Dear all,

we are still taking registrations for our Lorentz Center Symposium "Brain and Organisms, Neuroscience beyond Computation" to be held in Leiden 16 to 20 March 2026.

Since the 1990s, that were designated as the “Decade of the brain” new technologies have generate a wealth of empirical data unimaginable before. Yet that era’s hopes for a new understanding of the brain that would translate into effective treatment for a number of brain disorders seem to be put on hold. The currently slow progress of brain theory, and, relatedly, of clinical innovation has, in our opinion, a key cause in reductionist, and reductive dominant paradigm which looks at “brain machinery” in isolation, without paying much attention to the link between the brain and the physiology of the whole organism, and to the social-ecological environment in which natural brains operate. The symposium will bring together mathematicians, philosophers, computer scientists, and experimental neuroscientists to identify how a broader perspective on brain-organism-environment may help formulating new conceptual tools, and novel experimental paradigms. The sessions will progress from debating to value of current computational and modeling trends, to highly conceptual and theoretical perspective of the biological brain and ending with the discussing how the brain integrates into the organism as a whole, and into a social network in individuals. We hope to formulate new ideas, which will be summarized for example in a  special issue of a prominent academic journal.


You can see more info, and register at https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/brain-and-organisms-neuroscience-beyond-computation.html

Please do not hesitate contacting me if you have any questions!

All best, Francesco

Prof. Dr. Francesco P. Battaglia
Principal Investigator
Neuronal Networks of Memory Lab
Donders Centre for Neuroscience
Heyendaalseweg 135
6525AJ Nijmegen - The Netherlands
francesco.battaglia@donders.ru.nl
fpbattaglia@gmail.com

Post address:
P.O. box 9010 internal Mailbox 66
6500GL Nijmegen The Netherlands
 
September 2025- January 2026:
Distinguished NIAS-Lorentz Center Fellow
(on sabbatical at NIAS in Amsterdam)