The COPHY team (Computation, Cognition and Neurophysiology) is led by Mathilde Bonnefond and Jérémie Mattout. It is composed of 5 researchers, 2 research engineers, 1 clinician and 11 national and international docs and postdocs. It is also regularly hosting internships of mostly engineers, Master 1 and Master 2 students with different backgrounds.

Host institution

The CRNL is a large INSERM/CNRS/University Lyon 1 research center, gathering more than 450 people spread across 20 teams and 10 platforms. It is located in the Lyon East Hospital Pole, a unique site combining medical care (4 hospitals respectively dedicated to neurology, psychiatry, cardiology and pediatrics), basic and clinical research (from genes and cells to cognition and behaviour; from bench to patient), as well as high-tech technological platforms (incl. Neuroimaging, MEG, SEEG, virtual reality).

Scientific context
In various sensory modalities, in health and disease, we mainly study human perception in the aim of unravelling its underlying cognitive, computational and neurophysiological mechanisms. Our team aims at innovating at the theoretical, methodological, experimental and clinical levels. In particular, we study neuronal encoding and communication (e.g., the emergence and functional role of oscillations; the computation behind the contextual modulations of cortical responses) in relation to brain disorders. This also guides the design of neurotechnologies (brain-computer interfaces) for research and clinical applications: namely ADHD, motor deficits and disorders of consciousness. Therefore, and beside behavioural and classical neuroimaging approaches (electrophysiology, fMRI), we use multimodal high-resolution neuroimaging (e.g., laminar MEG and fMRI) and computational modelling (e.g., Bayesian inference, Dynamic Causal Models of neuronal and cognitive processes; Spiking/Deep Neural Networks).

Methods and models lie at the heart of our research. With this call, we aim at strengthening this core axis that is key to translating our theoretical hypothesis into testable quantitative predictions. Our team has recently evolved so that our hypothesis driven approach now spans several spatial and temporal scales (e.g., from neurotransmitters to behaviour; from trial-by-trial dynamics to neurodevelopment). Instantiating these hypotheses requires to build on most recent advances in computational neurosciences, for developing biologically plausible models of cognitive processes and their underlying physiological mechanisms.

We thus develop models to be confronted with actual data. We actually use models to strongly guide the design of our experiments and provide new tools for data analysis (new algorithms that can be implemented in open software and shared with the whole team and beyond). We attach particular importance to the valorisation of computational models and methods, be it through their publication and diffusion, or by virtue of their impact on translating our research into
societal and clinical applications. 

Finally, we also value methodological developments that support the emergence of new functional techniques (e.g. for the analysis of data from the new generation of MEG systems: optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs)).

Desired candidate profile
We seek for a young researcher whose profile will strongly complement our team. We expect the candidate to lead her/his own research program in computational neuroscience, but in strong interaction with the topics and experimental projects in the team.
The important skills and topics we would like to further develop in the team include but are not limited to:
– Spiking neural networks
– Bayesian models (e.g. Active Inference)
– Dynamical systems
– Brain-Computer Interfaces
– Machine Learning

A previous experience in software development, teaching and human electrophysiology is not mandatory but will be a plus.

INRIA position
This call is to select a candidate for our team to apply for an INRIA position. In a single application, the candidate will have the possibility to apply to both a permanent research position (CRCN) and an INRIA starting faculty position (ISFP). This process is organized once a year. A first stage requires the submission of a written application (around the end of winter 2024 for the next session). If preselected,the candidate will then defend her/his project orally in front of a jury (second and last recruitment stage).

Application
Application should contain a full resume (CV), a research and motivation statement (1 page max.) as
well as the names of 2 references.
Please send your application as a single document in pdf format, to both mathilde.bonnefond@inserm.fr and jeremie.mattout@inserm.fr, in an email entitled “Call for INRIA candidates”.

Submission dead-line: December 8 (midnight GMT) this year.
Remote interviews of the pre-selected candidates will likely be organized on December 20 and 21st this year.