Large-Scale Data - Brain Network Embedding - Cognitive Computing - Software Simulation of the Brain - Pattern and Object Recognition - Cognitive Machine Learning - Modeling - Vision Models of the Brain - Memory Model of the Brain - Neural Models of the Brain - Visualization - High-Dimensional Neuroimaging Data Visualization - Brain Network Visualization - Network Summarization - Applications - Resting-State Data Analysis - Task-Based Data Analysis - Diagnosis of Diseases - Brain Computer Interface We call for paper contributions with a maximum length of 4 pages (double-column, IEEE style, PDF) for review. Accepted submissions will be assigned to one of the oral sessions. Every accepted submission has to be presented at the workshop by one of the paper's authors. All accepted and presented submissions will be included in the workshop proceedings and will be published by IEEE Xplore. * Important dates: Paper submission deadline: February 26, 2016 Notification of acceptance: March 22, 2016 Camera ready Submission: March 29, 2016 Workshop: June 28-29, 2016 * Executive Committee Fatos T. Yarman Vural (Middle East Technical University) Tulay Adali (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) Enis Cetin (Bilkent University) Haluk Bingol (Bogazici University) Huseyin Boyaci (Bilkent University) * Technical Program Chairs Sinan Kalkan (Middle East Technical University) Emre Akbas (Middle East Technical University) Mete Ozay (Tohoku University) * For more information: http://mlani.ceng.metu.edu.tr/

Jan. 11, 2016

TENURE TRACK POSITION IN QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES AT ICTP, TRIESTE ITALY

by Matteo Marsili

TENURE TRACK POSITION IN QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES AT THE ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS (ICTP). ICTP is seeking applicants for a new tenure track position in its recently established Quantitative Life Sciences (QLS) research section. We're seeking young brilliant researchers in Quantitative Biology, Systems and Computational Neuroscience or Quantitative Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The successful applicant will play a significant role the QLS section, promoting cutting-edge research in his/her field of expertise. Detailed description of the position is given below. For further information, please contact qls(a)ictp.it or visit our website www.ictp.it The deadline is 17 February 2016. ICTP, based in Trieste, Italy, provides a top class multi-disciplinary research environment in theoretical sciences, with cutting edge research, education and training, and it has been a driving force behind global efforts for the advancement of science in the developing world. --------------------------------------------------------- Post Title: Research Officer Domain: Quantitative Life Sciences Grade : P-2 Organizational Unit: ICTP Primary Location: Trieste, Italy Recruitment open to: Internal and external candidates Type of contract: Project Appointment (PA) Annual salary: $ 65,877 Deadline (midnight, Trieste time): 17 February 2016 How to apply http://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/personnel-office/employment.aspx OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST Under the direct supervision of the Senior Researcher of the Quantitative Life Sciences (QLS) Section the incumbent will initiate and undertake world-class research in the field of Quantitative Life Sciences and assist in the planning and implementation of the scientific activities of the section and in the fulfilment of the Centre's mission. Essential responsibilities include:  Undertake front-line research in the fields of Quantitative Biology, Systems and Computational Neuroscience, Quantitative Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Organization of seminars, schools, workshops, conferences and topical meetings, and selection of participants.  Review the applications for postdoctoral work and Associateships, and short-term and long-term visits.  Teach, as required, in Diploma Course Programs. Collaborate, as appropriate, with the Associates as well as other visitors to the Centre, especially those from developing countries.  Additional activities that may be required to ensure the success of the Section's work. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS EDUCATION  PhD in Physics or areas related to Quantitative Life Sciences. WORK EXPERIENCE  At least 2 years of relevant professional experience after the PhD.  Documented record of excellence in research. SKILLS/COMPETENCIES  Ability to work in a multicultural environment and as part of a team. LANGUAGES  Excellent knowledge of English. BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS This is an extra-budgetary position classified as a project appointment with an intended medium term period of employment (5 years). Although having staff member status and enjoying the same benefits, the incumbent will be considered an external applicant if later applying for a regular post. For this post, the net annual remuneration will start at US$ 65,877 and is exempt from income tax. UN Pension plan and medical insurance are provided. HOW TO APPLY Candidates should apply through the website http://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/personnel-office/employment.aspx In addition, candidates should send a curriculum vita and list of publications to the ICTP Personnel Office (email: personnel_office(a)ictp.it) and should arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent directly by their referees to the ICTP Personnel Office by means of a scanned document topersonnel_office(a)ictp.it, email address of the ICTP Personnel Office, or by fax to +39-040-22407593, clearly indicating in the subject line "Research Officer post in the QLS Section" and the candidate's name.

Jan. 8, 2016

Data Science Engineer

by paulo rodrigues

Dear colleagues, Mint Labs <http://www.mint-labs.com> is looking to fill a R&D position on data science. Mint Labs is a multi-disciplinary science and engineering start-up. The company's mission is to develop technologies to better understand the human brain and the diseases that affect it. Our primary focus is on neuroimaging methods, including MRI, that yield insights into the living brain. *Context* You thrive on the idea of using tools that aid the communication of results such as Ipython notebooks? You are not satisfied with how computational science is currently being done and have ideas on how to make it more effective at curing diseases? You enjoy interacting with new groups of people and are comfortable communicating with dozens to hundreds of scientists? The challenge is to develop analysis systems for multidimensional medical datasets that include imaging. Mint Labs is a SaaS platform that focus on integrating diverse clinical, imaging, genomic, and other data to better evaluate disease progression and response to interventions. *Objectives of the position* - Support the interaction with several external research partners and clients to develop both bioinformatics analysis and visualizations on data in collaboration with neurologists, statisticians and other bioinformaticians. - Work with the newest technologies in data analysis and -omics data. - Create web-accessible records that are reproducible and re-usable of all your analysis. - Work with our software team that develops the web platform to communicate requirements and features for product development. - Automate the execution of new analysis methods using scripting and statistical programming. - Assist in the evaluation and implementation of data and imaging curation tools. - Develop practical methods for non-programmers to communicate reproducible results by integrating new and existing tools into our platform - Detect, model and normalize batch and experimental artifacts in experimental data. *Desired profile, Skills* - You have experience working within a team of scientists, statisticians and software engineers to compile and format large, high-dimensional data sets for downstream analysis. - You have software development experience, including strong programming skills in a high-level language especially Python, R and/or matlab. Experience with Linux shell scripting recommended. - Ideally, you would be experienced with developing advanced ipython notebooks or other interactive frameworks. - Ideally, you are familiar with neuroimaging data types such as anatomical data, diffusion or functional imaging. - You have a graduate degree in a quantitative field such as engineering, applied math, computer science, bioinformatics etc or are an exceptional undergraduate with bioinformatics experience. *A great R&D environment* We're a growing, product-centric team located in Barcelona Spain. We strive on solving hard problems with creative solutions, and have fun during the process - after all we are in Barcelona. As an engineer on our team, you'll tackle the challenges that arise as we build a large-scale system for data processing and distribution. The scale at which our systems must operate requires highly-performing algorithms and data structures. Solving complex distributed systems and ensuring data security are essential. We're looking for independent thinkers with a deep understanding of the problems we are solving who are not afraid to significantly influence how this system is improved. We hire for people, not roles -- if you don't see an interesting job description but believe that you can add value to Mint Labs, we would love to hear from you. In addition, the researcher/engineer will interact closely with top researchers worldwide, using our platform. ***Contact**: * team(a)mint-labs.com, paulo(a)mint-labs.com ***Application**: * Interested candidate should send CV and motivation letter ᐧ

Jan. 8, 2016

Neuroimaging Engineer opportunity

by paulo rodrigues

Dear colleagues, Mint Labs <http://www.mint-labs.com> is looking to fill a R&D position on neuroimaging processing. Mint Labs is a multi-disciplinary science and engineering start-up. The company's mission is to develop technologies to better understand the human brain and the diseases that affect it. Our primary focus is on neuroimaging methods, including MRI, that yield insights into the living brain. *Context* The challenge is to develop analysis systems for multidimensional medical datasets that include imaging. Mint Labs is a SaaS platform that focus on integrating diverse clinical, imaging, genomic, and other data to better evaluate disease progression and response to interventions. You thrive in analyzing data, developing pipelines to process imaging data, and integrate multiple data points into meaningful group conclusions? You are experienced in volumetric, diffusion, rs-fMRI studies, and are not shy about Python, bash, R or whatever tool fits the work? *Objectives of the position* The position hinges on processing of very large databases. Important novelties of the project are: - Building predictive models to discriminate multiple pathologies in large inhomogeneous datasets. - Using and improving advanced connectomics and brain-parcellation techniques in dMRI / fMRI. - Support the interaction with several external research partners and clients to develop neuroimaging analysis *Desired profile* We are looking for a doctoral or post-doctoral fellow to hire in beginning of 2016. The ideal candidate would have some, but not all, of the following expertise and interests: - Experience in advanced processing of MRI, dMRI and fMRI - General knowledge of brain structure and function - Good communication skills to write high-impact neuroscience publications - Good computing skills, in particular with Python. Cloud computing experience is desired. *A great R&D environment* We're a growing, product-centric team located in Barcelona Spain. We strive on solving hard problems with creative solutions, and have fun during the process - after all we are in Barcelona. As an engineer in our team, you will tackle the challenges that arise as we build a large-scale system for data processing and distribution. The scale at which our systems must operate requires highly-performing algorithms and data structures. Solving complex distributed systems and ensuring data security are essential. We are looking for independent thinkers with a deep understanding of the problems we are solving who are not afraid to significantly influence how the system can be improved. We hire for people, not roles -- if you don't see an interesting job description but believe that you can add value to Mint Labs, we would love to hear from you. In addition, the post-doc will interact closely with top researchers worldwide, using our platform. ***Contact**: * team(a)mint-labs.com, paulo(a)mint-labs.com ***Application**:* Interested candidate should send CV and a motivation letter

Jan. 8, 2016

PhD position in computational neuroscience: Identification of Metastable Cortical Dynamics Underlying Cognitive Decisions (Bournemouth University-IDIBAPS)

by Emili Balaguer-Ballester

PhD position in Computational Neuroscience 'Identification of Metastable Cortical Dynamics Underlying Cognitive Decisions' (Bournemouth University-IDIBAPS Barcelona) A PhD position is available in 3-years fully-funded project 'Identification of Metastable Cortical Dynamics Underlying Cognitive Decisions'; based at Bournemouth University (UK) https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/interdisciplinary-neuroscience-re… and at the Biomedical Research Institute August Pi I Sunyer (IDIBAPS, http://www.idibaps.org/en_index.htm, University of Barcelona, Spain). Do we have analysis tools for a reliable identification of the dynamical processes underlying decision-making? This is a fundamental question, touching the very basics of our understanding of neural computation and hence one of the most exciting topics in neuroscience. However, to reconstruct in detail neural dynamics generating cognitive decisions is a major challenge for current methodologies. This would be a highly significant advance; for instance the identification of stable dynamical patterns of activity in hippocampus deserved to win the last Nobel Prize. The aim of the project is to develop innovative approaches designed for the identification of metastable dynamics underlying cognitive decisions. We aim for the fusion of statistical learning approaches to pattern discovery with methods for identifying neural attractor dynamics and neurocomputational modelling. The novel approach will reconstruct neural dynamics during tasks specifically designed at Sanchez-Vives Lab in rodents and in human subjects at the Bournemouth EEG lab. The training possibilities that this interdisciplinary project offers are multiple and relevant in building-up a high-profile as a neuroscientist. The student will benefit from the vibrant scientific environment of neural computation and neurosciences at BU https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/interdisciplinary-neuroscience-re… and at the cortical networks lab; embedded in the renowned systems neuroscience network in Barcelona http://www.sanchez-vives.org/. Applicants holding a degree in Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science or similar disciplines are welcome. Interest or previous training in neuroscience or laboratory experience and a strong mathematical (dynamical systems, partial differential equations) or machine learning background would be very welcome. The researcher would be based at the Faculty of Science, Bournemouth University, and work with Dr Balaguer-Ballester at the Computational Neuroscience laboratory in the context of the interdisciplinary group for neurosciences; and would spend prolonged periods of time in the Cortical Networks Lab (IDIBAPS, Barcelona) led by Prof Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives; providing an outstanding opportunity to gain a diverse experience of both neuro-computational and experimental approaches. For formally applying and more information please visit https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/pgr/funded-phd-studentships-in-the-facul… The deadline is on the 29th of February, 2016 BU is a Disability Two Ticks Employer and has signed up to the Mindful Employer charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings can be found on the BU DisabledGo webpages This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not be copied, distributed or disclosed to any other person. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or its subsidiary companies via email.

