BrainModes 2025

Info

About the conference

BrainModes is a long-running annual international gathering of mathematical and computational neuroscientists, meeting to discuss their latest work on theories and principles of brain dynamics and functional organization.

The name is a nod to the broad concept of (eigen)modes. It reflects a philosophical and theoretical orientation shared by its community of attendees and organizers: the idea that both the brain and the mind, although complex and nonlinear, are ultimately low-dimensional dynamical objects. And, moreover, that this property is key to understanding, measurement, and therapeutic control of neural systems.

Scientific discussions at BrainModes are varied and lively, as the conference attracts scientists from a wide range of neuroscience (and non-neuroscience) sub-fields, including a mix of experimentalists, data analysts, and theoreticians. All of the work discussed involves some combination of concepts from statistical physics, dynamical systems, complexity science, machine learning - which serve as guides and tools for thinking through neuroscientific ideas and research questions.

See here for information about past BrainModes meetings back to 2007. Archives of another annual meeting build around similar principles - the Brain Connectivity Workshop - going back to 2002 can be found here.

Venue

The venue this year is Toronto, Canada at the Fields Institute for Mathematical Sciences. The Fields Institute is a very special institution, which has been supporting advanced research and education in mathematical sciences domains across Canada since its founding in the early 1990s. Be sure to check out their past programming and support of mathematical/computational neuroscience research + education, and also their excellent short summary video:

The Fields building is located on the South-West corner of the picturesque University of Toronto St George campus, in the downtown heart of Canada’s largest and most vibrant city.

Right next door to Fields is the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics (KCNI) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) College Street site. KCNI Scientists Drs. John Griffiths and Andreea Diaconescu are leading the BrainModes Organizing Committee, and look forward to hosting visitors at Fields, KCNI, and Toronto more generally.

Theme and Program

The nominal theme this year is “multi-scale mathematical modelling and organizational principles in neural dynamics, cognition, and computational psychiatry”.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Karl Friston, Joana Cabral, Axel Hutt, Steve Coombes, Petra Ritter, Shella Keilholz, Chris Mathys, Andreea Diaconescu, Jérémie Lefebvre, and Lyle Muller. See [here]#program for the full list of speakers and preliminary conference program.

Conference programming will include keynote talks, oral sessions, panel discussions, poster sessions, as well as a special reception and social activities.

The BrainModes planning committee are excited to be partnering with the organizers of the Fields Institute 2025 Thematic Program in Mathematical Neuroscience, which is hosting a series of meetings, visiting researchers, and facilitated collaborations in Toronto and Ottawa throughout the year.

We are also delighted to be featuring this year’s Fields Distinguished Lecturer Series by Prof. Friston, as an integrated part of the BrainModes conference program.

Register, Visit, and Present

Registration is open!. Note that numbers are limited, so be sure to register early to guarantee a place.

Attendance is free for trainees, and heavily subsidized for non-trainees.

There are opportunities to present your work: the poster sessions and the short talks.

Submit your abstract following the instructions on the registration page. The top-rated abstract submissions will be offered a speaker slot in one of the short talk sessions.

Information on travel and recommended accommodation is also given on the registration page.

Organizing Committee

John Griffiths

CAMH KCNI / University of Toronto

Andreea Diaconescu

CAMH KCNI / University of Toronto

Minarose Ismail

Sick Kids Hospital / University of Toronto

Shradha Bhullar

CAMH KCNI

Celeste Agard

CAMH KCNI

Sorenza Bastiaens

CAMH KCNI / University of Toronto

Kevin Kadak

CAMH KCNI / University of Toronto

Jeremie Lefebvre

University of Ottawa

Maia Fraser

University of Ottawa

Partner Institutions and Sponsors

Program

Keynote Speakers

Joana Cabral

University of Lisbon

Karl Friston

University College London

Axel Hutt

INRIA

Stephen Coombes

University of Nottingham

Christoph Mathys

Aarhus University

Lyle Muller

Western University

Shella Keilholz

Emory University

Petra Ritter

Charite University

Andreea Diaconescu

University of Toronto

Jeremie Lefebvre

University of Ottawa

Program

(provisional, subject to change)

🗓️ Day 1 (Weds 8th October)

🗓️ Day 2 (Thurs 9th October)

🗓️ Day 3 (Fri 10th October)

Register

Conference Registration

Register here.

The BrainModes organizers and the Fields Institute are committed to facilitating access and minizing barriers to scientific education, training, exposure to cutting-edge research, and academic career development.

We have elected to follow a progressive two-tier registration rate approach, guided by the principle that those who can contribute financially to event operations are enabled to do so, but anyone who cannot is still fully able to participate.

Registration will therefore be free for all trainees (including post-docs). In addition, any non-trainees who feel they will need a registration fee waiver in order to be able to attend, please contact the organizers to discuss options.

A reduced Early-Bird registration rate will be available until 15th July.

Note that due to space restrictions, there are a limited number of places available for registrants of all categories. All planning to attend, go to the EventBrite registration page linked to above.

Poster/Talk Abstract Submissions

To present your work at the conference, go to the abstract submission page. All submitted poster abstracts will be considered for one of the limited short talk slots.

Abstract guidelines:

• Title: 100 characters max Please refrain from using all caps.
• Authors and Affiliations: maximum of 20.
• Main text: Includes separated sections for Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions. 400 characters max.
• Figures: Up to 2 figure images may be uploaded. Figure images should include adequately descriptive text captions as part of the image.
• References: Up to 10 references can be added, and are separate to the main text character limit.
• Keywords: Choose up to 5 keywords that best describe your research. Note that selection of the subject category determines the expertise of the reviewers who score the abstract.

Accommodation:

See here for a variety of discounted accommodation options within walking distance of the Fields Institute.