We are thrilled to launch the Brain Space Initiative (BSI) on August 14th, an equal opportunity outreach program for researchers and students across the world. The BSI creates a platform for virtual collaborative learning environments beyond individuals’ teams, allowing researchers and students to interact with each other on a daily basis.
The BSI leadership team includes Dr. Armin Iraji, Dr. Jingyu Liu, and Dr. Vince Calhoun. Dr. Peter Bandettini, Dr. Simon Eickhoff, Dr. Tonya White, Dr. Juan (Helen) Zhou, Dr. Konrad Kording, and Dr. Jessica Turner are the members of the advisory committee.
The BSI presents monthly virtual talks by influential scientists on the last Friday of each month at 11 AM EST. However, we are flexible regarding times and dates as we want our schedules tailored to what is most convenient for our speakers. As a part of our mission statement, talks and seminars will be publicly available after recording, and individuals from different countries will have access to all presentations. We will also provide a discussion space during and after talks.
The BSI also provides virtual specialized study groups. The study groups aim to inform researchers in recent advancements on specific topics related to brain research and speed up the learning process for students. The groups will have virtual journal club events, and individuals chat on specific topics, ask questions, share papers, and potentially collaborate. Researchers also have the opportunity to present their findings with other experts and receive feedback on their ongoing studies to improve research quality. Study groups are also meant to create collaboration between researchers with different expertise aiming to push the field forward.
Below is a list of our initial groups and experts who have agreed to serve as leaders. We are reaching out to experts and colleagues to serve as group leaders for additional study groups. After the initial phase, the study group participants will choose leaders through elections.
- Imaging genomics (Jiayu Chen)
- Dynamic activity/connectivity analysis (Robyn Miller)
- Multimodal data fusion of brain imaging data (Zening Fu)
- Data sharing and population neuroscience (Jeremy Bockholt)
- Deep learning (Sergey Plis and Anees Abrol)
- Cognitive neuroscience (Jeffrey Malins)
- Neurodegenerative diseases (Enrico Premi)
- Multivariate and Blind Subspace Methods (Rogers Ferreira Da Silva)
We have set up the virtual study groups via the BSI Slack workspace, a free application accessible across the world without the need for a VPN.
Individuals can join the initiative by filling the registration form. You and the members of your team are welcome to join us before the grand opening. We are delighted to inform you many colleagues have already entered, and we are excited to see scientific interactions and collaborations even before the official opening date on August 14th, 2020.