Jan. 8, 2016

ECCV 2016 Workshops: Call for Proposals

by Hamdi Dibeklioglu

ECCV 2016 Workshops: Call for Proposals Important dates Proposal Deadline: Tuesday, March 1st, 2016 Notification: Friday, April 1st, 2016 Workshop dates: Saturday 8th, Sunday 9th, Sunday 16th, October 2016 Call for proposal We solicit proposals for workshops that will be held together with the 14th European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV’2016). Workshops will take place on October 10th, 11th and 16th at the same venue as the main conference. We welcome proposals on emerging topics that are anticipated not able to be fully explored in the main conference. The purpose of workshops is to provide a comprehensive forum and encourage in-depth discussion of various technical and application issues in our research field. Workshop registration, venue, as well as proceedings will be handled as part of the main conference by the ECCV organizers. Since both space and time are limited, we expect the selection process to be competitive. The topic coverage, the proposers’ credential, the interested audience, and relevance of the topic will all be considered in the selection process. Proposers may be asked to provide additional information, modify part of the proposals, or combine with another one. Since the camera-ready deadline is set to be July 25, 2016, the proposers must come with a submission/review schedule that meets this deadline. Note this year, the ECCV workshops will be coordinated together with the ACM International Conference on Multimedia. So please specifically address in your proposal if your workshop would of interest to the Multimedia research community. Submission guidelines Proposals should be submitted by email to workshops(a)eccv2016.org by March 1st 2016. The candidate workshop organizers will be notified of the decision on April 1st. Proposals should be in PDF format and include the following information: · Workshop title. · Proposers' names, titles, affiliations, and primary contact email. · Topics that will be covered. · Relevance to the computer vision community · Relevance to the multimedia community · Experience that make the proposers well suited for organizing the workshop. · Rough program outline (including preference for half- or full-day event, estimated numbers of orals, posters, and invited talks). · Names and bios of any tentative/confirmed invited speakers · Anticipated target audience as well as expected number of attendees. · Description of how this proposal relates to previous workshops at CVPR/ICCV/ECCV (be as specific as possible). · Any special space or equipment requests. Contact For any questions, please contact the workshop chairs via workshops(a)eccv2016.org Gang Hua Hervé Jegou http://www.eccv2016.org/

Jan. 8, 2016

PhD training opportunity in Systems Neuroscience - London

by Adam Kampff

Dear colleagues, The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/swc/about> for Neural Circuits and Behaviour (SWC) is a new institute funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. Located within University College London, the SWC combines advanced molecular, optical, physiology and behaviour approaches to investigate how brain circuits create neural representations and guide behaviour. We are excited to announce a new programme for exceptional PhD candidates. SWC studentships are open to UK and international applicants and cover research expenses, full payment of tuition fees and provide a competitive tax-free stipend in line with the Wellcome Trust stipend scale. SWC PhD students will receive intensive training in experimental techniques, and in conjunction with the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (co-located with SWC), the programme will provide a comprehensive introduction to theoretical and systems neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong scientific and analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, and a relevant first degree. *Application deadline is January 31st, 2016* Enquires should be sent to swc-admissions(a)ucl.ac.uk Full details of our programme, and how to apply, are available here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/swc/phd The research interests of the SWC group leaders are described here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/swc/research Sincerely, Adam Kampff Yoh Isogai Troy Margrie Andrew Murray John O'Keefe

Jan. 8, 2016

2nd Call for Applications - 2016 Nengo Summer School

by Peter Blouw

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

Jan. 7, 2016

Marie Curie PhD position in Vienna

by Frank Rattay

Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher (PhD) position is available in Vienna at TU Wien. Title: Simulation of the synaptic exocytosis of bipolar cells in the electrically stimulated retina. The position is funded by the European Commission in the framework of the H2020 Marie Sk?odowska Curie Initial Training Network 'switchBoard'. The switchBoard project aims at training 15 young scientists at the interface of neurobiology, information processing and neurotechnology, with focus on synaptic physiology, transgenic technology, models of retinal degeneration, method development and the application of retinal circuit principles for signal processing in artificial vision chips. The proposed project aims to develop a model that predicts glutamate release from ON and OFF bipolar cells evoked by electrical stimulation by an electrode array, as used in current retinal implants. Details: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/jobs/jobDetails/34049001

Jan. 7, 2016

ICMNS 2016: Abstract Deadline Extended to Jan. 15, 2016

by Zachary Kilpatrick

*Abstract deadline extended to January 15, 2016* https://icmns2016.inria.fr/call-for-contributions/ <https://icmns2016.inria.fr/call-for-contributions/> International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience (ICMNS 2016) at the Congress Center in Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera May 29 to June 1, 2016 Tutorials: May 29 Main Conference: May 30 - June 1 https://icmns2016.inria.fr/ <https://icmns2016.inria.fr/> CONFIRMED SPEAKERS Wulfram Gerstner (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) John Rinzel (New York University) Antoine Triller (École Normale Supérieure de Paris) Rachel Kuske (U British Columbia) Jonathan Rubin (U Pittsburgh) Hinke Osinga (U Aukland) Carina Curto (Penn State University) Ruben Moreno-Bote (Foundation Sant Joan de Deu) Hiroya Nakao (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Si Wu (Beijing Normal University) Alex Roxin (Centre de Recerca Matematica) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Toni Guillamon (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) Roland Potthast (U Reading) Gregory Faye (Université Paul Sabatier ) Wilhelm Stannat (TU Berlin) Jonathan Touboul (College de France) Gilles Wainrib (Ecole Normale Supérieure) Suzanne Ditlevsen (University of Copenhagen) Boris Gutkin (Ecole Normale Supérieure) Martin Wechselberger (U Sydney) Jonathan Rubin (U Pittsburgh) Martin Krupa (INRIA Sophia Antipoilis) Carlo Laing (Massey University) Andre Longtin (U Ottawa) Daniele Avitabile (U Nottingham) Jose Carrillo (Imperial College) Pascal Chossat (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis) Carson Chow (National Institutes of Health) Steve Zucker (Yale University) Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Rachel Kuske (U British Columbia) Laura Sacerdote (Universita di Torino) Reinhard Hopfner (Johannes-Gutenberg Universitat) Olivier Faugeras (INRIA - Sophia Antipolis) Paul Bressloff (U Utah) Steve Coombes (U Nottingham) CONFERENCE CHAIRS Romain Veltz (INRIA - Sophia Anitpolis) Zachary Kilpatrick (U Houston) Evelyn Buckwar (Johannes Kepler Universitat Linz)

Jan. 6, 2016

Assistant/Associate Professor of Mathematics (Biomathematics) at North Carolina A&T State University

by Choongseok Park

*Assistant/Associate Professor of Mathematics (Biomathematics) * The Department of Mathematics at North Carolina A&T State University invites applications for a 9-month, tenure-track assistant or associate professorship in Biomathematics available in August 2016. The Department encourages persons from all areas of biomathematics to apply but is particularly interested in areas at the interface of mathematics and biosciences such as mathematical epidemiology, mathematical neurosciences, mathematical modeling of drug delivery and disease intervention/ prevention, mathematical and statistical methods for human genetics and population growth, biomedical imaging processing, stochastic modeling of biological and biomedical processes. The Department of Mathematics seeks candidates to join a growing Department with interactive faculty. The detailed posting of the position can be found at https://jobs.ncat.edu/postings/8967. Applications will be reviewed beginning February 15, 2016, and the review will continue until the position is filled. Interested applicants must submit the following items via the job posting at https://jobs.ncat.edu/postings/8967: 1) letter of interest (cover letter); 2) current curriculum vitae; 3) legible copies of all undergraduate and graduate transcripts (upload a copy of each transcript under the degree name; original transcripts will be required if hired); 4) statement of teaching philosophy; and 5) statement of research interests and accomplishments.

Jan. 6, 2016

Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience - Jan 2016 articles

by Stephen Coombes

Dear all, A Happy New Year from the Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience! To kick of 2016 we have one review article on Oscillator Networks and another research article on the Wilson–Cowan equations: Mathematical Frameworks for Oscillatory Network Dynamics in Neuroscience Ashwin P, Coombes S and Nicks R http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/6/1/2 Wilson–Cowan Equations for Neocortical Dynamics Cowan JD, Neuman J and van Drongelen W http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/6/1/1 All articles are Open Access. The current list of journal articles is available at http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/ Best regards, Steve ------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Coombes Professor of Applied Mathematics School of Mathematical Sciences Nottingham, UK Tel: 0115 846 7836 http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/~sc/ ------------------------------------------------------- This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.

Jan. 6, 2016

[publication and call for dialog] IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development, Fall 2015

by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Dear colleagues, I am happy to announce the release of the latest issue of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (open access, previously names newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development). This is a biannual newsletter addressing computational modeling of developmental and cognitive processes in natural and artificial organisms, from humans to robots, at the crossroads of cognitive science, developmental psychology, machine intelligence and neuroscience. It is available at: https://goo.gl/HQAMsd Featuring dialog: === "Representational redescription: the next challenge?" == Dialog Initiated by Stéphane Doncieux, with responses from Jessica Kosie and Dare Baldwin, Georges Konidaris, Freek Stulp and Timothy Hospedales, Paul Verschure and Giovanni Pezzulo, Frank Guerin, Paul Abelha and Bipin Indurkhya. == This issue’s dialog explores various challenges of how and why capabilities to change representations could be happening in robots. In particular, contributors discuss how new representations can be formed out of the dynamic interaction between learning algorithms, cognitive architecture and their physical and social embodiment. Call for new dialog: === "Moving Beyond Nature-Nurture: a Problem of Science or Communication? » == Dialog initiated by John Spencer, Mark Blumberg and David Shenk == John Spencer, Mark Blumberg and David Shenk observe that in spite of numerous scientific discoveries supporting the view of development as a complex multi-factored process, the discussions of development in several scientific fields and in the general public are still strongly organized around the nature/nurture distinction. Thus, they ask a crucial question: is this because there is not yet sufficient scientific evidence, or is this because the simplicity of the nature/nurture framework is much easier to communicate (or just better communicated by its supporters)? Those of you interested in reacting to this dialog initiation are welcome to submit a response by April 15th, 2015. The length of each response must be between 600 and 800 words including references (contact pierre-yves.oudeyer(a)inria.fr) You will also find news about the IEEE CIS CDS Technical Committee and the ICDL-Epirob 2016 conference. Let me remind you that previous issues of the newsletter are all open-access and available at: http://icdl-epirob.org/cdsnl I wish you a stimulating reading! Best regards, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems Chair of the IEEE CIS AMD Technical Committee on Cognitive and Developmental Systems Research director, Inria Head of Flower project-team Inria and Ensta ParisTech, France http://www.pyoudeyer.com https://flowers.inria.fr http://www.poppy-project.org

Jan. 5, 2016

NEST 2.10 supports gap junctions and structural plasticity

by Hans Ekkehard Plesser

Dear Colleagues! The NEST Initiative is pleased to announce the release of NEST version 2.10.0. The most notable changes over v2.8.0 are: * Support for simulations of gap junctions (see Jan Hahne et al., 2015) * Framework for structural plasticity (see Markus Butz et al., 2013 and Markus Butz et al., 2014) * Full support for the K computer (just in case you found one under your Christmas tree ;-)) All users are encouraged to upgrade and adapt their simulation scripts to the changes in the user interface at this point in time to benefit from the improvements in the new version. For a full list of changes and download links, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/releases/tag/v2.10.0 Best regards, Hans Ekkehard Plesser President, The NEST Initiative -- Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Associate Professor Section Head Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no Home http://arken.umb.no/~plesser

Jan. 5, 2016

Carnegie Mellon - University of Pittsburgh Joint Summer Undergraduate Program in Computational Neuroscience

by Tai Sing Lee

Carnegie Mellon - University of Pittsburgh Joint Summer Undergraduate Program in Computational Neuroscience Undergraduates interested in receiving research training in computational neuroscience are encouraged to apply to an NIH-sponsored summer program at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition in Pittsburgh. The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition is a joint interdisciplinary program of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Starting in May of 2016, a select group of talented undergraduates will embark on a 10-week residential program that provides intensive, mentored research experiences in computational and theoretical neuroscience. This program is intended for students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation. Any undergraduate may apply, but we are especially interested in attracting students with strong quantitative backgrounds especially juniors and seniors from colleges and universities that do not have extensive research programs, and students from groups underrepresented in the sciences. Participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Selected students will receive a stipend and university dormitory housing. The core of the program is the opportunity to carry out an individual mentored research project working closely with a faculty mentor. Other aspects of the scientific program include: faculty research talks, student presentations and discussion of articles from the scientific literature, presentations on career options and scientific ethics, and a concluding symposium in which students present their research. The 2016 program will run from late May through early August, 2016 (precise dates will be announced in March). The final deadline for application is February 16. All participants must be United States citizens or permanent residents, must be enrolled at a 4-year accredited institution, and must be in their sophomore or junior year at the time of application. Students from groups underrepresented in the sciences are encouraged to apply. 2016 uPNC Summer Fellowship Application available here: http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/images/CNBC_general/upncsummerapplication2016.doc Application can be returned via email or regular mail (see addresses below). In addition to the application, the following items are required for evaluation: A brief (one page) essay about your interest and experience in neural computation. Official transcript from the institution you are attending Two letters from professional references. You should contact your recommenders and ask them to mail or email a letter directly to us. SAT/ACT scores (do NOT have to be official; photocopies are acceptable) Documents should be mailed to: Computational Neuroscience Summer Program Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Carnegie Mellon University 4400 Fifth Avenue Suite 115 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2617 CNBC-summer-UG(a)andrew.cmu.edu For more information go to this sites: http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/summercompneuro

