Whole brain dynamics: Modeling and applications

Technologies such as magnetic resonance or magnetoencephalography have enabled us to record brain activity at a large scale with high spatial –and more recently, also temporal– resolution. Understanding the dynamics of neural activity is essential in order to unveil how the brain computes and processes information in a holistic manner. This research approach has proven to be very useful for clinical applications, which include the study of neurodegenerative diseases, ageing, or epilepsy. However, many features of the observed activity patterns remain unexplained. Computational models at a large scale are an invaluable tool for rationalizing experimental observations by combining structural data of brain connectivity with reduced, effective dynamical models. In this workshop, we aim to bring together the European community of researchers studying different approaches to modeling whole-brain activity. From basic principles to the most recent applications, the idea is to have a space of discussion and exchange of ideas to overcome some of the current challenges of the field, such as the difficulty of parameter estimation from recordings, the structure-function dichotomy, limitations of the dynamical systems currently used, or the comparison between datasets obtained with different techniques.