Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course -- Call for Applications

[Kenji Doya]

                         Call for Applications
     OKINAWA COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE
                 November 9-19, 2004. Okinawa, Japan.
                         http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc

The aim of Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide
opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to
learn up-to-date neurobiological findings, and those with experimental
backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling.  We
invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate
in the course, held from November 9th through 19th at Bankoku
Shinryokan, a seaside conference facility that hosted 2000 Okinawa
Summit.

The special topic for this year's course is "Bayesian Brain:
Probabilistic Approaches to Neural Coding and Learning." Lectures by
leading theoretical and experimental neuroscientists will be given in
the morning and evening, and the afternoon will be open for free
discussions and student projects.  Each student will give a short
presentation of his/her current work at the beginning of the course
and present the summary of his/her project work at the end of the
course.

Those interested in attending the course should send the materials
below by the course web page, e-mail, or postal mail to the course
secretariat by SEPTEMBER 10TH. We will accept 30 students by
considering the matching of each student's background and motivation
to the course content, and also by considering the balance of members'
research disciplines, geographic origins, and genders. The sponsor
will provide lodging expenses during the course and a support for
travel to Okinawa.

This course is the second of the tutorial courses sponsored by the
Cabinet Office of the Japanese government as a precursory activity for
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. We hope that this course
will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental
neuroscientists to meet together and to explore the attractive nature
and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan.

********
         Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course (OCNC 2004)
  - Bayesian Brain: Probabilistic Approaches to Neural Coding and Learning -

Date:      November 9th to 19th, 2004
Place:     Bankoku Shinryo-kan (http://www.shinryokan.com/)
Lodging:  The Busena Terrace (http://www.terrace.co.jp/index-e.html)

Sponsor:
     Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Project, Cabinet
Office, Japan
Co-sponsors:
     Japanese Neural Network Society
     Center of Excellence Program, Tamagawa University
     Center of Excellence Program, Kyushu Institute of Technology
Advisory Board:
     Sydney Brenner, Salk Institute
     Masao Ito, RIKEN Brain Science Institute
     Terry Sejnowski, Salk Institute
     Susumu Tonegawa, MIT
     Torsten Wiesel, Rockfeller University
Co-organizers:
     Kenji Doya, Initial Research Project, Okinawa Institute of Science
and Technology
     Shin Ishii, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
     Alex Pouget, University of Rochester
     Rajesh Rao, University of Washington

LECTURES (confirmed speakers and topics)

Theoretical Foundations
     Shun-ichi Amari (RIKEN Brain Science Inst.):
             Statistical approach to neural learning and population coding
Neurobiological Foundations
     Barry Richmond (National Inst. of Health): Neural coding
     Alex Pouget (U. Rochester): Population coding
     Adrienne Fairhall (U. Washington): Spike Coding
Computational Modeling
     Anthony Bell (Redwood Neuroscience Inst.):
             Unsupervised machine learning with spike timings: rigorous results
     Peter Latham (UCL): Computing with population codes
     Richard Zemel (U. Toronto): Coding and decoding uncertainty
     Rajesh Rao (U. Washington): Bayesian computation in cortical networks
     Bruno Olshausen (UC Davis):
             Representing what and where in  time-varying images
     Emanuel Todorov (UC, San Diego):
             Optimality principles in sensorimotor control
  Experimental Approaches
     Tai-Sing Lee (Carnegie Mellon U.):
             Hierarchical Bayesian inference in visual cortex
     David Knill (U. of Rochester): Multiple cue integration
     Konrad Koerding (UCL): Bayesian combination of priors and perception
     Michael Shadlen (U. of Washington): Decision making
     Karl Friston (UCL): Dynamic causal modelling

APPLICATION

Please send the following through the web application page to be
opened in early August (http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc/), an e-mail
(ocnc at irp.oist.jp), or postal mail to the secretariat below by
SEPTEMBER 10TH.

1) Name, 2) Date of birth, 3) Gender, 4) Nationality, 5) Affiliation,
6) Postal address, 7) Phone, 8) Fax, 9) E-mail, 10) Web page URL (if
any), 11) Educational background, 12) Work experience, 13) List of
publications, 14) Research interests (up to 500 words), 15)
Motivations for attending the course (up to 500 words), 16) Two
letters of recommendation.

The items 11) to 14) can be replaced by a CV.  Letters of
recommendation should be sent directly from the referees to the
secretariat by e-mail or postal mail.

SECRETARIAT

Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course
c/o Initial Research Project, Okinawa Institute of Science and
Technology
12-22 Suzaki, Gushikawa
Okinawa 904-2234, Japan
Phone: +81-98-921-3795
Fax: +81-98-934-1401
E-mail: ocnc at irp.oist.jp

For updated information, please visit the web page:
http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc


----
Kenji Doya <doya at irp.oist.jp>
Initial Research Project, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
12-22 Suzaki, Gushikawa, Okinawa 904-2234, Japan
Phone:+81-98-921-3843; Fax:+81-98-921-3873
http://www.irp.oist.jp/