UMH NeuroAI Winter School: where AI meets Brain Systems

For five days, students and specialists in brain evolution, motivational systems, cognition and bioethics gathered at the Winter School on Brain Architecture for NeuroAI and Neurotechnology: A Systems Neuroscience Perspective, organised by Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the European University of Brain and Technology – NeurotechEU, to understand how different brain systems work together as a single integrated system embodied in the real world, as well as the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within this system.

Among the speakers were renowned figures such as Luis Puelles, recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate by UMH; Zoltán Molnár, Peter Dominey, Jonathan Whitlock, Stuart Wilson, Ismael Freire, Luca Manneschi, Maria Guix, Alejandro Jimenez, Anna Mura, Tony Prescott, and Paul Verschure.

The course offered participants the opportunity to engage in dialogue and debate about the scope of AI and its application in health-related science. According to Salma Ruíz, a student of the Master’s Degree in Neuroscience: From Research to the Clinic at UMH and attendee of the Winter School: “The variety of profiles among speakers and students has been key to sharing perspectives that have made the training much more comprehensive.” In addition, students had a space to present ideas, concerns and interests to the speakers, benefiting from real-time feedback.

NeurotechEU is an alliance funded by the European Commission within the framework of European Universities, aiming to create a pioneering training network in Neurotechnology. Alongside UMH, partner universities include Radboud Universiteit (Netherlands), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Germany), Boğaziçi Üniversitesi (Turkey), Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie din Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Université de Lille (France) and Háskólinn í Reykjavík (Iceland). This Winter School was organised by NeurotechEU in collaboration with EU projects AI Stroke Neurorehabilitation, CAVAA, Convergent Science Network of Biomedic and Biohybrid Systems, and Living Machines, co-funded by the European Commission.