Connectionists: Call for site proposals, ACCN

[Nicolas Brunel]

       Call for site proposals for the Advanced Course in
                   Computational Neuroscience (ACCN)

                       Due date: December 1, 2009



The organizing committee of the Advanced Course in Computational
Neuroscience is looking for applications for sites to host the course
for 3 years (2011-2013).

The course, which is now in its fourteenth year, consists of 30
graduate students and postdocs from around the world. They are taught
by 6 tutors and approximately 25 invited faculty. The course is held in
August in a European (or Associated) country. The ideal site is
relatively remote and small to ensure intimacy and quietness, and is in
an attractive location. Previous courses have been held at:

    Crete, Greece      1996-1998
    Trieste, Italy     1999-2001
    Obidos, Portugal   2002-2004
    Arcachon, France   2005-2007
    Freiburg, Germany  2008-2010

Our specific requirements are:
- a local organizer who is responsible for arranging lodging, food,
   transportation, and lecture and computer rooms;
- a lecture room with a seating capacity of about 50;
- computer room(s), that can fit computers for about 50 people,
   with a fast internet connection and wireless;
- affordable lodging for about 50 people for four weeks, close to the
   lecture/computer rooms (university accommodation would be fine)
- affordable food (restaurant or other) for about 50 people, close to the
   lecture/computer rooms.

In addition, it would be nice to have:
- a kitchen/dining room that students can use during the weekends and
   breaks;
- a secretary who can handle communication with students and faculty
   during the months preceding the school;
- a full-time systems manager for the computer network during the
   school;
- internet access in the hotel rooms;
- local funding.

Currently, funding for the course comes from PENS and the Gatsby
Charitable Foundation.

Anyone interested should email Peter Latham (pel at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk) for
information on how to apply.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE

The Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is a high-level,
4-week intensive course on the computational aspects of the central
nervous system function, from the cellular to the systems level. It is
taught by invited faculty, who are both experimentalists and
theoreticians and are among the best in their fields (see
http://www.neuroinf.org/courses/EUCOURSE/F09/index.shtml web site for
previous programs).

The course is highly selective - we receive between 90 and 120
applications every year, and only 30 students are selected. Students
are mid-term PhDs or postdocs, with backgrounds ranging from pure
theory to pure experiment. The course provides the students with a
solid theoretical background in topics that are important for
understanding the complexity of the nervous system, and exposes them
to the approaches that have been used in theoretical studies. Students
do a research project during the course, with the help of the invited
faculty and tutors. The selection of students is based on a CV, research
statement, letters of recommendation, and the advice of three
independent referees.



-- 
Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology
Universite Paris Descartes, CNRS UMR 8119
45 rue des Saints Peres 75270 Paris Cedex 06
Tel (33).1.42.86.20.58 - Fax (33).1.49.27.90.62
nicolas.brunel at univ-paris5.fr
www.neurophys.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/~brunel