Canadian Neuroanalytics Scholars Program

Calgary, Canada             ·               Full time

Canadian Neuroanalytics Scholars Program

Campus Alberta Neuroscience, in partnership with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, the Tannenbaum Open Science Institute at The Neuro and the Ontario Brain Institute, with support from The Hilary & Galen Weston Foundation are proud to launch the Canadian Neuroanalytics Scholars Program (Programme Canadien de Recherche Neuroanalytique). This program addresses the need to effectively utilize existing open neuroscience data in Canada and the increasing demand for professionals in the artificial intelligence and machine learning space by training scholars with advanced analytical skills and hands-on experience, leveraging and linking the infrastructure, resources, and expertise of research and industry partners across Canada.

Overview

Canada is currently experiencing a surge in open neuroscience data, and this surge has the potential to fuel innovation and generate groundbreaking discoveries that can revolutionize our approach to disease prevention and treatment. Individuals with the most cutting-edge advanced analytics skills will be required to fully realize the potential of this data. Canada’s exceptional data science talent is urgently needed in neuroscience to combat the growing challenge of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases.

Over the course of four years, the Canadian Neuroanalytics Scholars (CNS) Program will support and train up to 20 postdoctoral scholars in advanced analytics, providing them with hands-on experience. The program will leverage and connect the infrastructure, resources, and expertise available through research and industry partners across Canada. The goal is to cultivate a world-class talent pool that can effectively utilize the existing open neuroscience data and meet the growing demand for neuroscience research in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

This program aims to increase the availability of skills that are crucial for success in this new era and grow the talent pipeline necessary to effectively harness existing open neuroscience data and address the incredible potential for advances in neurodegeneration, brain aging, and other neurological problems. It will not only maximize the utilization of existing open neuroscience data but also make a positive difference in the wider neuroscience community by increasing the supply of skills essential for success in the evolving data-driven economy.

The impact of the CNS Program will be far-reaching. It will benefit the scholars themselves, as well as their research partners. Moreover, it will maximize the use of the existing open neuroscience data. Beyond that, it will have a positive impact on the dementia and neurodegenerative disease community, and even extend its influence into the broader data-driven economy.

About the CNS Program

The CNS Program is intended to create a cohort of like-minded scholars who can collaborate on the use and linkage of open neuroscience datasets. It is expected that scholars awarded through this funding opportunity will embrace the goals of the program and participate fully in all that the program has to offer. The main goals of the CNS Program are to:

• Recruit and train scholars and link them to novel projects with existing, mature neuroscience research networks.
• Create a community of practice by bringing together the scholars, neuroscience researchers, people with lived experience, and industry partners.
• Build a roadmap to inform priority data linkages and best practices across the Canadian open neuroscience data ecosystem.

Recruitment and Training

Each CNS Program Cohort will consist of 10 scholars on a two-year term, for a total of 20 scholars over four years. These scholars will have intermediate-to-advanced backgrounds in data analytics and/or AI/ML and may come from academia or industry. The Program will work with Training Partners to grow and nurture the skillsets of these scholars. Research Partners will provide further training and support to ensure the scholars have a fluent understanding of the datasets, methods used for collection and curation, and the clinical context.

The CNS Program leverages existing programs offered by Training Partners, to ensure scholars have formal affiliation and access to training, high-quality resources, infrastructure, and mentorship to grow their skillset. There will be core and elective modules, technical and non-technical, for scholars to mix and match to best suit their experience, skills, and needs. Modules will be a combination of lectures, tutorials, workshops, and capstone projects. Core modules will provide scholars with general competencies required to apply AI/ML techniques to neuroscience datasets, while electives will cover a wide range of topics and skills for scholars to chose from. Additional training and support will be provided by the Research Partners and a “Help Desk” function will be available for scholars to call on a data scientist for help addressing data integration and federation challenges.

Creating a Community of Practice

An annual meeting will be held to bring the scholars together, along with all project partners and organizations, neuroscience research experts, people with lived experience, and industry partners to share lessons learned, to collaboratively solve problems, and to build strong relationships between all groups. The CNS Program aims to create a more tightly-knit pan-Canadian neuroscience community, building transdisciplinary bridges between data science and neuroscience. Additionally, a regular virtual “Methods Club” will be organized where scholars can gather to discuss the latest tools and techniques for data analysis and its applications, and explore topics that researchers and industry are thinking about or working on.

Building a Roadmap

The CNS Program scholars will inform the development of a strategic plan to prioritize linking open neuroscience datasets across Canada, with an emphasis on supporting projects in dementia and neurodegenerative disease. This will inform project-level support for the scholars to ensure they have access to all of the data they need. It will also inform plans toward a Canadian shared open neuroscience data ecosystem.

A key goal of the program is to link existing neuroscience open datasets. Scholars must make use of at least one of the neuroscience open datasets from Ontario Brain Institute, The Neuro, or Hotchkiss Brain Institute, or provide justification for the use of a different dataset. The CNS program will provide technical support in linking datasets via the Help Desk position. The Help Desk will provide support to scholars in linking the three datasets listed above, and/or other neuroscience open datasets.

Interested in participating in the CNS Program?

Notice of Intent (NOI) Applications for the first CNS Program cohort are now open. Please submit your NOI by no later than January 31, 2024 at 12pm (noon) MST. NOIs will be reviewed by the CNS Program steering committee, and successful NOIs will be invited to submit Full Applications. Full Applications to the CNS Program are by invitation only.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Key Dates

Notice of Intent Applications Open                                  December 11, 2023

Q&A Webinars 1 & 2                                                                 December 19 & 21, 2023

Q&A Webinar 3                                                                           January 9, 2024 at 11am MT. Register here.

Q&A Webinar 4                                                                           January 17, 2024 at 9am MT. Register here.

Notice of Intent Deadline                                                      March 27, 2024 at 12pm (noon) MST

Full Applications Deadline:

(Full Applications are by invitation only)                          May 15, 2024 at 12pm (noon) MST

Notifications of Decision                                                      Summer 2024

Program Start                                                                            Late Summer/Early Fall 2024

APPLY NOW

Please click here to apply.