Jan. 4, 2016

Request for Information on Neurally-Inspired Computing Principles

by R. Jacob Vogelstein

Hi all, IARPA has just released a new Request for Information (RFI) on "neurally-inspired computing principles," and I'm hopeful that members of this community will submit some interesting whitepapers in response. Note that the RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes, and does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals. IARPA anticipates that responses to this RFI will be used to help organize a workshop on this topic at the 2016 Neuro Inspired Computational Elements conference ( http://niceworkshop.org/) and to inform future programs in this technical area. The full text of the announcement is published at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/7ea2ad0e075b31c05a011f2d835392a9; a brief synopsis is presented below. -------- Seventy years ago, John von Neumann found inspiration for the design of the EDVAC in what was then known about the design of the brain. However, despite the early influence of neuroscience on what has become known as the von Neumann architecture, the principles of computing underlying today’s state of the art digital systems deviate substantially from the principles that govern computing in the brain. In particular, whereas mainstream computers rely on synchronous operations, high precision, and clear physical and conceptual separations between storage, data, and logic; the brain relies on asynchronous messaging, low precision storage that is co-localized with processing, and dynamic memory structures that change on both short and long time scales. To understand the potential opportunities and challenges in developing next-generation computers that exploit these and other principles of neural computing, IARPA is seeking information from two groups of experts: (1) computer scientists with experience in designing or building computing systems that rely on the same or similar principles as those employed by the brain; and (2) neuroscientists who have credible ideas for how neural computing principles can offer practical benefits for next-generation computers. Responses to this RFI should clearly and concisely answer the questions posed below (to neuroscientists, computer scientists, or both) in one or more of the four topics described in detail in the full text of this announcement (https://www.fbo.gov/notices/7ea2ad0e075b31c05a011f2d835392a9) Topic 1: Spike-based representations Topic 2: Asynchronous computation Topic 3: Learning Topic 4: Co-local memory storage and computation Responses to this RFI are due no later than 5:00pm Eastern Time on January 29, 2016. IARPA appreciates responses from all capable and qualified sources from within and outside of the US. Inquiries to this RFI must be submitted to dni-iarpa-rfi-16-02(a)iarpa.gov. -- R. Jacob Vogelstein, Ph.D. Program Manager ODNI/IARPA 301-851-7497 (office) http://go.usa.gov/FPPJ

Jan. 4, 2016

Postdoc position open in Rutishauser Lab (human single-neurons)

by Ueli Rutishauser

*Postdoctoral fellowship in human intracranial electrophysiology: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and California Institute of Technology (Los Angeles)* Applications are invited to join a McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience and NSF funded research program investigating the neural mechanisms of learning and memory in humans. The applicant will work on intracranial single-unit recordings from human subjects, investigating questions related to the encoding and retrieval of memory. This will include experimental work with patients (electrophysiology and behavior), data analysis and processing, spike-train analysis, and experimental design. The focus of this position will be on single-neuron recordings from the medial temporal lobe in epilepsy patients to investigate the role of theta-oscillations in coordinating activity and how such coordination relates to memory. The applicant will have access to state-of-the art equipment, facilities and analytical methods and will be part of an established team of investigators at both Cedars-Sinai and the California Institute of Technology (Ueli Rutishauser, Ralph Adolphs, Adam Mamelak), with ample opportunity to learn new techniques and methods. This position is based on the Cedars-Sinai campus. Candidates should have a recent PhD in systems, cognitive, or computational neuroscience with a track-record of first-author publications. Strong programming (Matlab or similar), data analysis, statistics and electrophysiology skills are essential. Excellent written and oral English communication skills are required, including the ability to communicate with patients and their families. Individuals with previous human intracranial EEG experience and/or macaque single neuron recordings that wish to expand into human single-unit recordings are encouraged to apply. The position is available as early as March 1st 2016, with a competitive salary commensurate with prior experience (NIH scale). The position is available with an initial appointment for one year and renewal based upon satisfactory performance. Applicants must pass background screening and health checks to be able to work with patients. Caltech and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are equal opportunity employers and women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Interested applicants should send a CV, statement of research accomplishments and interests, copies of 2-3 representative publications and contact information for 2-3 reference letters to Ueli Rutishauser at rutishauseru(a)csmc.edu. Informal inquiries are welcome. All information should be sent in pdf format. Further information about the lab can be found at www.rutishauserlab.org .

Jan. 4, 2016

Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course 2016: applications open

by Erik De Schutter

OKINAWA/OIST COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2016 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 13 - June 30, 2016 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 13th through June 30th, 2016 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; January 4 - February 5, 2016. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. 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. 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. 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: • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Sophie Deneve (École Normale Supérieure, France) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Chris Eliasmith (University of Waterloo, Canada) • Tomoki Fukai (RIKEN BSI, Japan) • Michael Häusser (University College London, UK) • Yukiyasu Kamitani (ATR & Kyoto University, Japan) • Etienne Koechlin (École Normale Supérieure, France) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Stefan Mihalas (Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA) • Partha Mitra (Cold Spring Harbor, USA) • Astrid Prinz (Emory University, USA) • John Rinzel (New York University, USA) • Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama (OIST)

Jan. 4, 2016

Fully funded PhD position at the University of Ghent, Belgium

by Daniele Marinazzo

The lab of Daniele Marinazzo (www.ugent.be/~dmarinaz) at the department of Data Analysis, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences of the University of Ghent, Belgium, is looking for a PhD student. The position is fully funded for 4 years by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). The research subject involves advanced statistical data analysis of fMRI data. The student will be part of a research group focusing on the development and validation of new methods for the analysis of neuroimaging data, in the framework of a multidisciplinary collaboration with psychologists and clinicians. Both candidates with a technical degree and candidates with a psychology degree but an interest in programming and quantitative analyses are encouraged to apply. Knowledge of at least one programming language (python, matlab, R …) and an interest for multidisciplinary research are required. The University of Gent (www.ugent.be) hosts a vibrant research community and offers excellent facilities to students and employees. The most likely starting date is October 2016 but earlier appointments can be considered. Candidates are invited to send a motivation letter and the names of two referees to Daniele Marinazzo (daniele.marinazzo(a)ugent.be) Informal inquiries and requests for further information are most welcome. -- Daniele Marinazzo -- Department of Data Analysis Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences, Ghent University Henri Dunantlaan 1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium +32 (0) 9 264 6375 <http://www.da.ugent.be/>http://users.ugent.be/~dmarinaz/ http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php -- Daniele Marinazzo -- Department of Data Analysis Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences, Ghent University Henri Dunantlaan 1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium +32 (0) 9 264 6375 <http://www.da.ugent.be/>http://users.ugent.be/~dmarinaz/ http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php

Jan. 4, 2016

XPPAUT 8.0

by Ermentrout, G Bard

I am happy to announce that the new version of XPPAUT is now available for download at: http://www.math.pitt.edu/~bard/xpp/xpp.html The new version uses the most recent version of AUTO and allows for much better two-parameter continuation of periodic and homoclinic orbits. In addition there are dozens of new command line options and support for CUDA code. -Bard Ermentrout

Jan. 4, 2016

Brain, Minds and Machines Summer Course 2016

by Kreiman, Gabriel

What: Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course When: 08/15/2016 through 09/05/2016 Application Deadline: March 14, 2016 Link to application forms: https://ws2.mbl.edu/studentapp/studentapp.asp?courseid=BMM Link to course: http://cbmm.mit.edu/summer-school/2016 The Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course will be held at MBL, Woods Hole, MA, from August 15, 2016 through September 5, 2016. This course is organized by the MIT-Harvard Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines (CBMM). The goal of this course is to introduce students with a broad range of backgrounds to cross-disciplinary research in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Computer Science. The first half of the course will focus on the intersection between biological and computational aspects of learning and vision. The second half will focus on high-level social cognition and artificial intelligence, as well as audition, speech, and language processing. Lectures will be complemented by student research projects completed under the supervision of CBMM postdocs and faculty. We will also be hosting an Evening Lecture Series, including speakers from both industry and academia, in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and cognitive science. Past speakers include: Larry Abbott, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Dorin Comaniciu, Siemens Corporate Technology Amnon Shashua, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mobileye, OrCam Eero Simoncelli, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University 2015 Invited Course Faculty: DiCarlo, Jim, MIT Freiwald, Winrich, Rockefeller University Kanwisher, Nancy, MIT Katz, Boris, MIT Koch, Christof, Allen Institute for Brain Research Kreiman, Gabriel, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School Poggio, Tomaso, MIT Rosasco, Lorenzo, Italian Institute of Technology Saxe, Rebecca, MIT Schulz, Laura, MIT Spelke, Liz, Harvard University Tenenbaum, Joshua, MIT Wilson, Matthew, MIT Winston, Patrick, MIT Please visit our website for more details: http://cbmm.mit.edu/summer-school/2016 This course is recommended for PhD students and Postdocs. The application deadline is March 14, 2016. The online application form can be found at: https://ws2.mbl.edu/studentapp/studentapp.asp?courseid=BMM Tuition, MBL room & board are provided by an NSF Science and Technology Center award to the Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Grant No. CCF-1231216. Gabriel Kreiman klab.tch.harvard.edu Use "9265358979" anywhere in the message body to ensure that your message navigates through anti spam filters

Jan. 3, 2016

Two funded PhD and one postdoc position in theoretical neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

by Gjorgjieva, Julijana

We invite applications for two funded PhD and one postdoctoral research position in our group “Computation in Neural Circuits” at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany. We use mathematical and computational approaches to study how neurons and the connections between them tune their properties during brain development to ensure appropriate network dynamics, and how adult function and behavior emerge from a diversity of mechanisms. We collaborate with experimental research groups internationally, including the US, UK and the Netherlands, and we will benefit from interactions with the strong neuroscience community in Frankfurt. Successful applicants can work on a range of projects including data analysis, theoretical model development and analytical calculations, numerical simulations, and applications to novel datasets from collaborating labs. Applicants should have a strong quantitative background (in mathematics, physics, engineering, computer science, quantitative biology or related fields) and interest in interdisciplinary research. Background in neuroscience and good programming skills are desirable, but not essential. Postdoc candidates must have (or will soon be awarded) a PhD in the relevant quantitative disciplines. The positions can start as early as June 1, 2016. For more information or an informal discussion, contact Dr Julijana Gjorgjieva at gjorgjieva(a)brandeis.edu To apply for these positions, please submit the following to gjorgjieva(a)brandeis.edu: 1. A curriculum vitae 2. PhD candidates: a short motivation letter Postdoc candidates: a description of research interests 3. Contact details for 2-3 referees 4. If available, a written sample of scientific research, e.g. a manuscript, thesis, or other work product Our institute also hosts the IMPRS graduate school in “Neural Circuits” which currently has an open call for PhD applicants: http://brain.mpg.de/graduate-studies/call.html Julijana Gjorgjieva Max Planck Institute for Brain Research Max-von-Laue-Str 4 60438 Frankfurt/Main, Germany http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~gjorgjieva/

