/BN/ The one-year program offers the 22 young scientists individual training opportunities and supports them with personal travel grants to facilitate the start of their careers in computational neuroscience. The kick-off meeting was the first opportunity for the new students to get to know each other and to network with the alumni and the faculty.

In addition to a workshop on scientific writing, the meeting offered introductions to computational neuroscience. The keynote lecture “Optimal state for computations in the brain” was given by Dr. Anna Levina (Tübingen). Another highlight was the lecture “Experience-Dependent Plasticity and Cortical Network Remodeling” by Professor Stefan Rotter, head of the Bernstein Center Freiburg. Both lecturers are committed members of the SMARTSTART Faculty. As the meeting took place in Berlin, most students also took the opportunity to participate in the subsequent Bernstein Conference.