Connectionists: Neuroplasticity Workshop: From Bench to Machine Learning 13 July 2018 - 14 July 2018 -- University of Surrey near London

[a.gruning at surrey.ac.uk]

Dear colleagues, 

Full information at <http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/workshops/Neuroplasticity/index.php>.

Neuroplasticity: From Bench to Machine Learning 13 July 2018 - 14 July 2018

The Surrey Sleep Research Centre, the Department of Computer Science, and the Institute of Advance Studies at the University of Surrey are pleased to announce a call for participation in and contributions to a two-day workshop where researchers can share and discuss the current advances in neuroplasticity and machine learning and their mutual inspiration.

On one hand, Neuroscience keeps discovering new mechanisms involved in neural plasticity and its modulation, which involves the so-called “third factors” (e.g. dendritic computations, glia, neurotransmitters) and dynamics of neural networks (e.g. oscillations). However the functional and computational interpretation of these phenomena and their utilisation in machine learning remains to be explored. On the other hand, the advent of “deep networks” in machine learning has allowed us to model artificial neural networks that perform highly complex tasks (e.g. chess, go, image classification). But to date, none of these modeling approaches competes with general human or animal intelligence in terms of cost-effectiveness or domain-transferability.

The main goal of this workshop will be to discuss the missing links between neural-level phenomena and their computational function on behavioural or technical level. This meeting will bring together international and national leaders in the fields of synaptic function and plasticity, network dynamic, computational neuroscience and machine learning and will offer a unique platform to establish new interdisciplinary collaborations.


CONFIRMED SPEAKERS 

Katharina Wilmes, Imperial College London, UK
Matthew Larkum, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Cyril Hanus, INSERM U894, France
Brendon Watson, University of Michigan, USA
Keith Hengen, Washington University, USA
Giorgos Kastellakis, IMBB-FORTH, Crete
Friedemann Zenke, University of Oxford
Connor Houghton, University of Bristol
Liam McDaid, Ulster University
David Lester, SpiNNaker, University of Manchester
Tiina Maninen, Technical University of Turku