Job Ad – Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Neuroscience

Prof Chris Eliasmith, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience and heads the Computational Neuroscience Research Group (CNRG) in the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience (CTN) at the University of Waterloo, is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in Theoretical Neuroscience for a fixed-term appointment.

Description

The postdoctoral position will be hosted in the CNRG, with a principal focus on neural modeling to build the next version of the Spaun brain model, the world’s largest functional brain model. The project integrates spiking deep neural networks, motor control, probabilistic inference, navigation, perception and cognition to develop a state-of-the-art, large-scale, spiking, whole-brain model. Applicants should have a PhD, with demonstrated skills in at least one of those areas and a willingness to learn about the others.

This project leverages the CNRG’s existing expertise in using neural networks for large-scale brain modeling, originally demonstrated in 2012 with the first version of Spaun. A subsequent version in 2018 significantly extended performance. The latest version currently being built by the CNRG will again break new barriers in the scale and sophistication of whole brain models. Unlike past models, it will be embedded in a sophisticated 3D environment, yet retain the ability to perform a wide variety of tasks, from simple perceptual and motor tasks to challenging intelligence tests. Overall, the long-term goal of the project is to advance the state-of-the-art in large-scale brain models.

Additional Information

The successful applicant will be housed in the vibrant Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience (CTN), which includes 7 core and 7 affiliated labs focussed on neural modeling and improving our basic understanding of neural computation. The CTN hosts monthly seminars, a yearly ‘Brain Day’ event, a summer school, and regular social activities.

To apply, please send a full CV, 3 references and cover letter explaining your background and fit for the job to: Dr. Chris Eliasmith at celiasmith@uwaterloo.ca.

Chris' talk on Spaun and it's relation to future neurotechnologies went live today. Check it out.

Chris and Michael have finished a tutorial on Neurosymbolic Methods for NeuroMatch, a website providing high quality training in neuroscience, AI, and machine learning.

You can find their tutorial here, which is part of a longer multi-week course on combining theoretical neuroscience and AI methods.

Neuromatch provides training in the computational sciences, and this NeuroAI course is one of two neuroscience related ones currently running.

Chris featured on the latest episode of 'Machine Learning Street Talk'. Dive into an episode where Chris talks about Machine Learning, modelling Brain, spiking Neural Networks and more.

Here is the preview of the episode on youtube and the full spotify link to the podcast.

'Machine Learning Street Talk' is a science podcast by Dr.Tim Scarfe, that engages in dynamic discussion on research and current affairs in the field of AI.

This is our latest ‘overview’ paper. This one is targeted at the neuromorphics community, but also can be seen as a recent update to the latest NEF theoretical advances.
It covers how any linear synapse can be used in a network, and the ‘delay network’, a recent advance that not only explains time cells in the brain, but is setting state-of-the-art records in a wide variety of machine learning contexts.
This is coming out in the 2021 Springer Handbook for Neuromorphics.

Paper