Pedro Goncalves
Associate Professor, KU Leuven. Principal Investigator at VIB Center for AI & Computational Biology, Belgium
Postdoc, Machine Learning in Science (Jakob Macke), Tübingen AI Center
What is your connection to Tübingen, Pedro?
I was a postdoc in Jakob Macke's lab from 2016 to 2023 and based in Tübingen from August 2021 until April 2023. There, I developed machine learning methods (in particular, simulation-based inference approaches) and applied them to a range of neuroscience problems, from single neurons to neural circuits.
Is there a memory from your time here that had a lasting positive impact on you?
Tübingen has a remarkably strong scientific environment in AI and neuroscience, combining rigour, openness, collaboration, and ambition. Being in that environment, and especially being part of Jakob Macke’s lab, had a lasting positive influence on how I think about science, collaboration and mentorship.
Tübingen has a remarkably strong scientific environment in AI and neuroscience, combining rigour, openness, collaboration, and ambition.
Pedro Goncalves
Where has your career taken you since, and did your time in Tübingen play a role? If so, how?
I am an Associate Professor at the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven and a Principal Investigator at the VIB Center for AI & Computational Biology. I lead a research group working at the intersection of computational neuroscience and machine learning with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms underlying neural computation in health and disease. The strong interdisciplinary culture I experienced in Tübingen played a crucial role in shaping both the scientific direction of my lab and the kind of research environment I try to foster today.