Jan. 3, 2016

Deadline Approaching: Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop 2016 Call for Topics

by Ralph Etienne-Cummings

Call for Topic Area Proposals2016 Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop *Telluride, Colorado, June 26 –July 16, 2016* *DEADLINE: January 8th, 2016* We are now accepting proposals for Topic Areas in the 2016 Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop. We support topics and projects in neuromorphic cognition, particularly those that involve solving challenging ‘everyday’ tasks that incorporate domain-specific knowledge, exploration, prediction, and problem solving. In particular, we are interested in projects that hold promise for addressing Grand Challenge types of problems that do not have strong solutions of any form, neuromorphic or not. These Challenge problems should feature long-duration sensorimotor problems that involve autonomous cognitive decision making. Examples might include tasks such as learning a new language, navigating through an unknown environment to locate an object or reach a desired location, visual and auditory understanding of human actions, adaptively manipulating unknown or complex objects in the service of a task, playing a game requiring inference of hidden information or long-term planning and learning, etc. Proposals related to hardware technologies that aim to bring these capabilities to reality are also encouraged. Topic proposals that aim to solve a particular problem using the multidisciplinary experience of participants will be favored over topics that simply gather a large number of people working within a discipline, or using a single technology, or approach. Topic areas for this summer's Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop <http://ine-web.org/> will be chosen from proposals submitted to the organizers. *Topic areas can span a large field; we are looking for leadership in planning activities and inviting good people in a field.* Although past topic areas have tended to be very broad and discipline-oriented (e.g., cognition, audition, vision, robotics, neural interfacing, neuromorphic VLSI, etc.), application-oriented topic areas (e.g., sensor fusion, game-playing robot, object recognition, sound localization, human robot interaction, etc.) are especially desirable. *Topic area leaders will receive housing for themselves and their invitees, and limited travel funds.* Topic area leaders will help to define the field of neuromorphic cognition engineering through the projects they pursue and the people they invite. They shape their topic by inviting speakers and project leaders (the *invitees*) and by initiating topic area project discussions prior to the workshop. Teams of two organizers are required. One of the organizers should be an attendee of a previous Telluride Workshop (in any capacity) and has stayed at the Workshop for at least one week. *Pre-workshop topic area choices and study assignments.* Before the workshop begins, each topic area will be required to prepare and distribute study materials that constitute: 1) an introductory presentation (e.g., pptx, video, review paper) of the fundamental knowledge associated with the topic area that *everyone at the workshop* should be exposed to, and 2) a few critical papers that the participants in the topic area should read before the workshop. The topic area should 3) begin a serious group discussion of the projects (e.g., via Facebook, Skype, email, etc). *The maximum 2-page proposals should include:* 1. Title of topic area. 2. Names of the two topic leaders, their affiliations, and contact information (email addresses). 3. A paragraph explaining the focus and goals of the topic area. 4. A list of possible specific topic area projects. 5. A list of example invitees (up to six names and institutions). No commitments necessary. 6. Any other material that fits within the two-page limit that will help us make a smart choice. *Send your topic area proposal* in pdf or text format to organizers13(a)neuromorphs.net <organizers12(a)neuromorphs.net> with subject line containing "topic area proposal". *Proposals must be received by January 8, 2016*; proposals received after the deadline may still be considered if space is available. *We expect to accept 4-5 topic areas*, each with 5 invitees*.* If your proposal for the topic area is not accepted, we will work with you to see if there is a natural way to include your ideas (and you) into the accepted topic areas. We hope to have significant turn-over each year in the topic areas and leaders to ensure fresh new ideas and participants. See the Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering (www.ine-web.org) for background information on the workshop and neuromorphs.net <https://neuromorphs.net/ws2009/wiki/PastWorkshops> for past workshop wikis. We look forward to your topic proposals! *Deadline: January 8, 2016* *The Workshop Directors:* Cornelia Fermüller <http://www.cfar.umd.edu/~fer/> (University of Maryland), Ralph Etienne-Cummings <http://etienne.ece.jhu.edu/people/ralph/index.html> (Johns Hopkins Univ.) Shih-Chii Liu <https://www.ini.uzh.ch/~shih/> (University of Zurich and ETH Zurich), Timmer Horiuchi <https://www.isr.umd.edu/faculty/horiuchi> (University of Maryland), Katalin Gotthard <http://physiological-sciences.arizona.edu/katalin-gothard> (University of Arizona), Michael Pfeiffer <https://www.ini.uzh.ch/~pfeiffer/index.html> (University of Zurich and ETH Zurich), Francisco Barranco <fbarranco(a)ugr.es> (University of Granada) *Former 2007-2013 Workshop Director:* Tobi Delbruck <https://www.ini.uzh.ch/~tobi/> (University of Zurich and ETH Zurich) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Etienne-Cummings, PhD, FIEEE Professor and Chairman Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Computational Sensor Motor Systems Lab Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD [image: cid:image001.png@01CFC064.B58B46A0]

Jan. 2, 2016

International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience (ICMNS) 2016

by Zachary Kilpatrick

*Abstracts are due by January 7, 2016* https://icmns2016.inria.fr/call-for-contributions/ <https://icmns2016.inria.fr/call-for-contributions/> International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience (ICMNS 2016) at the Congress Center in Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera May 29 to June 1, 2016 Tutorials: May 29 Main Conference: May 30 - June 1 https://icmns2016.inria.fr/ <https://icmns2016.inria.fr/> CONFIRMED SPEAKERS Wulfram Gerstner (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) John Rinzel (New York University) Antoine Triller (École Normale Supérieure de Paris) Rachel Kuske (U British Columbia) Jonathan Rubin (U Pittsburgh) Hinke Osinga (U Aukland) Carina Curto (Penn State University) Ruben Moreno-Bote (Foundation Sant Joan de Deu) Hiroya Nakao (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Si Wu (Beijing Normal University) Alex Roxin (Centre de Recerca Matematica) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Toni Guillamon (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) Roland Potthast (U Reading) Gregory Faye (Université Paul Sabatier ) Wilhelm Stannat (TU Berlin) Jonathan Touboul (College de France) Gilles Wainrib (Ecole Normale Supérieure) Suzanne Ditlevsen (University of Copenhagen) Boris Gutkin (Ecole Normale Supérieure) Martin Wechselberger (U Sydney) Jonathan Rubin (U Pittsburgh) Martin Krupa (INRIA Sophia Antipoilis) Carlo Laing (Massey University) Andre Longtin (U Ottawa) Daniele Avitabile (U Nottingham) Jose Carrillo (Imperial College) Pascal Chossat (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis) Carson Chow (National Institutes of Health) Steve Zucker (Yale University) Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Rachel Kuske (U British Columbia) Laura Sacerdote (Universita di Torino) Reinhard Hopfner (Johannes-Gutenberg Universitat) Olivier Faugeras (INRIA - Sophia Antipolis) Paul Bressloff (U Utah) Steve Coombes (U Nottingham) CONFERENCE CHAIRS Romain Veltz (INRIA - Sophia Anitpolis) Zachary Kilpatrick (U Houston) Evelyn Buckwar (Johannes Kepler Universitat Linz)

Jan. 1, 2016

Videos about Connecting Network Architecture and Network Computation

by Artur Luczak

Dear All, There was interesting workshop on Connecting Network Architecture and Network Computation, and videos from talks are available online: http://www.birs.ca/events/2015/5-day-workshops/15w5158/videos Cheers, Artur ------------------------------------------------ Artur Luczak, Ph.D. Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Canada http://lethbridgebraindynamics.com/artur_luczak

Dec. 31, 2015

Release of NEST 2.10.0

by Jochen Martin Eppler

Dear NEST users, we're happy to bring you NEST 2.10.0, which contains 303 repository commits by 25 developers since v2.8.0. The most notable changes over v2.8.0 are: * Support for simulations of gap junctions (see Jan Hahne et al., 2015) * Framework for structural plasticity (see Markus Butz et al., 2013 and Markus Butz et al., 2014) * Full support for the K computer (just in case you found one under your Christmas tree ;-)) All users are encouraged to upgrade and adapt their simulation scripts to the changes in the user interface at this point in time to benefit from the improvements in the new version. For a full list of changes and download links, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/releases/tag/v2.10.0 Best regards and a happy new year, Jochen! -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49 2461 61-9471 ---------------------------------- Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience Jülich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dec. 31, 2015

Call for Papers: Extracellular Potentials and Electric Field Interactions

by Reinoud Maex

JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE NEUROSCIENCE http://www.worldscinet.com/jin Call for Papers! Special Issue on Extracellular Potentials and Electric Field Interactions In experimental neuroscience, most electric signals are picked up from the electrolytic (or colloidal) solution that constitutes extracellular (interneuronal) space, yet the origin of these potentials is incompletely understood. Even more, theoreticians have recently argued about the physical principles underlying these phenomena. The present special issue invites experimental and theoretical work that can shed light on electric phenomena in extracellular space, with an emphasis on extracellular potentials and endogenous electric field interactions. The contributions solicited are original research papers and comprehensive reviews on methodological aspects. Submission deadline: 30 September 2016 Contact: Dr. Reinoud Maex reinoud.maex(a)ens.fr Questions that may be addressed are (but are not limited to): 1. The nature of extracellular potentials - What is nature of the electric currents, and what is the velocity (distribution) of the ions involved? Since membrane currents underlie the extracellular currents, what are the relative contributions of synaptic versus voltage-gated channels, excitatory versus inhibitory synapses, capacitive currents? How important are Lorenz forces between currents (due to the generated magnetic fields) and is there a contribution of polarization currents? - Is extracellular space purely resistive, or is a capacitive component involved, and what factors (such as ionic concentration, Debye shielding, etc.) contribute to its resistivity? 2. Modeling of extracellular potentials and electric field interactions - What level of detail is needed to model extracellular electrical phenomena, and which formalism can be employed? How valid is the cable equation, or need slow concentration changes of the major ionic components involved be modeled explicitly? How can LFP calculations be incorporated in simulation software? - Can volume transmission be simulated adequately as volume conductors? Are ephaptic coupling effects adequately simulated in one dimension? 3. Neuronal inference from measured extracellular potentials - What is the importance of the electrode characteristics for the proper interpretation of the measured signals? - What are the underlying assumptions, and limitations, of current-source-density analysis? How valid is the dipole approximation? Why are recent experiments being interpreted in terms of monopoles, and can single-compartmental model neurons generate local field potentials at all? - What can be learned from the power density distribution of signal frequencies? 4. Neurostimulation - What is the effect on neurons of an externally applied current or potential, and what mechanism (or rationale) underlies deep brain stimulation? 5. Physiological roles of extracellular potentials and endogenous electrical fields - Do extracellular potentials contribute to neuron-neuron and neuron-glia communication? Can there be a role for extracellular potentials in the homeostasis, clearance, and volume regulation of extracellular space, and in the control of blood flow and of the blood-brain-barrier. - What is the integrative role of endogenous electrical fields in brain function?

Dec. 31, 2015

Real World Eye Tracking Course

by Durant, Szonya

Real World Eye Tracking Course An introductory course to using eye tracking in real world situations Organized jointly by Acuity Intelligence Ltd. and Dept. of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London Systems used in mini-projects: Tobii Glasses 2, TX300, SMI eye tracking glasses Software used: Tobii Studio, Tobii Glasses 2 software, SMI iView, BeGaze Further possible system demonstrations: Ergoners Dikabils, EyeLink Course outline: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/psychology/documents/pdf/course-outline.pdf<https://www.royalholloway..ac.uk/psychology/documents/pdf/course-outline.pdf> Further details: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/psychology/documents/pdf/further-details.pdf Course dates: 9.30am 25 April - 5.30pm 26 April 2016 Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom Prices: Industry £800, HEI staff £400, Postgraduate students £80 (participants can be based in any country) Deadline for registration: 1 Feb 2016 Link for registration: http://onlinestore.rhul.ac.uk/browse/category.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=643<http://onlinestore..rhul.ac.uk/browse/category.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=6…> Contact: sales(a)acuity-intelligence.com<mailto:sales@acuity-intelligence..com> ********************************************************************** Szonya Durant Department of Psychology Royal Holloway, University of London Egham TW20 0EX 01784 276522 ********************************************************************** Szonya Durant Department of Psychology Royal Holloway, University of London Egham TW20 0EX 01784 276522

Dec. 30, 2015

Fruit Fly Brain Hackathon

by Yiyin Zhou

Fruit Fly Brain Hackathon 2016 FFBH 2016 <http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/hackathons/ffbh/2016>March 17, 2016Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 The goal of the hackathon is to bring together researchers interested in developing executable models of the fruit fly brain. Towards that end we will engage systems and computational neuroscientists in modeling, design, implementation and biological validation of an open-source emulation platform of the whole fruit fly brain. All hackathon participants will be provided with an Amazon Machine Image of the recently developed open-source Neurokernel <http://neurokernel.github.io/> platform for executable fruit fly brain circuits. The hackathon is aimed at three main groups of participants: biologists, modelers and software engineers. For biologists, the hackathon focuses on the intuitive modeling and representation of biological data, such as anatomical and recordings data of the fruit fly brain, in the NeuroArch <http://neurokernel.github.io/docs.html> database. For modelers, the hackathon aims at creating/modifying models of neuropils that are compliant with the Neurokernel API <http://neurokernel.github.io/docs.html>. For software engineers, the hackathon focuses on improving the Neurokernel <http://neurokernel.github.io/> platform and its API, and developing new, proof-of-concept features that are needed by biologists and modelers alike. All hackathon participants will be strongly encouraged to collaborate towards the realization of executable fruit fly brain models. The Fruit Fly Brain Hackathon is organized in conjunction with the Columbia Workshop on Brain Circuit, Memory and Computation <http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/workshops/bcmc/2016> on March 18-19, 2016. Participants of the hackathon are welcome to attend the workshop. Registration is free but all participants have to register <https://fruit-fly-brain-hackathon16.eventbrite.com/> ( https://fruit-fly-brain-hackathon16.eventbrite.com/) Organizers: Paul Richmond, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield Adam Tomkins, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield Nikul Ukani, Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University Yiyin Zhou, Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University More information can be found on the hackathon website: http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/hackathons/ffbh/2016 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Best Regards, Yiyin Zhou, on behalf of the organizers

