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Peter Dayan Gatsby Computational Neuroscience, UK

Peter Dayan studied Mathematics at Cambridge University, did his PhD in Computational Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh with David Willshaw, and postdocs with Terry Sejnowski at the Salk Institute and Geoff Hinton at the University of Toronto. After three years as an assistant professor at MIT, he helped found the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at UCL in 1998, and became Director in 2002. His interests centre on mathematical and computational models of neural processing, with a particular emphasis on representation, learning and decision making.

Anthony Isles is the Professor of Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience in the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience and a senior scientist in the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University. He studied Zoology and Genetics at the University of Sheffield and received a PhD in Zoology from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof Barry Keverne. Following postdoctoral work at the Babraham Institute (UK), he was awarded the Beebe Trust Research Fellowship at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. Anthony joined Cardiff University in 2006. He is interested in the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that influence brain function and mental illness. Within this context his research is focused on the role imprinted genes play in brain and behaviour, a field in which he is internationally recognised.

Meng Li is a Professor in Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHIR) at Cardiff University, affiliated to both the School of Medicine and School of Bioscience. She studied Medicine, followed by a MSc in Immunology at Peking University in China. Meng Li received a PhD in Stem cell biology and mouse genetics from the University of Edinburgh and conducted post-doctoral work with Austin Smith. Her research is interested in understanding the control mechanisms of neuronal subtype fate specification and to apply stem cell derived neurons in modelling neurodevelopmental disorders and cell therapies for neurological diseases.

Shane O'Mara is Professor of Experimental Brain Research (Personal Chair) at Trinity College Dublin - the University of Dublin. He is a Principal Investigator in, and was formerly Director (2009-2016) of, the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, one of Europe’s leading research centres for neuroscience. He is also a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator and a Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator. A graduate of the National University of Ireland - Galway and of the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin (FTCD), the first Ireland-based elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (FAPS), and an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA).

Martin Sarter is the Charles M. Butter Collegiate Professor of Psychology and a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Michigan. He received a Masters degree from the University of Duesseldorf (advisor: Prof. Joseph P. Huston) and his Ph.D. in psychology/neurobiology from the University of Konstanz (advisor: Prof. Hans J. Markowitsch). Sarter’s research employs translational approaches to study brain systems that control attentional functions and capacities. Current projects concern the role of fast and discrete cholinergic signalling in cognition, the impact of variations in choline transporter function on cognitive abilities of animals and humans, the neuronal foundations and treatment of falls in Parkinson’s disease, and the biopsychological traits that bestow vulnerability for addiction.

Attila Sik is a Professor of Cellular Neuroscience at the University of Birmingham (UK) and the funding director of Institute of Transdisciplinary Discoveries and Director of Innovation at the University of Pecs (Hungary). He received his undergraduate education in Neuroscience in Hungary, received a PhD at the Semmelweiss Medical School in Budapest, Hungary, and a Master in Business Administration at the Warwick Business School (UK). He conducted post-doctoral work with Gyorgy Buzsaki (New York University, USA), and Tamas Freund (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungary) before establishing his first independent lab at Laval University (Quebec, Canada). His multidisciplinary research is mainly focused on understanding the mechanisms of learning and memory, network oscillations and epilepsy.

Daniel Wolpert read medicine at Cambridge before completing an Oxford Physiology DPhil followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. He then joined the faculty at the Institute of Neurology, UCL and in 2005 moved to Cambridge University where he is Professor of Engineering and a Royal Society Research Professor. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and made a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator. His research interests are computational and experimental approaches to human sensorimotor control).