The FACETS Project

	PyNN is a is a simulator-independent language for building neuronal network models. Its development started in the FACETS project and is maintained on neuralensemble.org. More on PyNN
	FET: The Future Emergent Technology Initiative of the EU

	Work with us: Apply for a Ph.D. position funded for 3 years by a Marie- Curie Initial Training Network grant.

The goal of the FACETS (Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States) project is to create a theoretical and experimental foundation for the realisation of novel computing paradigms which exploit the concepts experimentally observed in biological nervous systems. The continuous interaction and scientific exchange between biological experiments, computer modelling and hardware emulations within the project provides a unique research infrastructure that will in turn provide an improved insight into the computing principles of the brain. This insight may potentially contribute to an improved understanding of mental disorders in the human brain and help to develop remedies.

Already achieved results are described primarily in scientific publications and deliverables. Some of the developed software tools, most notably the PyNN language, are now also applied outside of the FACETS project.

The international and interdisciplinary research project FACETS is funded by the European Commission in the framework of the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme. Within this programme, Future Emerging Technologies (FET) is defined as the 'programme nursery' of IST, in which basic research on novel concepts of information processing beyond the classical Turing approach are studied. FACETS is an integrated project within the biologically inspired information systems branch.

Please find out more about this fascinating research activity in our public research section.

The Marie-Curie Initial Training Network grant FACETS-ITN (start date September 2009) can support 22 Ph.D. positions at the FACETS-ITN partner labs. The deadline for the first application round for the Ph.D. positions was on 23 August 2009. The deadline for the currently open second round (targeting primarily the hardware aspects of Neuro-Inspired Computing) is 20 December 2009 (apply here).

Biological Experiments	Theoretical Studies and Computer-Based Models	Neural Hardware	Emerging Computational Paradigms