Dec. 29, 2015

ICANN 2016 Barcelona - Second Call

by antonio

2nd Call for Papers 2nd Call for special sessions, workshops, demonstrations ============================================================ *www.icann2016.org* *ICANN 2016 * 25th Annual Conference on Artificial Neural Networks BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain 6 - 9 September 2016* Special event*: ENNS 25th Anniversary ============================================================ /The International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN) is the annual flagship conference of the European Neural Network Society (ENNS). In 2016 the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (BarcelonaTech) will organize the 25th ICANN Conference from //the //6th to //the //9th //of //September 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with the Universit//at//Pompeu Fabra (UPF)./ *INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS* 1. *Wlodek Duch *(Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland) 2. *Erkki Oja *(Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland) 3. *Joaquin Fuster *(University of California at Los Angeles, USA) 4. *Murray Shanahan* (Imperial College London, UK) 5. *Günther Palm*(University of Ulm, Germany) 6. *Stephen Coombes *(University of Nottingham, UK) 7. *Etienne Koechlin*( Pierre and Marie Curie University, France) *IMPORTANT DATES* /Special session / workshop proposals: /15 January 2016 /Proposals for competitions and tutorials:/31 January 2016 /Submission of abstracts and papers: /1 March 2016 /Submission of //d//emonstration proposals: /1 March 2016 /Notification of acceptance:/8 May 2016 /Camera-ready paper and registration: /15 May 2016 /Conference dates:/6-9 September 2016 *CONFERENCE TOPICS* ICANN 2016 will feature the main tracks /Brain Inspired computing/ and /Machine Learning research/, with strong cross-disciplinary interactions and applications. All research fields dealing with Neural Networks will be present at the conference. A non-exhaustive list of topics includes: * Brain Inspired Computing: Cognitive models, Computational Neuroscience, Self-organization, Reinforcement Learning, Neural Control and Planning, Hybrid Neural-Symbolic Architectures, Neural Dynamics, Recurrent Networks, Deep Learning. * Machine Learning: Neural Network Theory, Neural Network Models, Graphical Models, Bayesian Networks, Kernel Methods, Generative Models, Information Theoretic Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Relational Learning, Dynamical Models. * Neural Applications for: Intelligent Robotics, Neurorobotics, Language Processing, Image Processing, Sensor Fusion, Pattern Recognition, Data Mining, Neural Agents, Brain-Computer Interaction, Neural Hardware, Evolutionary Neural Networks. *CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES* Early registration fees have been kept particularly low for this kind of event because ENNS and ICANN aim at full implementation of the academic not-for-profit policy. Undergraduate students (Bachelor and Master level): 90 EUR PhD Students: 200 EUR Regular delegates: 250 EUR *ENNS members have a reduction of 40 EUR* Students can apply for ENNS funded travel grants to attend (see the conference website). *CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS* All scientific communications presented at ICANN 2016 will be reviewed and scientifically evaluated by a panel of experts. The conference will feature three categories of communications: - oral communications (15'+5') - poster communications (on permanent display and 2 hours presentation) - demonstrations Authors willing to present original contributions for any category must submit a manuscript of maximum 8 pages length that will be refereed to international standards by at least three referees. Accepted papers of contributing authors will be published in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. Selected papers will be invited after the conference for a full journal paper submission. Authors willing to present a contribution for oral communications and posters without submitting an full manuscript must submit a 1-page abstract that will also be refereed by at least three referees. The abstracts will be published all together in a proceedings section without an author index. In case of program constraints the priority will be given to original contributions accompanied by a full paper submission. Submission of communications will be online. More details are available on the conference website. *WORKSHOPS, SPECIAL SESSIONS, DEMONSTRATIONS,* *COMPETITION PROPOSALS and TUTORIALS* ICANN 2016 invites proposals for workshops, special sessions, demonstrations, competitions and tutorials to be held during the conference. For more information, please refer to the website. *BEST PAPER AWARDS* ENNS will sponsor a maximum of four best paper awards, two in the Brain Inspired Computing track (one poster and one oral communication) and two in the Machine Learning research track. All awardees will be presented during the final ceremony. *ORGANISATION** General Chair:*/ Antonio J. Pons Rivero/(UPC Barcelona, Spain)* Local**co-Chairs:* /Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo/(UPF Barcelona, Spain), /Paul Verschure/(UPF Barcelona, Spain) *Organising Committee Chairs:*/ Daniel Malagarriga/(UPC Barcelona, Spain), /Lara Escuain/(UPC Barcelona, Spain), /Caroline Kleinheny/(ENNS Lausanne, Switzerland) *Honorary Chair: *Alessandro E. P. Villa * Communication* *Chair:*/ Paolo Masulli/(ENNS Lausanne, Switzerland) *********************************************** Antonio J. Pons Rivero General Chair of ICANN 2016 Terrassa School of Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering (ETSEIAT) Nonlinear dynamics, nonlinear optics and lasers Group BarcelonaTech (UPC) Edifici GAIA Rbla. Sant Nebridi, 22 08222 Terrassa, Spain Caroline Kleinheny Secretary of the European Neural Network Society University of Lausanne Internef 137k, Quartier UNIL Dorigny 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland ***********************************************

Dec. 29, 2015

Postdoc position

by Dawn Taylor

We currently have openings for postdocs and/or engineers for our NIH-funded study in Parkinson's disease and Deep Brain Stimulation (PIs Dr. Dawn Taylor & Dr. Cameron McIntyre). The goal of this project is to understand how Parkinson's disease alters cortical network processing and how Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) helps to re-normalize motor function. The project involves chronically recording cortical network activity with high-density electrode arrays in our macaque animal models. Extensive neuromotor data will be collected in the normal and Parkinsonian state as well as on and off different types of DBS. This experimental data will be complimented with computational modeling to try to understand the underlying mechanisms as well as identify ways to improve DBS. We are looking for multiple post docs/engineers that can focus on either the animal work, the computational modeling, or both depending on their skills and interests. If interested, please send a CV to Dr. Dawn Taylor at dxt42(a)case.edu. -- Dawn M. Taylor, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Cleveland Clinic Researcher Scientist, Cleveland VA Medical Center, Functional Electrical Stimulation Center Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering & of Molecular Medicine, Case Western Reserve University The Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute 9500 Euclid Ave. / NC30 Cleveland, OH 44195 email: dxt42(a)case.edu or taylord8(a)ccf.org Phone: (216) 636-0140 Fax: (216) 778-4259

Dec. 28, 2015

[COSYNE2016] Travel grants, registration, and hotels

by Tomas Hromadka

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2016 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING Feb 25 - Feb 28, 2016 Salt Lake City, Utah WORKSHOPS Feb 29 - Mar 01, 2016 Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah www.cosyne.org ==================================================== REGISTRATION AND HOTELS: Travel grants submission is currently open. Online registration is currently open. Hotel booking is currently open. Travel grant application deadlines Dec 31, 2015, 11.59PM PST (Undergraduate Travel Grant) Jan 14, 2016, 11.59PM PST (Other travel grants) Early registration deadline Jan 31, 2016, 11.45PM EST Hotel booking deadlines Jan 19, 2016, Last day for reduced hotel rates at workshops Feb 03, 2016, Last day for reduced hotel rates at main meeting For more detailed information on Cosyne, please visit www.cosyne.org. TRAVEL GRANTS Applications are now open for travel grants to attend the conference. Each awardee will receive at least $500 to help offset the costs of travel, registration, and accommodations. Larger grants may be available to those traveling from outside North America. Special consideration is given to scientists who have not previously attended the meeting, under-represented minorities, students who are attending the meeting together with a mentor, undergraduate students, and authors of submitted Cosyne abstracts. We currently offer four travel grant programs for New Attendees, Presenters, Mentors, and Undergraduates. For details on applying, see cosyne.org, section Travel grants. THE MEETING The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks are selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. We would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS Blaise Aguera y Arcas (Google) Marisa Carrasco (NYU) Edward Chang (UCSF) Greg DeAngelis (Rochester) Mark Goldman (UC Davis) Sonja Hofer (Basel) Richard Mooney (Duke) Mala Murthy (Princeton) Peggy Series (Edinburgh) Reza Shadmehr (Johns Hopkins) Paul Smolensky (Johns Hopkins) Leslie Vosshall (Rockefeller) Xiao-Jing Wang (NYU) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Maria Geffen (U Penn) and Konrad Körding (Northwestern) Program Chairs: Megan Carey (Champalimaud) and Emilio Salinas (Wake Forest) Workshop Chairs: Claudia Clopath (Imperial College) and Alfonso Renart (Champalimaud) Publicity Chair: Xaq Pitkow (Rice) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Anne Churchland (CSHL) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT cosyne.meeting [at] gmail.com

Dec. 25, 2015

call for illusion submissions: the 12th Best Illusion of the Year Contest

by Susana Martinez-Conde

****CALL FOR ILLUSION SUBMISSIONS: THE WORLD'S 12TH ANNUAL BEST ILLUSION OF THE YEARSM CONTEST**** <http://illusionoftheyear.com> http://illusionoftheyear.com We are happy to announce the 12th edition of world's Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest!! Submissions are now welcome! In 2015, the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest became an annual online event, with the goal of bringing the creativity of the illusion creator community all around the world. Anybody with an internet connection can now participate! No matter where you live, you can be a contestant, and/or vote for the Top 3 winners! Contestants are invited to submit 1-minute YouTube videos featuring novel illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2015) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) and/or cognitive nature. The content of the 1-minute video presenting your illusion is solely up to you, and the only requirement is that it wows all viewers! Some examples include, but are not limited to: * -A slide presentation, or succession of images, with a voice over (and/or written text, if you prefer) * -A video of yourself describing your illusion * -A video animation/enactment of your illusion An international panel of impartial judges will rate all the videos and narrow them down to the Top 10. Then, online voters around the world will choose their favorite illusions from the Top 10 finalists. All Top 10 finalists will receive a commemorative plaque. In addition, the Top 3 winners will receive cash prizes: $3,000 USD for first place; $2,000 USD for second place, and $1,000 USD for third place. The Judge Panel will rate illusions according to: * -Significance to our understanding of the human mind and brain * -Simplicity of the description * -Sheer beauty * -Counterintuitive quality * -Spectacularity Submissions will be held in strict confidence by the Judge Panel. Only the Top 10 illusions will be posted online, to allow worldwide voting. Participation in the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest does not preclude you from also submitting your work for publication elsewhere. By participating in the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest you agree to have your illusion posted on the Contest website, if selected among the Top 10, and included in press releases and other promotional materials/fundraising initiatives for the Contest. You (and your co-authors, if appropriate) will retain the full copyright of your illusion, and receive full credit as illusion creator(s). Illusions submitted to previous editions of the contest can be re-submitted to the 2016 Contest, as long as they meet the above requirements and were not among the Top 3 winners in previous years. You can send your 1-minute video to Susana Martinez-Conde via email ( <mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com> smart(a)neuralcorrelate.com) until April 15, 2016. On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society: Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse ----------------------------------- Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology Empire Innovator Scholar Director, Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn NY 11203, USA Email: smart(a)neuralcorrelate.com <mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com> Phone: +1 718-270-4520 http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com <http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com/>

Dec. 24, 2015

PhD position in Neurotechnology @ Imperial College

by Chadderton, Paul T

Open PhD position in Neurotechnology at Imperial College London in the Chadderton and Clopath labs. The candidate will be doing in vivo electrophysiology in mouse cerebellum and computational modelling of learning-related changes in this circuit. Candidate must be EU national. Project: Biologically inspired computation for real-time motor control Supervisors: Paul Chadderton (http://neuralcircuitsinbehaviour.squarespace.com/) Claudia Clopath (http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/c.clopath/) An important area of robotics research is focused on developing machines that can learn and adapt to changing environments as efficiently as animals. Biological principles underlying the acquisition of motor skills are likely to inspire these new technologies. The aim of our project is to characterise computational principles of motor learning in real time using novel neurophysiological data from a uniquely tractable and well-controlled system, the whisker circuitry of the cerebellar cortex. Neural recordings will reveal how the brain adapts during learning, and will then be used to develop and apply a biologically constrained computational model in an actively sensing robot. For full application instructions, see: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/neurotechnology/cdt/projects/computation_for_moto…

