Thinking
Systems Project: Navigating through real and conceptual spaces
ARC
Special Research Initiative jointly funded by the Australian Research Council
and the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Summary of Project
Thinking Systems Investigators
Positions available
PhD Students
Summer scholarships
Application process
Summary of
Project
This project brings
together a cross-disciplinary, collaborative and cross-institutional team to
study fundamental issues in how information is transmitted, received, processed
and understood in biological and artificial systems. The core of the project is
studying how brains understand spatial systems, both physical and conceptual.
This integrated approach will lead to an increased understanding of neural,
behavioural and information processing bases of thinking systems. Insights from
neurocognitive systems will be used to develop
computational models, autonomous robots and intelligent software agents which
in turn will lead to deeper understanding of the relationship between neurocognitive mechanisms and their behaviour in whole
systems.
Thinking Systems Investigators
The research team brings a wide range
of biological, behavioural and technological experience.
Chief Investigators
(CIs)
Professor Janet Wiles, the project leader,
is from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE,
UQ). She has developed models across all three areas of neural, cognitive and
robotic systems.
Professor Perry Bartlett is an international
expert in the functional importance of neurogenesis,
a Federation Fellow and Director of the Queensland Brain Institute. (QBI, UQ)
Professor Kevin Burrage’s
leading role will be the integration of both stochastic and deterministic
dynamical models in both time and space and he will be involved in modelling in
all Themes. He is a Federation Fellow (Maths, UQ).
A/Prof
Geoffrey Goodhill
is a computational neuroscientist with expertise in modelling neural systems, a
key bridging role in this project. He is Editor-in-Chief of Network:
Computation in Neural Systems (QBI/Maths)
Professor Pankaj Sah is an international
expert in neurophysiology. He will direct the empirical research on mushroom
bodies in Theme 1 and hippocampus and amygdala in
Theme 2. (QBI)
Dr Andrew Smith
has
developed commercial Leximancer software for
dynamically and automatically extracting conceptual schemata from text. He is
with the Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology (HFACP)
in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at The University of
Queensland.
Dr Gordon Wyeth is the Director of
the UQ Robotics Laboratory (ITEE, UQ) and has gained an international
reputation in developing working robot systems based on hippocampal
models and other biologically-inspired robots.
Professor
Jason Mattingley
is the Director of the University of Melbourne Cognitive Neuroscience
Laboratory. His research is internationally recognised in the neural mechanisms
of attention and spatial cognition.
Professor Srinivasan is an expert in
insect vision, navigation and neuroethology and
application of these principles to the design of autonomously navigating
robots. He is an Inaugural Federation Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London (ANU).
International
Partner Investigators (PIs)
Professor Michael Arbib has led international research in
computational neuroscience for three decades. He is Professor of Computer
Science, as well as a Professor of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering,
Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of
Southern California (USC)
Professor Jeffery Elman is a cognitive scientist with expertise in
linguistics. He is Foundational Co-Director of the Kavli
Institute for Brain and Mind and Acting Dean of Social Sciences at UC San
Diego.
Professor John
O’Keefe
is a neurophysiologist and Fellow of the Royal Society who has extensive
experience in all aspects of rodent navigation and its neural bases. His
seminal book The
Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map (O’Keefe and Nadel,
1978) underpins the empirical directions for the conceptual mapping research.
He is at University College London.
Positions
available (applications will be accepted
at any time)
No postdoc
positions are available at present.
PhD
Students
PhD students:
Students with an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) or another scholarship
will be able to apply for top up funding for related projects starting in
2008-2010.
Further information:
contact Helen Weir on +61 7 3346 7383 or email h.weir@uq.edu.au.
Send applications to the Human Resources Advisor, Queensland Brain Institute,
The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, or email applications@qbi.uq.edu.au
Summer Research
Students
Summer students: 8
week summer projects will be offered in 2008-2010. Summer scholarships
Application Process
Applications will continue to be considered until the
positions are filled.
The
University of Queensland
According to http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings
the University of Queensland is one of the top 50 universities in the world. It
provides an excellent environment for interdisciplinary research, and is
currently investing AU$200M in the general area of Biotechnology. This includes
AU$50M for the new Queensland Brain Institute, http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au.
UQ is in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, a
cosmopolitan city of 1.5 million people with excellent facilities, a vibrant
cultural environment, and a subtropical climate. Queensland is also home to
attractions such as tropical rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef.
Last updated 21st
Oct 2008.