Japanese-German Workshop on Computational Neuroscience
Scientific Exchange in the Neurosciences
The third neuroscientific workshop in cooperation with the DFG Office Japan was held at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) from 2 to 4 March 2011. The event was jointly organised by the DFG, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and RIKEN. Like the previous workshops, this event was a huge success, attracting over 50 established and early-career researchers from Germany and Japan. The event facilitated a lively neuroscientific exchange between the two countries. All the participants took advantage of the opportunity to deepen their relationships with their fellow researchers and to establish new ties.
Professor Dr. Robert Baughman (Vice President and Executive Director, OIST) and Akira Nakanishi (Director, Department of International Affairs, JST), as well as Dr. Jan Kunze (Programme Director, Life Sciences Group II, DFG) and Dr. Iris Wieczorek (Director, DFG Office Japan), welcomed all the participants to the two-day workshop at the Seaside House of OIST. The workshop provided a platform for researchers from Germany and Japan to present their work, engage in discussion and exchange ideas.
Researchers from the German universities of Bielefeld, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Göttingen and Potsdam, as well as the Bernstein Centers for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) in Berlin, Freiburg and Munich, travelled to Okinawa. Japanese researchers from Kyoto University, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Ritsumeikan University, the RIKEN Brain Science Institute and the JST’s Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) programme attended the workshop.
Findings and problems from the multifaceted spectrum of neurosciences were presented using different approaches. Topics included the statistical analysis of neuronal signals and studies on decision-making, emotional information processing and neural networks. The programme also covered fields like Cognitive Robotics, Brain Computer Interfaces and Machine Learning. Thomas Wachtler of the German Neuroinformatics Node (g-node) at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Munich (Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich) introduced the German Neuroinformatics Node (g-node) database. This database serves as an international forum for the exchange of research data, as well as a tool for analysing this data. The broad range of presentations raised new questions and triggered dynamic discussions among the participants.
The Poster sessions during the breaks were likewise received with great mutual interest. Dr. Kunze and Masashi Hara (Chief, Department of International Affairs) presented an introduction to the funding programmes of both organisations before an interested audience.
On 4 March, the group enjoyed a tour of the campus, visiting the well-equipped laboratories of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.
Organisers of the workshop from Japan:
Kenji Doya (The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, OIST)
Tomoki Fukai (The Laboratory for Neural Circuit Theory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute)
Masato Okada (The Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo)
Mana Tanifuji (The Laboratory for Statistical Neuroscience, RIKEN Brain Science Institute)
Organisers of the workshop from Germany:
Klaus Obermayer (The Technical University of Berlin)
Jochen Triesch (The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies)
Florentin Wörgötter (The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, the University of Göttingen)