Dec. 23, 2015

NEURAL COMPUTATION - January 1, 2016

by Terry Sejnowski

Neural Computation - Volume 28, Number 1 - January 1, 2016 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/28/1 ----- Articles Neural Network Spectral Robustness Under Perturbations of the Underlying Graph Anca Radulescu Sequential Tests for Large Scale Learning Anoop Korattikara, Yutian Chen, and Max Welling Note A Note on Support Vector Machines With Polynomial Kernels Hongzhi Tong Letters Analytical Calculation of Errors in Time and Value Perception Due to a Subjective Time Accumulator: A Mechanistic Model and the Generation of Weber's Law Vijay Mohan K Namboodiri, Stefan Mihalas, and Marshall G Hussain Shuler Efficient Associative Computation With Discrete Synapses Andreas Knoblauch Reduction of Trial-to-trial Perceptual Variability by Intracortical Tonic Inhibition Osamu Hoshino, Meihong Zheng, and Kazuo Watanabe An Empirical Overview of the No Free Lunch Theorem and Its Effect on Real-World Machine Learning Classification David Gomez, Alfonso Rojas Global Exponential Stability of Cohen-Grossberg Neural Networks With Piecewise Constant Argument of Generalized Type and Impulses Qiang Xi ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2016 - VOLUME 28 - 12 ISSUES Student/Retired $78 Individual $138 Institution $1,108 MIT Press Journals, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-cs(a)mit.edu ------------ Neural Computation - Volume 28, Number 1 - January 1, 2016 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/28/1 ----- Articles Neural Network Spectral Robustness Under Perturbations of the Underlying Graph Anca Radulescu Sequential Tests for Large Scale Learning Anoop Korattikara, Yutian Chen, and Max Welling Note A Note on Support Vector Machines With Polynomial Kernels Hongzhi Tong Letters Analytical Calculation of Errors in Time and Value Perception Due to a Subjective Time Accumulator: A Mechanistic Model and the Generation of Weber's Law Vijay Mohan K Namboodiri, Stefan Mihalas, and Marshall G Hussain Shuler Efficient Associative Computation With Discrete Synapses Andreas Knoblauch Reduction of Trial-to-trial Perceptual Variability by Intracortical Tonic Inhibition Osamu Hoshino, Meihong Zheng, and Kazuo Watanabe An Empirical Overview of the No Free Lunch Theorem and Its Effect on Real-World Machine Learning Classification David Gomez, Alfonso Rojas Global Exponential Stability of Cohen-Grossberg Neural Networks With Piecewise Constant Argument of Generalized Type and Impulses Qiang Xi ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2016 - VOLUME 28 - 12 ISSUES Student/Retired $78 Individual $138 Institution $1,108 MIT Press Journals, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-cs(a)mit.edu ------------

Dec. 23, 2015

AREADNE 2016 Call for Abstracts

by John Pezaris

****** CALL FOR ABSTRACTS ****** AREADNE 2016 Research in Encoding and Decoding of Neural Ensembles 22-26 June 2016 Nomikos Conference Centre Santorini, Greece Celebrating 10 Years of AREADNE Conferences http://www.areadne.org info(a)areadne.org INTRODUCTION A fundamental problem in neuroscience is to understand how the activation of neuronal populations gives rise to higher order functions including learning, memory, cognition, perception, action and ultimately conscious awareness. Electrophysiological recordings have revealed considerable information about the firing patterns of single neurons, but it remains largely a mystery how collections of individual neurons interact to perform these functions. Understanding ensemble activity is critical to understanding the brain. CONFERENCE MISSION The AREADNE Conferences have been created to gather global scientific leaders who work on neural ensembles and establish a touch-point for the widely disparate and hybrid field. With a spectacular setting on Santorini, the conferences have been carefully planned to foster discussion and interaction between attendees to encourage the establishment of lasting professional relationships. The meetings continue our efforts to promote systems neuroscience in Greece through creating a world-class forum for cutting-edge research. For 2016, we will be Celebrating Ten Years of AREADNE Conferences! FORMAT AND SPEAKERS The conference will span four days, in morning and early evening sessions. Confirmed speakers include experts in the field of multi-neuron experiment, theory, and analysis (in alphabetic order): Michele Basso Matthias Bethge Rick Born Rosa Cossart James DiCarlo Alexander Ecker Lisa Giocomo Konrad Kording Matthew Larkum Albert Lee John Maunsell May-Britt Moser Stephanie Palmer Xaq Pitkow Michael Roukes Irini Skaliora Stelios Smirnakis Nelson Spruston Gina Turrigiano CALL FOR ABSTRACTS We are currently soliciting abstracts for poster presentation. Submissions will be accepted electronically, and must be received by 12 Feb 2016. Automated email acknowledgment of submission will be provided, and manual verification will be made a few days after submission. Notification of acceptance will be provided by 15 March 2016. Please see our Call for Abstracts page for additional details and submission templates: http://areadne.org/call-for-abstracts ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Dora Angelaki Nicholas Hatsopoulos, co-chair John Pezaris, co-chair Panayiota Poirazi Thanos Siapas Andreas Tolias FURTHER INFORMATION AND SPECIAL NOTE For further information on AREADNE 2016 please see the conference web site http://www.areadne.org or send email to info(a)areadne.org. Please note that the timing of the DENDRITES 2016 meeting (http://dendrites2016.gr) in Crete dovetails quite nicely with the AREADNE 2016 meeting in Santorini. -- Dr. J. S. Pezaris AREADNE 2016 Co-Chair Massachusetts General Hospital 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114, USA john(a)areadne.org

Dec. 22, 2015

Announcing Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course 2016

by Erik De Schutter

OKINAWA/OIST COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2016 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 13 - June 30, 2016 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 13th through June 30th, 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; January 4 - February 5, 2016. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. 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. 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. 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: • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Sophie Deneve (École Normale Supérieure, France) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Chris Eliasmith (University of Waterloo, Canada) • Tomoki Fukai (RIKEN BSI, Japan) • Michael Häusser (University College London, UK) • Yukiyasu Kamitani (ATR & Kyoto University, Japan) • Etienne Koechlin (École Normale Supérieure, France) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Partha Mitra (Cold Spring Harbor, USA) • Astrid Prinz (Emory University, USA) • John Rinzel (New York University, USA) • Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama (OIST) • more tba

Dec. 22, 2015

Fully funded postdoctoral position in Machine Learning and Computational Biology at Royal Holloway University of London

by Alberto Paccanaro

[Apologies for cross-posting] Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at the Department of Computer Science of Royal Holloway, University of London. The successful candidates will work with Prof Alberto Paccanaro on different projects in the area of Systems Biology and Network Medicine -- please see http://www.paccanarolab.org/ for a description of the research carried out in the lab. Candidates should have a PhD degree in a relevant quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering), a strong background in machine learning and a keen interest in computational biology. Previous experience in the area of graphical models would be an asset for this position. The successful candidates will have the opportunity to collaborate with members of the interdisciplinary Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology (Computer Science and Biological Sciences) at Royal Holloway and collaborators at Imperial College, University of Tennessee and Yale University. The post is therefore ideal for someone with a computer science or maths background who is looking to move into computational biology. The Department of Computer Science is located on Royal Holloway's pleasant campus (see http://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/) in Egham, just outside London. The position is for 30 months, full-time, beginning in the Spring 2016. The starting salary will be up to 37,743 GBP p.a. (about 57,000 USD), with annual increments. The position is funded by a joint BBSRC/NSF grant. Applicants should send a CV including a list of publications, a statement of research interests, and contact information of 3 referees electronically to alberto(a)cs.rhul.ac.uk If you wish to discuss details of the position, please contact Alberto Paccanaro at the same address. Alberto -- ===================================== Prof Alberto Paccanaro Department of Computer Science Royal Holloway, University of London Homepage: www.cs.rhul.ac.uk/~alberto Labpage: www.paccanarolab.org

Dec. 22, 2015

Re: [Comp-neuro] Postdoc position in Large-scale Neuronal Ensemble Recordings in Sensori-motor Cortices in Behaving Marmosets

by Nicho

A postdoctoral position is available starting as soon as possible to characterize the spatio-temporal organization of sensori-motor cortical activity at multiple spatial scales associated with upper limb movements of behaving marmosets.This project involves high density multi-electrode array recordings as well as calcium fluorescence imaging from motor and somatosensory cortical sites in marmosets performing natural arm and hand movements.Facilities include a fully equipped electrophysiological laboratory with three 128-channel acquisition systems for multi-electrode recording and stimulation, calcium fluorescence imaging microscopes, and camera-based and a 3D videofluoroscopy-based motion capture systems.Expertise in multi-site, behavioral electrophysiology and/or calcium imaging is preferred.A strong mathematical, computational, or engineering background is also desirable.Applicants should send a CV and names and addresses of two or three references to Dr. Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57^th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 or by e-mail to nicho(a)uchicago.edu <mailto:nicho@uchicago.edu>.

Dec. 21, 2015

PhD Position: Modelling Gait in People with Parkinson's Disease.

by Tsaneva-Atanasova, Krasimira

PhD in Modelling Gait in People with Parkinsons Disease. Primary supervisor: Prof Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova<http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/mathematics/staff/kt298> Secondary supervisors: Dr Mark Wilson (University of Exeter), Dr Victoria Goodwin (University of Exeter) Based within the EPSRC Centre for Predictive Modelling in Healthcare, a £2M initiative bringing together mathematicians, statisticians and clinicians, you will work on a project aiming to develop a data-driven mathematical modeling framework in order to study gait impairments in patients with Parkinson’s. Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition that mainly affects people of 50 and over. One person in every 500 has Parkinson's, which equates to about 127,000 people in the UK. There's currently no cure, and the range of symptoms and how quickly they progress are different for everyone. The main symptoms of Parkinson's are tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement. Despite optimal medication therapy, many people with Parkinson’s still experience gait impairments. Gait impairments (e.g., freezing of gait) are associated with falls and fear of falling, and reduced quality of life. This studentship aims to further our understanding of the degenerative nature of the disease by taking a dynamical systems approach to modelling the coordination of locomotion (gait) from an individual perspective. While many studies have examined discrete gait measures (e.g. step length) it is likely that several gait malfunctions will interact and incur a simultaneous deterioration of stepping. A dynamical systems approach is particularly useful in predicting when and if this deterioration may cross a critical threshold; for example, triggering a freeze or a stumble. The first stage of this project will be to develop a model based on gait data we have already collected from 18 people with Parkinson’s. The second stage would be to collect additional data to test model’s predictions and refine and improve the model. This project is one of a number which are funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership to commence in September 2016. The studentships will provide funding for a stipend (currently £14,057 per annum for 2015/16), research costs of £3,000 and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council rates for 3.5 years. Application Criteria Applicants should have or expect to achieve at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or equivalent, in Maths, Physics, Medicine, Natural Sciences or other numerate discipline. The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4 January 2016. Interview will be held at the University of Exeter is mid-late January 2016. For further information, or informal discussion about the position, please contact Prof Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, e-mail: K.Tsaneva-Atanasova(a)exeter.ac.uk<mailto:K.Tsaneva-Atanasova@exeter.ac.uk>. Summary Application deadline: 4th January 2016 Value: £14,057 per annum plus UK/EU fees for eligible students (2015-16 rates) Duration of award: per year Contact: Postgraduate Research Office emps-pgr-ad(a)exeter.ac.uk<mailto:emps-pgr-ad@exeter.ac.uk> How to apply Please visit www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/money/studentships/application/<http://www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/money/studentships/application/> and complete the online web form. You will be asked to submit some personal details and upload a full CV, covering letter and details of two academic referees. Your covering letter should outline your academic interests, prior research experience and reasons for wishing to undertake this project. Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova Professor of Mathematics for Healthcare College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences University of Exeter Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QF, UK tel: +44 (0) 1392 723615 email: k.tsaneva-atanasova(a)exeter.ac.uk<mailto:k.tsaneva-atanasova@exeter.ac.uk> web: http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/mathematics/staff/kt298 ALTEREGO - Enhancing Social Interaction with an AlterEgo artificial agent http://www.euromov.eu/alterego/homepage

