Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of an intense and fun week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. Students learn the theoretical background in informal lectures but the main emphasis of the summer school is hands-on work on exercises and individual projects. This gives students a lot of time to collaborate and discuss in small groups and under close supervision of our tutors.
Who is this summer school for?
The summer school is aimed at students at the advanced undergraduate or graduate level, postdocs and faculty members in the areas of embodied cognition, cognitive science, developmental science, cognitive neuroscience, developmental robotics, autonomous robotics, cognitive robotics, and anyone who wants to learn about dynamic field theory.
Impressions from previous schools
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the summer school, please fill out our application form (black button on the right), enclosing a CV and a brief cover letter. In your letter you should briefly tell us what you are currently working on and why you would like to participate. This will help us propose a project that overlaps with your interest.
FEES
There is no fee. Additionally, participants will have to finance their own travel and stay in Bochum.
Structure of the school
The school is led by Prof. Gregor Schöner, who lectures on the basic concepts of DFT in the live lecture series. Workshop sessions provide hands-on training working with dynamic field models in CEDAR, our interactive simulation environment. Students learn to create a dynamic field model from the ground up and learn how to apply the concepts of DFT to their home domain of interest.
Software
For the hands-on work, the exercises and projects, we use our numerical simulator CEDAR, which features a graphical user interface in which core elements of DFT can be assembled without in-depth programming knowledge.
Topics covered
Some of the topics that the summer school covers include:
- Neural dynamics and basic attractor states
- Dynamic fields
- Introduction to CEDAR
- Links to neurophysiology and embodiment
- Multi-dimensional fields and multi-layer dynamics
- Higher cognition
- Sequence generation
INFORMAL WELCOME DINNER
We will organize an informal welcome dinner on Sunday, August 20, some time in the evening. This is a good opportunity to meet the other students and tutors of the summer school in a relaxed setting before the school starts on the next day.
2023-08-20
08:00PM (UTC+2) · 10:00PM (UTC+2): Welcome dinner
HANS IM GLÜCK - BOCHUM Kortumstraße, Kortumstraße 39, 44787 Bochum, Germany
2023-08-21
09:00AM (UTC+2) · 09:30AM (UTC+2): Welcome (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
09:30AM (UTC+2) · 10:00AM (UTC+2): Introduction (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:00AM (UTC+2) · 12:30PM (UTC+2): Foundations 1 (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 02:00PM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 03:00PM (UTC+2): Introduction to CEDAR and Foundations 1 - hands-on (Stephan Sehring)
Seminar room NB 3/57
03:00PM (UTC+2) · 05:30PM (UTC+2): Foundations 2 (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
05:30PM (UTC+2) · 06:00PM (UTC+2): Project presentation
Robotics lab NB 02/77
06:00PM (UTC+2) · 07:30PM (UTC+2): (Project preparation)
Robotics lab NB 02/77
2023-08-22
09:00AM (UTC+2) · 10:30AM (UTC+2): Foundations 2 - hands-on (Raul Grieben)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:30AM (UTC+2) · 12:30PM (UTC+2): Foundations 3 (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:00AM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 03:30PM (UTC+2): Foundations 3 - hands-on (Daniel Sabinasz)
Seminar room NB 3/57
03:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:30PM (UTC+2): Foundations 4 (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
04:30PM (UTC+2) · 06:00PM (UTC+2): Foundations 4 - hands-on (Minseok Kang)
Seminar room NB 3/57
06:00PM (UTC+2) · 07:30PM (UTC+2): (Project preparation)
Robotics lab NB 02/77
2023-08-23
09:00AM (UTC+2) · 09:30AM (UTC+2): Intentional systems (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
09:30AM (UTC+2) · 10:00AM (UTC+2): Motor architecture (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:00AM (UTC+2) · 11:30AM (UTC+2): Foundations: discussion (Gregor Schöner)
Seminar room NB 3/57
11:30AM (UTC+2) · 12:30PM (UTC+2): Special Lecture: Demystifying visual search (Raul Grieben)
Seminar room NB 3/57
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:00AM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 07:30PM (UTC+2): Project work
Robotics lab NB 02/77
08:00PM (UTC+2) · 10:00PM (UTC+2): Summer school dinner
TBA
2023-08-24
09:00AM (UTC+2) · 10:30AM (UTC+2): Special Lecture: Bridging DFT and DNNs - Guided visual attention in natural environments (Raul Grieben)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:30AM (UTC+2) · 12:00PM (UTC+2): Special Lecture: Grounding nested phrases (Daniel Sabinasz)
Seminar room NB 3/57
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:00AM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 07:30PM (UTC+2): Project work
Robotics lab NB 02/77
2023-08-25
09:30AM (UTC+2) · 10:00AM (UTC+2): Teaser: Visual analogy (Minseok Kang)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:00AM (UTC+2) · 10:30AM (UTC+2): Teaser: Action grammar (Stephan Sehring)
Seminar room NB 3/57
10:30AM (UTC+2) · 11:00AM (UTC+2): Teaser: Negation (Lea Kati)
Seminar room NB 3/57
11:00AM (UTC+2) · 12:30PM (UTC+2): Guest Lecture: Neuromorphic Computing and Neural Dynamics (Mathis Richter, Intel Labs)
Seminar room NB 3/57
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:00AM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 07:30PM (UTC+2): Project work
Robotics lab NB 02/77
2023-08-26
09:00AM (UTC+2) · 12:30PM (UTC+2): Project work
Robotics lab NB 02/77
12:30PM (UTC+2) · 04:00AM (UTC+2): Lunch
02:00PM (UTC+2) · 04:00PM (UTC+2): Demos and project presentations
Robotics lab NB 02/77
Foundations of DFT
| Lecture slides | Neural dynamics, dynamic neural fields |
| Exercises | Exercise 1 Instabilities (json code) |
| Lecture slides | Dimensions, binding |
| Exercises | Exercise 2 Visual Search and Scene Memory |
| Lecture slides | Coordinate transforms, grounded cognition |
| Exercises | Exercise 3 Spatial Language Grounding |
| Lecture slides | Sequence generation |
| Exercises | Exercise 4 Sequence Generation |
| Lecture slides | Discussion of DFT and how it relates to other approaches |
| Document | Background reading: Foundations |
Special lectures
| Lecture slides | Intentional agents |
| Document | Background reading: Intentional agents |
| Lecture slides | Motor architecture |
| Document | Background reading: Motor architecture |
| Lecture slides | Demystifying visual search |
| Lecture slides | Bridging DFT and DNNs - Guided visual attention in natural environments |
| Lecture slides | Grounding of Nested Phrases |
| Lecture slides | Visual analogy |
| Lecture slides | Action grammar |
Project Work
| Document | Project Presentation |