The BrainNet workshop promotes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the brain, covering a wide range of topics that elucidate its complex mechanisms and functions. The event brings together distinguished scientists from leading institutions across Europe who investigate the brain using methods from fields such as Statistics, Complex Networks, Dynamical Systems, Topology, Machine Learning, or a combination of these. By integrating diverse perspectives and cutting-edge research, the workshop aims to advance our understanding of brain function while fostering innovation and collaboration within the scientific community. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with the latest findings, discuss emerging trends, and explore the ethical and practical considerations of brain research.

Technologiefolgenabschätzung in Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft

Bei technischen Innovationen werden immer wieder Stimmen laut, die vor den Geistern warnen, die dadurch gerufen wurden: Atomenergie, Verbrennungstechnologie, chemische Prozesse, Künstliche Intelligenz. In der interdisziplinären Vorlesungsreihe werden die Chancen und Grenzen des technologischen Fortschritts aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven der akademischen Fachdisziplinen beleuchtet. Die alles verbindende Frage lautet: Darf der Mensch alles, was er kann? Dabei geht es nicht nur um frappierende Entdeckungen, die zugleich erheblichen Schaden mit sich brachten, sondern auch um fortschrittliche Technik zu Hause und im Alltag. Expertinnen und Experten bringen Perspektiven ein aus Philosophie, Geschichte und Naturwissenschaft, aus technischen Disziplinen, Wirtschaft und Medizin.

Episodic memories are widely regarded as memories of personally experienced events. Early concepts about episodic memory were based on the storage model, according to which experiential content is preserved in memory and later retrieved. However, overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that the content of episodic memory is – at least to a certain degree – constructed in the act of remembering. Even though very few contemporary researchers would oppose this view of episodic memory as a generative process, it has not become the standard paradigm of empirical memory research. This is particularly true for studies of the neural correlates of episodic memory. Further hindering progress are large conceptual differences regarding episodic memory across different fields, such as neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. This interdisciplinary conference therefore aims to bring together researchers from all relevant fields to advance the state of the art in the research on generative episodic memory.

This edition of the Brain Conference, organised by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and the Lundbeck Foundation (awarders of The Brain Prize), takes place from 3–6 June in Rungsted Kyst, Denmark. It will focus on ‘Frontiers of Theoretical Neuroscience’, bringing together researchers to explore the impact of machine learning, AI, connectomics, and large-scale recordings on the field. Beyond the invited talks, there will be poster sessions and short talks with participant-submitted abstracts and an optional social event, offering great opportunities to share your research and connect with colleagues in a relaxed, intimate setting. There are also several stipends available to support participation in the event. The early registration deadline is 30 April 2025.

The NEST Initiative is excited to invite everyone interested in Neural Simulation Technology and the NEST Simulator to the virtual NEST Conference 2025. The NEST Conference provides an opportunity for the NEST Community to meet, exchange success stories, swap advice, learn about current developments in and around NEST spiking network simulation and its application. We are inviting contributions to the conference, including talks, "posters" and workshops on specific topics. We particularly encourage young scientists to participate in the conference!

The International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience (ICMNS) is an inter-disciplinary conference series, bringing together theoretical/computational neuroscientists and mathematicians. The conferences are aimed at scientists interested in using or developing mathematical techniques for neuroscience problems. ICMNS 2025 will be the tenth annual conference.

The Georgetown-TUM Summer Schools in Neuroengineering started in 2023 with the first summer school at Georgetown, followed by the “TUM-GU Summer School in Neuroengineering” at the Technical University of Munich, Germany in 2024. This year’s edition is back at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The theme is “Neuroengineering for Restoration to Function”, highlighting ways in which neuroengineering approaches can aid in restoring function after injury- or disease-related impairment.

The goal of neuroengineering is to apply engineering principles and techniques to understand, repair, replace, and enhance the nervous system. The interdisciplinary nature of the field requires a close collaboration between neuroscientists (spanning approaches from cellular to cognitive) and engineers (including biomedical, computer science, electrical, mechanical…), and the goal of the summer school is to bring together students (from advanced undergraduate to graduate), postdocs and faculty from all these areas.

Founded in 2002, the Brain Connectivity Workshop (BCW) is an annual international meeting for in-depth discussions of all aspects of brain connectivity research.

With the aim of further strengthening the connection between neuroscience and statistical physics, this satellite workshop is intended to gather neuroscientists, physicists, and mathematicians who work on collective dynamics, cognition and behavior, and provide an interdisciplinary stage to discuss recent theoretical/computational and experimental advances on the role of neural ensembles for brain function. The workshop will be carefully planned to foster discussion and interaction between attendees, and to encourage the establishment of professional relationships. Particular emphasis will be given to participation of young PI’s and scholars and to the diversity in the pool of participants, with a good balance between physicists, mathematicians, theoretical and experimental neuroscientists. The deadline for abstract submission is May 15, 2025.

In a collaborative effort, the World Premier International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN) at the University of Tokyo and the Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute (Chen Institute) are proud to present the Neuro-inspired Computation Course, a groundbreaking program designed to explore the convergence of natural and artificial intelligence. This course delves into critical topics such as intrinsic dynamics, network architectures, prediction, plasticity, criticality, multi-agent learning, and neuromodulation, highlighting the potential for interdisciplinary innovation in advancing our understanding of cognitive processes.

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) compute in a fundamentally different and more biologically inspired manner than standard artificial neural networks (ANNs). They have recently gained renewed interest, mainly due to their sparse information processing, larger representation capacity, and potentially much lower computational costs. This workshop will address the related aspect of sparsity and its impact on energy-efficient (embedded edge) AI solutions. The workshop will be held as part of the AIROV Symposium. Deadline for Abstract submission is 8 May 2025.