Dec. 21, 2015

Postdoctoral position

by Eran Mukamel

I would like to advertise the following opportunity in our group. Postdoctoral position in Computational Neuro-Epigenomics The UCSD Computational Neural Data and Dynamics Lab <http://brainome.ucsd.edu/> is seeking applications for a funded postdoctoral research position as part of our group’s studies of epigenomic regulation in brain cells. Our lab in the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Cognitive Science department uses tools from bioinformatics and machine learning to analyze a variety of neural epigenetic processes. We have helped to identify unique forms of DNA methylation in neurons and glial cells, and we are working to understand the distribution, development and potential function of these epigenomic marks. Our theoretical and computational research group has close ties with experimental neurobiology and genomics labs in San Diego. More information about the lab is at http://brainome.ucsd.edu <http://brainome.ucsd.edu/>. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. (or expect to receive one shortly) and have a strong background in computational biology (e.g. computational neuroscience, bioinformatics), or physical science or engineering (e.g. math, physics, computer science, bioengineering) as well as a strong interest in fundamental genomic processes underlying neural development and cognition. Previous experience with genomic or epigenomic data analysis is helpful, but not necessary. To apply, please send the following to emukamel(a)ucsd.edu <mailto:emukamel@ucsd.edu>: - A cover letter describing your background, research interests and how they fit with our lab - Curriculum vitae - Contact information for 2-3 references - If available, a sample of scientific research, e.g. a manuscript, thesis, or other work product Salary will be commensurate with NIH rates. For inquiries or more information, please contact Eran Mukamel at the address above. Eran A. Mukamel Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science University of California, San Diego emukamel(a)ucsd.edu <mailto:emukamel@ucsd.edu> http://brainome.ucsd.edu <http://brainome.ucsd.edu/>

Dec. 21, 2015

Opportunities for Ph.D. Studentships

by Wong-Lin, Kongfatt

The Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) at Ulster University, UK, invites applications for 3-year Ph.D. studentships. A list of studentships offered for the year 2016 and the projects' details can be found at: http://www.compeng.ulster.ac.uk/rgs/showPhDProposals.php?ri=3. The computational neuroscience and neural systems research community at the ISRC focuses on both fundamental brain and behavioural sciences, and their applications, including clinical neuroscience and neural engineering. In particular, I have the available computational neuroscience projects available for 2016: 1. Dynamics of decision making in heterogeneous systems. http://www.compeng.ulster.ac.uk/rgs/displayPhDProposal.php?id=894&ri=3 2. Big data analytics and computational modelling in mental health. http://www.compeng.ulster.ac.uk/rgs/displayPhDProposal.php?id=893&ri=3 3. Computational neuromodulation. http://www.compeng.ulster.ac.uk/rgs/displayPhDProposal.php?id=892&ri=3 The application process for the Ph.D. studentship is opened with a closing date for applications on the 26th February 2016. All studentships, which are highly competitive, are expected to start in September 2016, and include tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance for EU and non-EU students. All applicants should hold a first or upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate subject, such as computer science, engineering, physics, mathematics or neuroscience. Applicants must be highly motivated and willing to pursue research and develop skills across disciplines. If you wish to apply for a studentship, please follow the instructions at: http://www.compeng.ulster.ac.uk/rgs/guideForApplicants.php. Unless indicated, successful students will be based primarily at the ISRC with opportunities to interact with other related ISRC research teams, including from the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Centre for Stratified Medicine, and external collaborators. The ISRC has recently established state-of-the-art functional brain mapping facility, and high performance computing facility for big data analytics. The ISRC is situated in the city of Derry~Londonderry, which received the City of Culture 2013 award. Please note that some studentship (DEL Awards) have restrictions on residence eligibility - see guidance notes for details. For further information, please contact me (k.wong-lin(a)ulster.ac.uk) ------------------- Dr. KongFatt Wong-Lin Intelligent Systems Research Centre School of Computing and Intelligent Systems Faculty of Computing and Engineering Ulster University http://isrc.ulster.ac.uk/kwonglin/contact.html ________________________________ This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information which is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at postmaster(a)ulster.ac.uk and delete this email immediately. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ulster University. The University's computer systems may be monitored and communications carried out on them may be recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. Ulster University does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of a separate attachment, the text of email is not intended to form a binding contract. Correspondence to and from the University may be subject to requests for disclosure by 3rd parties under relevant legislation. The University of Ulster was founded by Royal Charter in 1984 and is registered with company number RC000726 and VAT registered number GB672390524.The primary contact address for Ulster University in Northern Ireland is Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT52 1SA

Dec. 21, 2015

Open Position: Coordinator of the Smart Start Training Program

by Kerstin Schwarzwaelder

Dear colleagues, The Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH <http://www.fz-juelich.de/portal/EN/Home/home_node.html> and theCoordination Site of the Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience <http://www.nncn.de/en/the-network/Network-Partners/BCOS> are looking for a Coordinator of the Smart Start Training Program <http://www.nncn.de/en/study-training-options/smart-start>. Please find the announcement and online application system here <http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2015-291-EN…>. Application deadline: January 14, 2016 For inquiries regarding the position please contact Andrea Huber Broesamle (e-mail: andrea.huber(a)bcos.uni-freiburg.de) or Kristin Urbach (phone: +49 2461 61-9700) Best regards, Kerstin Schwarzwälder

Dec. 21, 2015

Job Vacancies in Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE)

by Tasos_UPatras

Job Vacancies in Neuroinformatics The Cognitive Engineering Lab of Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) (http://www.sinapseinstitute.org/ <http://www.sinapseinstitute.org/>) is seeking to appoint one Research Fellow (RF) and one Research Assistant (RA) for a period of 1 year; (positions to be filled as soon as possible). Remuneration and benefits will be based in NUS standards and candidates’ qualifications and years in service. Research Topic · Our group is leading a project aiming to develop virtual reality (VR)-based brain augmentation systems including realistic VR based simulations and real-time brain states analysis. The simulation applications will be developed (in Unity3D Game Engineer) for virtual reality system to provide various stimuli. A remote EEG system will be used to monitor the brain activity in real time. · The aims of the study is to identify reliable and robust individual biomarkers of cognitive states for VR-based training scenarios and compare the training effects with traditional 2-Dimensional computer based simulations to understand if VR-based trainings lead to better user-experience and performance Scientific profile for the Research Fellow Position · Recent Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction or Cognitive Science · Publications in Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning Methods and/or Brain Computer Interaction with applications · Bachelor or Master Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering · Knowledge of experimental design in cognitive-related experiments Scientific profile for the Research Assistant Position · Bachelor or Master Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering · Experience of game research or game development (experience of VR preferred, both Oculus Rift and room-size VR) · Experience of Unity3D game engineer, proficiency in C++ or Javascript (experience with middleVR preferred) Personal profile · Good communication and English writing skills is essential · Interdisciplinary communication and team competence · Creative and highly self-motivated. Contact · Applications should include CV, statement of experience and motivation, and names of referees (for the RF position). Informal inquiries prior to application are welcome. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. · Applications should be sent, preferably as single pdf file by email, to prof Tassos Bezerianos (lsiba(a)nus.edu.sg <mailto:lsiba@nus.edu.sg>). Best Regards Tassos Anastasios(Tassos) Bezerianos, BS,MS,PhD prof. Electrical and Computer Engineering, NUS Head of Cognitive Engineering Lab SINAPSE , 28 Medical drive #05-COR , Singapore 117456 office:+65 66013054, cell:+65 97738374

Dec. 21, 2015

Columbia Workshop on Brain Circuits, Memory and Computation

by Aurel A. Lazar

Columbia Workshop on Brain Circuits, Memory and Computation BCMC 2016 <http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/workshops/bcmc/2016> Friday and Saturday, March 18-19, 2016 Center for Neural Engineering and Computation <http://www.cnec.columbia.edu/> Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 Overview The goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers interested in developing executable models of neural computation/processing of the brain of model organisms. Of interest are models of computation that consist of elementary units of processing using brain circuits and memory elements. Elementary units of computation/processing include population encoding/decoding circuits with biophysically-grounded neuron models, non-linear dendritic processors for motion detection/direction selectivity, spike processing and pattern recognition neural circuits, movement control and decision-making circuits, etc. Memory units include models of spatio-temporal memory circuits, circuit models for memory access and storage, etc. A major aim of the workshop is to explore the integration of various sensory and control circuits in higher brain centers. A Fruit Fly Brain Hackathon <http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/hackathons/ffbh/2016> is being conducted in conjunction with the workshop. Confirmed Invited Speakers J. Douglas Armstrong <http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jda/index.html>, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Alexander Borst <http://www.neuro.mpg.de/borst>, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried. Thomas R. Clandinin <http://flyvisionlab.weebly.com/>, Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University. Michael Hawrylycz <https://alleninstitute.org/our-science/brain-science/about/team/staff-profi…>, Allen Institute of Brain Science Stanley Heinze <http://www.biology.lu.se/stanley-heinze>, Department of Biology, Lund University. Chung-Chuan Lo <http://life.nthu.edu.tw/~lablcc/>, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Matthieu Louis <http://www.crg.eu/en/matthieu_louis>, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona. Gaby Maimon <http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/faculty/labheads/GabyMaimon/>, Rockefeller University. Mala Murthy <http://www.molbio1.princeton.edu/labs/murthy/lab/Home.html>, Princeton University. Michael B. Reiser <https://www.janelia.org/lab/reiser-lab>, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA. Vanessa Ruta <http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/faculty/labheads/VanessaRuta/>, Rockefeller University. Glenn C. Turner <https://www.janelia.org/people/glenn-turner>, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA. Marta Zlatic <https://www.janelia.org/lab/zlatic-lab>, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA. Aurel http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu

Dec. 20, 2015

[Deadline Extended] 2016 IEEE EAIS - Natal, Brazil, 23-25 May 2016

by Teng Teck Hou

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Paper submission until 15 January 2016 (We apologize for multiple copies) - Please distribute this CFP among your colleagues and students 2016 IEEE International Conference on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems - 2016 IEEE EAIS Natal, Brazil, May 23-25, 2016 Website: http://eventos.ifrn.edu.br/eais2016 * IMPORTANT DATES * -------------------------------------------------------------- Special Session Proposals Deadline: 13 November 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: 15 January 2016 (Deadline extended!) Decision Notification: 19 February 2016 Final Paper Submission Deadline: 18 March 2016 Authors Registration Deadline: 18 March 2016 All accepted papers will be published in the conference Proceedings and IEEEXplore. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions for possible inclusion in a special issue of the Journal Evolving Systems (Springer). Submission page: http://eventos.ifrn.edu.br/eais2016/instructions.html * CONTEXT * -------------------------------------------------------------- The 2016 IEEE Conference on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems (2016 IEEE EAIS) will be held in Natal (Brazil), a beautiful city located at the Brazil's northeast coast. It is the Brazilian closest capital to/from Europe and Africa. Natal has several tourist attractions and is famous for its natural beauty, for its historical monuments and buildings and for its gorgeous beaches. The city also boasts the second largest urban park in Brazil and was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 2016 IEEE EAIS will provide a friendly atmosphere and will be a leading international forum focusing on the discussion of recent advances, the exchange of recent innovations and the outline of open important future challenges in the area of Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems. Over the past decade, this area has emerged to play an important role on a broad international level in today's real-world applications, especially those ones with high complexity and dynamics change. Its embedded modelling and learning methodologies are able to cope with real-time demands, changing operation conditions, varying environmental influences, human behaviors, knowledge expansion scenarios and drifts in online data streams. 2016 IEEE EAIS is organized by the IEEE Technical Committee on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems, SMC Society. 2016 IEEE EAIS will be held for the first time in Latin America, however, the conference series has a history starting in 2006 in Lake District (England). It was held after that in Witten-Bommerholz (Germany), Nashville (USA), Leicester (England), Paris (France), Madrid (Spain), Singapore, Linz (Austria) and Douai (France). Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions for possible inclusion in a special issue of the Journal Evolving Systems (Springer). * CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS * -------------------------------------------------------------- Distinguished researchers working in theory, analysis and applications of evolving adaptive and intelligent systems and related areas are encouraged to submit proposals within the technical scope of 2016 IEEE EAIS. Researchers interested in organizing special sessions are invited to submit a formal proposal at the website: http://eventos.ifrn.edu.br/eais2016/special.html * AREAS OF INTEREST * -------------------------------------------------------------- Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Basic Methologies - Evolving Soft Computing Techniques - Evolving Fuzzy Systems - Evolving Rule-Based Classifiers - Evolving Neuro-Fuzzy Systems - Adaptive Evolving Neural Networks - Online Genetic and Evolutionary Algorithms - Data Stream Mining - Incremental and Evolving Clustering Approaches - Adaptive Pattern Recognition - Incremental and Evolving ML Classifiers - Adaptive Statistical Techniques - Evolving Decision Systems - Big Data - Advanced Concepts Drifts and Shifts in Data Streams - Stability, Robustness, Convergence in Evolving Systems - Online Feature Selection and Dimension Reduction - Online Active and Semi-supervised Learning - Online Complexity Reduction - Computational Aspects - Interpretability Issues - Incremental Adaptive Ensemble Methods - Online Bagging and Boosting - Self-monitoring Evolving Systems - Human-Machine Interaction Issues - Hybrid Modeling - Transfer Learning - Reservoir Computing - Real-world Applications EIS for On-Line Modeling and System Identification - EIS for Time Series Prediction - EIS for Data Stream Mining and Adaptive Knowledge Discovery - EIS in Robotics, Intelligent Transport and Advanced Manufacturing - EIS in Advanced Communications and Multi-Media Applications - EIS in Bioinformatics and Medicine - EIS in Online Quality Control and Fault Diagnosis - EIS in Condition Monitoring Systems - EIS in Adaptive Evolving Controller Design - EIS in User Activities Recognition - EIS in Huge Database and Web Mining - EIS in Visual Inspection and Image Classification - EIS in Image Processing - EIS in Cloud Computing - EIS in Multiple Sensor Networks - EIS in Query Systems and Social Networks - EIS in Alternative Statistical and Machine Learning Approaches * SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS * -------------------------------------------------------------- Full papers - max. 8 pages IEEE style (double-column). * INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE * ------------------------------------------------------------------ Plamen Angelov, Lancaster University, UK Dimitar Filev, Ford Motor Co., USA Nikola Kasabov, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand * ORGANIZING COMMITTEE * ------------------------------------------------------------ Chair: Bruno Sielly Jales Costa, Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), Natal, Brazil Co-chair: Luiz Affonso Guedes, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil Publication Chairs: Igor Škrjanc, Slovenia Edwin Lughofer, Austria Local Arrangement Chairs: Arthur S. Medeiros, Brazil Marcus Fernandes, Brazil Clauber G. Bezerra, Brazil Allan M. Martins, Brazil Marcelo Damasceno, Brazil Web & Publicity Chair: José A. Iglesias, Spain Teng Teck Hou, Singapore Special Session Chair: Radu-Emil Precup, Romania Program Committee Chair: Bruno Sielly Jales Costa, Brazil Best regards, ------- Prof. Dr. Bruno Sielly Jales Costa IFRN - Campus Natal/Zona Norte IEEE Computational Intelligence Society IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society

