Brain study

The Intelligent Systems Research Centre at the Magee Campus of Ulster University has won over £1.5m in funding to research brain modelling and develop a new Computational Neuroscience Research Team.

Computational neuroscientists attempt to create models of how the brain processes, stores and uses information. An improved understanding of neural processing is an essential pre-requisite for the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, as well as being important for the development of intelligent computational machines.

The Computational Neuroscience Research Team is one of five research projects at Ulster University to benefit from the £7.7m allocated by the Department for Employment and Learning under its Cross Border R&D Funding Programme. All five projects will be undertaken in collaboration with partner universities in the Republic of Ireland.

Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Centre, Prof Martin McGinnity, said that the project would bring together the expertise of two complementary research centres - the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) at Magee and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) at Trinity College Dublin.