Brainstorms Festival 2021

Prof. Paul Dolan

Stories we are told about how to live can make many of us miserable, and will discuss ways in which we can avoid these narrative traps and be a little bit happier.

Prof. Kevin Mitchell

We all share a genetic program for making a human brain but the way that program plays out is affected by random processes unique in each person, even in identical twins. What makes you the way you areand what makes each of us different from everyone else?

Prof. Russell Foster

This talk will consider the relationships between sleep and disease, examples of how sleep consolidation can lead to better health, and how measures of sleep could be used as a powerful diagnostic across the health spectrum.

Brain-computer interfacing, neuromorphic chips, smart devices in healthcare, and other emerging technologies offer great promise but also raise serious ethical questions we must answer before it’s too late

Dr. Ingrid Nieuwenhuis

Neuromarketing is a new field which uses medical technologies to see your brain’s responses to marketing stimuli. Brain activity can tell why consumers buy certain things and what part of the brain is telling them to do so.

Humans often make irrational economic choices that conventional economic theories can’t explain. Neuroeconomics bridges the disciplines of neuroscience, psychology, and economics to find out how economic decision-making actually happens in the brain.

Our mission at The Brainstorms Scientific is to make good science visible and bring fresh ideas to the table. Nine neuroscience and neurotech startups will pitch who have novel solutions for mental health, neurology, and neuro-inspired AI & BCIs.

Dr. Melanie Schranz

Swarm robotics is a technology to coordinate a large number of simple robots like insects, ants and other animals where swarm behaviour occurs. Such technologies are already applied in IoT, smart mobility, smart grids, Industry 4.0 and smart houses. Swarms of cyber-physical systems increase dynamics, connectivity, and complexity - calling for features like adaptability, scalability, robustness, and self-configuration - features that can be provided with nature-inspired swarm intelligence.

Prof. Priya Panda

An overview of the recent efforts in Spiking Neural Networks, in both algorithm and hardware, addressing the limitations and advantages of spike-driven learning and computations.

Dr. Giulio Rognini

Using technological alteration of the human body in order to enhance physical or mental capabilities is not a new concept however, it is often thought of as sci-fi. A new frontier in the field is cognetics: the use of robotics to study, restore and enhance human cognitive functions and consciousness.

Linking the human nervous system to computers is providing unprecedented control of artificial limbs and restoring lost sensory function. This talk will discuss the latest developments.

The first recorded case of a pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car was reported in 2018. As AI continues to find its way into our daily lives, its interference with human rights is inevitable. Is our justice system ready?