Dec. 20, 2015

[UKCI 2016] Updated Call for Papers

by Teng Teck Hou

[Apologies for cross-postings] ########################################################### CALL FOR PAPERS The 16th Annual UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, UKCI-2016 September 7-9, 2016, Lancaster, United Kingdom http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/ukci2016/ ########################################################### The 16th Annual UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, UKCI-2016 this year is being hosted by Lancaster University. UKCI is the premier UK event for presenting leading research on all aspects of Computational Intelligence. The aim of this Workshop is to provide a forum for the academic community and industry to share ideas about developing and using Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques, the new trends and to exchange views and ideas. CI is a rapidly expanding research field, attracting a large number of scientists, engineers and practitioners working in areas such as fuzzy systems, neural networks, evolutionary computation, evolving systems and machine learning. A growing number of companies are employing CI techniques to improve previous solutions and to deal with new problems. These include evolving systems that allow high performance in spite of changes which are either external or internal to the system, thereby increasing the re-usability of developed systems. This also include smart, intelligent and autonomous systems, self-learning, self-adapting, self-calibrating and self-tuning. UKCI-2016 will take place in Lancaster House Hotel, located conveniently within the campus of Lancaster University, few miles from the city centre including Lancaster Castle. The city offers excellent transport links, with easy access to the M6, railway station and ferry links. Beyond the array of activities within the city, Lancaster is close to the Britain’s premier touristic area – Lake District, home to theatres, museums, Ashton Memorial and Williamson park. #################### Important dates ##################### - Special Session proposals: January 4th, 2016 - Paper submission: April 1st, 2016 - Notification of paper acceptance: June 15th, 2016 - Camera-ready submission: July 15th, 2016 ########################################################## #################### Plenary speakers #################### - Jose Principe, Distinguished Professor, University Of Florida, USA - Trevor Martin, Bristol University and Senior Researcher, British Telecom ########################################################## #################### Organizing committees ############### * Honorary Chair - Prof. Janusz Kacprzyk, Fellow Polish Academy of Sciences * General Chair - Prof. Plamen Angelov, Lancaster University * Programme Chairs - Prof. Qiang Shen, Aberystwyth University - Prof. Chrisina Jane, Robert Gordon University * Publication Chair - Dr. Alexander Gegov, Portsmouth University * International Liaison - Ms Azliza Mohd Ali, Lancaster University * Finance Chair - Ms Carol Airey, Lancaster University * Local Organisation Chairs - Dr. John Mariani, Lancaster University - Mr Richard Gnosill, Lancaster University * Publicity Chair - Dr. Teng Teck Hou, Singapore Management University * Awards Chair - Prof. Araceli Sanchis de Miguel, Carlos III University, Spain * Special Session Chair - Dr. Xiao Jun Zeng, Manchester University ########################################################## ############# Paper Submission and Publication ########### * Papers for UKCI 2016 should be submitted electronically through the Conference website at http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fas/scc/sites/ukci2016/, and will be refereed by experts in the fields and ranked based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality and clarity. * Selected papers will be considered for publication, following substantial extension, in a Special Issue of the Soft Computing Journal (Springer). ########################################################## #################### Awards ############################## * A best regular paper and a best student paper will be selected for this award * This best paper award consists of a plaque and a €200 honorarium * The best paper awards are sponsored by Springer ########################################################## ###### Topics and Areas include, but not limited to ###### Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) * Computational intelligence methodology * Computational intelligence for big data * Making Sense from Data (streams) * Knowledge representation * Fuzzy logic, fuzzy systems, approximate reasoning; * New Machine Learning Methodologies * Artificial Neural Networks * Evolutionary computation, swarm intelligence, artificial immune systems, memetic computing, Nature-inspired computing * New and emerging computational intelligence approaches from hybrid learning and systems, molecular and quantum computing * Software agents and multi-agent systems, intelligent control * Intelligent Video Analytics * Applications of computational intelligence techniques in engineering, healthcare, finances, (cyber)security, signal, image and video processing ########################################################## #################### Call for Special Session Proposals ######################### * UKCI-2016 will retain its traditional format of a single track with special sessions on selected “hot” topics. * Please email proposals for special sessions to ukci2016(a)lancaster.ac.uk by 4th January 2016 ########################################################## #################### Co-Sponsors ######################### * Springer * Department of Engineering and the School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University ##########################################################

Dec. 20, 2015

Postdoctoral fellowship in statistical neuroscience at Boston University

by Mark Kramer

Postdoctoral fellowship in statistical neuroscience at Boston University A postdoctoral position is available for working in an NIH-funded BRAIN initiative project focused on understanding the computational principles and neural circuit mechanisms that underlie complex interactions across distributed circuits during brain function. The candidate will be responsible for developing data analysis and statistical modeling methods to characterize simultaneous LFP and spike train recordings from multiple brain regions during decision-making tasks. The successful candidate will have a strong background in statistics and computer programming; experience in interdisciplinary neuroscience research is preferred, although not essential. The position is based at Boston University in the labs of Uri Eden and Mark Kramer. The project is highly interdisciplinary and will involve frequent and extensive interactions with experimentalists at UCSF (Loren Frank) and Cold Spring Harbor (Adam Kepecs). Please contact Uri Eden or Mark Kramer (see links below) for more information. Boston University offers a vibrant community of statistical, mathematical, and neuroscience faculty and students, and many opportunities for collaboration within and outside the University. http://math.bu.edu/people/tzvi/ http://math.bu.edu/people/mak/

Dec. 20, 2015

[INNS-BigData 2016] Updated Call for Papers

by Teng Teck Hou

[Apologies for cross-postings] ########################################################### CALL FOR PAPERS The 2nd INNS Conference on Big Data 2016 October 23-25, 2016, Thessaloniki, Greece http://conferences.cwa.gr/inns-big-data2016/ ########################################################### Big data is not just about storage of and access to data. Analytics play a big role in making sense of that data and exploiting its value. But learning from big data has become a significant challenge and requires development of new types of algorithms. Most machine learning algorithms can't easily scale up to big data. Plus there are challenges of high-dimensionality, velocity and variety. The neural network field has historically focused on algorithms that learn in an online, incremental mode without requiring in-memory access to huge amounts of data. This type of learning is not only ideal for streaming data (as in the Industrial Internet or the Internet of Things), but could also be used on stored big data. Neural network technologies thus can become significant components of big data analytics platforms and this inaugural INNS Conference on Big Data will begin that collaborative adventure with big data and other learning technologies. Thus the aim of this conference is to promote new advances and research directions in efficient and innovative algorithmic approaches to analyzing big data (e.g. deep networks, nature-inspired and brain-inspired algorithms), implementations on different computing platforms (e.g. neuromorphic, GPUs, clouds, clusters) and applications of Big Data Analytics to solve real-world problems (e.g. weather prediction, transportation, energy management). #################### Important dates ##################### - Tutorial and workshops proposals: February 15th, 2016 - Notification of tutorial and workshops proposals: February 20th, 2016 - Paper submission: April 30th, 2016 - Notification of paper acceptance: May 30th, 2016 - Camera-ready submission (AISC): June 11th, 2016 - Early registration: June 20th, 2016 Registration deadline: papers without confirmed registration by June 24th 2016 risk their inclusion in the proceedings ########################################################## #################### Invited speakers #################### - Francesco Bonchi, ISI Foundation, Torino, Italy - Stephen Furber, University of Manchester, UK - Rudolf Kruse, OVG University of Magdeburg, Germany - Piotr Mirowski, Google Deep Mind, London, UK ########################################################## #################### Organizing committees ############### General Chairs - Plamen Angelov, Lancaster University, UK - Yannis Manolopoulos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Program Chairs - Lazaros Iliadis, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece - Asim Roy, Arizona State University, Tempe USA - Marley Vellasco, PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Advisory Board - Nikola Kasabov, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand - Ali Minai, University of Cincinnati, USA - Danil Prokhorov, Toyota Tech Center, Michigan, USA - Theodore Trafalis University of Oklahoma, USA - G. Kumar Venayagamoorthy, Clemson University, USA Tutorials/Workshop Chairs - Apostolos Papadopoulos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece - Bernardete Ribeiro, Portugal Poster Session Chairs - Yi Lu Murphey, University of Michigan-Dearborn, USA Special Sessions Chairs - Irwin King, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China - Luca Oneto, University of Genoa, Italy Panel Chairs - Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University, Boston, USA Awards Chair - Araceli Sanchis de Miguel, Carlos III University, Spain Competitions Chairs - Adel Alimi, University of Sfax, Tunisia Publication Chairs - Mariette Awad, American University of Beirut, Lebanon - Danilo Mandic, Imperial College, London, UK Publicity Chairs - Jose Antonio Iglesias Martinez, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain - Simone Scardapane, The Sapienza University of Rome, Italy - Teck Hou Teng, Singapore Management University, Singapore International Liaison Chairs - Petia Georgieva, University of Aveiro, Portugal - De-Shuang Huang, Tongji University, Shanghai, China Local Organizing Committee: - Anastasios Gounaris, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece WebMaster - Yannis Karydis, Ionian University, Greece ########################################################## ############# Paper Submission and Publication ########### * Original works submitted as a regular paper limited to a maximum of 14 pages in Springer format will be published in the proceedings to be available electronically as a Springer book in ADVANCES IN INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS AND COMPUTING Series, to download for delegates. * It will be peer-reviewed by at least three PC members on the basis of technical quality, relevance, originality, significance and clarity. * At least one author of an accepted submission to the conference should register with a regular fee to present their work at the conference. ########################################################## #################### Awards ############################## * Best papers will be selected and awarded as follows: - Best regular paper - Best student paper * This will be based on a combination of reviewers' comments, presentations and importance and quality judged by a panel. * Best paper awards (500 Euros) are donated by the sponsor Springer Verlag, Germany and will be commemorated by a certificate. ########################################################## ###### Topics and Areas include, but not limited to ###### * Autonomous, online, incremental learning - theory, algorithms and applications in big data * High dimensional data, feature selection, feature transformation - theory, algorithms and applications for big data * Scalable algorithms for big data * Learning algorithms for high-velocity streaming data * Big data streams analytics * Deep neural network learning * Machine vision and big data * Brain-machine interfaces and big data * Cognitive modeling and big data * Embodied robotics and big data * Fuzzy systems and big data * Evolutionary systems and big data * Evolving systems for big data analytics * Neuromorphic hardware for scalable machine learning * Parallel and distributed computing for big data analytics (cloud, map-reduce, etc.) * Big data and collective intelligence/collaborative learning * Big data and hybrid systems * Big data and self-aware systems * Big Data and infrastructure * Big data analytics and healthcare/medical applications * Big data analytics and energy systems/smart grids * Big data analytics and transportation systems * Big data analytics in large sensor networks * Big data and machine learning in computational biology, bioinformatics * Recommendation systems/collaborative filtering for big data * Big data visualization * Online multimedia/ stream/ text analytics * Link and graph mining * Big data and cloud computing, large scale stream processing on the cloud ########################################################## #################### Co-Sponsors ######################### * International Neural Network Society (INNS) * Springer ##########################################################

Dec. 20, 2015