The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit was established in July 1998 at UCL by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to provide a unique opportunity for a critical mass of theoreticians to interact closely with one another and with other UCL research groups.

The Unit was founded with Geoffrey Hinton (founding director 1998-2001; Turing Prize 2019, Nobel Prize in Physics 2024), Peter Dayan (1998-2018; director 2002-2017; Brain Prize 2017), Li Zhaoping (1998-2001) and Zoubin Ghahramani (1998-2005; Royal Society Milner Award 2021). Since then, faculty members have included Peter Latham, Maneesh Sahani, Yee Whye Teh (2011-2012), Arthur Gretton, Aapo Hyvaarinen (2016-2019), Peter Orbanz, Andrew Saxe, Agostina Palmigiano and Leena Chennuru Vankadara.

Collaboration

In 2015 we moved from our home in Queen Square to Fitzrovia to build a collaborative partnership with the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour (SWC). The Unit and SWC, both part of the Faculty of Life Sciences, work closely together, with parallel PhD programmes and one joint PhD programme, common day-to-day activities, and joint appointments and research projects that bring together theoretical/computational and experimental neuroscience. 

We are also part of the cross-faculty Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning, and collaborate with other UCL research groups in neuroscience and machine Learning. In 2020, we joined the ELLIS Unit at UCL, part of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems, Europe’s leading network for AI research. 

We have strong links with two other Gatsby Charitable Foundation-funded research centres: the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University and the Gatsby Programme in Theoretical Neuroscience, Hebrew University.

Education and training

The unit runs two innovative, highly competitive PhD programmes: Gatsby Unit PhD programme in Theoretical Neuroscience and Machine Learning and a joint PhD programme with SWC. We also offer postdoctoral training fellowships and pre-doctoral research experience (see Study and work). The Unit also runs the Gatsby Bridging Programme, a 7-week mathematics summer school for predoctoral students. 

In addition, we host an external seminar series with talks by experts in the fields, and organise scientific workshops and schools such as Machine Learning Summer School 2019 and School on Analytical Connectionism (see News and events) as well as outreach events (often jointly with SWC).

Culture

We are a community of around 50 people, functioning as far as possible as a single research group. This strong cohesion is a defining characteristics of the Unit. The small size allows us to interact closely and frequently through regular research talks, journal clubs, lab meetings, external seminars and tea hours (with tea, snack and informal talks). On Friday we have joint tea hours with SWC.

We support flexible working and are committed to support the career and professional development of our PhD students and early-career researchers.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment and celebrate our diverse community.

  • We have Mental Health First Aiders who are trained to have conversations about mental health and to signpost relevant resources.
  • Staff and students have access to a range of training, resources and networks at UCL to help build an awareness of barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), connect with people with shared identities and backgrounds, and start to make positive change.
  • Together with SWC we have run initiatives to raise awareness and encourage reflection of issues such as bias, bullying and harassment, and sexism in the workplace. Find out more about these initiatives.
  • Together with SWC we received an Athena Swan Bronze Award in 2022. This joint departmental award reflects the welcoming and inclusive culture that we are building and our ongoing work to ensure that EDI are central to our strategies. Find out more about our commitment to promoting gender equality.
  • Together with SWC we are piloting a supplement to support early-career researchers and PhD students to continue scientific careers whilst also being able to start a family and/or care for other dependents. 
     

Alumni

Our alumni came from over 40 countries on six continents. Over 90% work in science/research: over 40% are Group Leaders, and about 30% work in research development in companies such as DeepMind (itself co-founded by two former postdocs, Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg), Meta and Anthropic. Yasser Roudi and Misha Ahrens won the Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientist Prize in 2015 and 2019; Demis Hassabis was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Visit our People page for a list of former faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and support staff.

 

Funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foudnation

GCF