Members of the Unit, students and visitors travelled to the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales for Science Day on the 16th and 17th September which took place at the splendid Craig y Nos Castle. The science was exciting and the service excellent from the friendly and helpful staff. The history and stunning ambience of the Castle made for an unusual and inspirational venue and the views, walks and wildlife were exceptional. We were privileged to have the presentations take place in the unique Theatre, which was built by the opera diva Adelina Patti who during her lifetime (1843-1919) became one of the world's most famous and highly regarded entertainers.
Presentations featured on-going projects and future proposals together with a very large number of poster presentations. As usual, the lively discussions appeared far too short; Thomas Bienvenu won the Director's £10 prize for the most incisive questions.
The Keynote Speaker was Dr Mate Lengyel from the Computational & Biological Learning Lab of Cambridge University Engineering Department, who gave a talk on "Normative approaches to theoretical neuroscience: from behaviour to neurophysiology". http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel.
We were accompanied by Honorary Group Leader, Professor Thomas Klausberger, and some 12 members of his team from the Centre for Brain Research, Vienna, Austria, http://cbr.meduniwien.ac.at. and they presented their current research. Full details of the programme and list of attendees.
On Friday afternoon some 50 energetic members went on an adventurous mountain walk whilst the troglodytes among us others went to explore the fascinating Dan Yr Ogof Caves before returning to Oxford.