The purpose of the OCNS is to create a scientific and educational forum for everyone to learn about, to share, to contribute to, and to advance the state of knowledge in computational neuroscience. Computational neuroscience combines mathematical analyses and computer simulations with experimental neuroscience, to develop a principled understanding of the workings of nervous systems and apply it in a wide range of technologies. The Annual CNS Meeting serves as a forum for young scientists to present their work and to interact with senior leaders in the field.

The GRC will explore inhibition's role in neural circuits related to behavior, focusing on interneuron subtypes, inhibitory synapse organization, sensory processing, memory, and computational approaches. It will also cover inhibition in the adult neurogenic niche, model organisms like mice and primates, and its role in neuropsychiatric disorders.

After two successful editions in 2023 (Dublin, Ireland) and 2024 (Minneapolis, USA) the Computational Psychiatry Conference has established itself as the largest conference worldwide in this emerging field, annually attracting over 240 students, postdocs, and faculty from around the world to meet and discuss new scientific discoveries.

The Barcelona summer school for Advanced Modelling of Behavior (BAMB!) teaches advanced techniques in model-based analysis of behavior (humans and other species) to cognitive and computational neuroscientists at PhD and early career levels. This will be achieved through structured lectures, talks, hands-on tutorials and group projects aimed at making knowledge obtained directly applicable to the participants' own research. We want the trainees to acquire both the conceptual basis and the technical skills that will enable them to pursue a full modelling approach on their own when they come back to their lab.

Modern deep learning methods provide some of the best tools to model behavior and brain function today. Excitingly, AI systems have become the first artificial models capable of matching human performance in sophisticated cognitive tasks, such as visual recognition, language processing, and strategic planning. This unique capability makes them a key test bed for neuroscience research: by studying how these AI systems solve complex problems, we can generate and test hypotheses about the computational principles that biological brains might use. Moreover, thanks to amazing progress in neuroscientific experimental recording techniques over the last decade, we now have access to vast amounts of complex data, which can be used in computational modeling, across multiple modalities – from neural activity of thousands of neurons, to anatomical details of neuronal circuits, to whole brain neural recordings during complex behavior of humans and animals. These exciting developments—in both AI methodology and neuroscientific recordings—have inspired an emerging area of research at the intersection of neuroscience and AI.

The Konstanz School of Collective Behaviour (KSCB) will take place between 21st July 2025 – 8th August 2025 at the Cluster of Excellence Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour (CASCB) at the University of Konstanz. Uni Konstanz is a University of Excellence and ranked #1 young university in Germany with “Collective Behaviour" as one of five research foci. Konstanz is a vibrant, small city located on the border between Germany and Switzerland, on the shores of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Over three weeks, students will delve deeply into the topic of collective behaviour with lectures, hands-on tutorials, and projects, making it a unique and unforgettable experience.

This year our summer school "Neural Dynamics for Embodied Cognition" will take place from the 25th to the 30th of August, 2025 at the Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Gregor Schöner. Neuronal dynamics provide a powerful theoretical language for the design and modeling of embodied and situated cognitive systems. This school provides a hands-on and practical introduction to neuronal dynamics ideas and enables participants to become productive within this framework. The school is aimed at advanced undergraduate or graduate students, postdocs and faculty members in embodied cognition, cognitive science, and robotics. Topics addressed include neural dynamics, attractor dynamics and instabilities, dynamic field theory, neuronal representations, artificial perception, simple forms of cognition including detection and selection decisions, memory formation, learning, and grounding relational concepts. The school combines tutorial lectures with hands-on project work. Participants will develop their own modeling project, which may connect to their ongoing doctoral or postdoctoral research. The application deadline is May 25th, 2025.

Each year the Bernstein Network invites the international computational neuroscience community to the annual Bernstein Conference for intensive scientific exchange. It has established itself as one of the most renowned conferences worldwide in this field, attracting students, postdocs and PIs from around the world to meet and discuss new scientific discoveries.

The QStr (Qualia Structure) - IIT (Integrated Information Theory) Summer School offers an exciting opportunity for students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty scholars from around the world to explore the intersection of qualitative aspects of consciousness (or qualia) and scientific objectivity. This event is scheduled to take place in Venice and Bertinoro, Italy from October 5 to 17, 2025.

You are cordially invited to attend the 9th BigBrain Workshop, taking place in Berlin, Germany, on October 28 and 29, 2025. This workshop has established itself as the annual meeting place for the BigBrain community to come together and present their latest research, discuss prospects of the BigBrain associated data and tools, and brainstorm on how to leverage high-performance computing and artificial intelligence better to create multimodal, multiresolution tools for the high-resolution BigBrain and related datasets. This year’s workshop also serves as the Closing Symposium of the Helmholtz International BigBrain Analytics and Learning Lab (HIBALL), highlighting the remarkable achievements of this transatlantic collaboration. To mark this special occasion, we will feature an exceptional lineup of distinguished speakers, not only to celebrate HIBALL’s success but also to explore the future of brain science, fostering discussions on innovative methods and applications in the field. Speakers include: Helen Zhou, Alexandra Young, Andreas Horn, Petra Ritter, and Dagmar Kainmüller. The BigBrain Workshop will again be held in conjunction with a Training Day, taking place as a full-day event on October 27, on-site at the conference venue.

Each year, scientists from around the world congregate to discover new ideas, share their research, and experience the best the field has to offer. Attend so you can: present research, network with scientists, attend session and events, and browse the exhibit hall. Join the nearly half a million neuroscientists from around the world who have propelled their careers by presenting an abstract at an SfN annual meeting — the premier global neuroscience event.

The Bernstein Network will have an information booth at this event!