Winter School "Ethics of Neuroscience and AI" 2026

Theoretical foundations, as well as practical and ethical aspects are addressed. Participants will benefit from a combination of lectures with group work and discussions, where they will put the learned content into practice.

Registration for the Winter School will open on December 17th 2025.

Scientific organizers: John-Dylan Haynes, Marten Kaas, and Thomas Schmidt.

The preliminary program can be found here.

The program booklet will also be available here later on.

Please note that this Winter School is an event which takes place in presence in Berlin.

Accommodation: We cannot organise accommodation for participants. Please make your own arrangements, see below for the venue address.

Travel Visa: please contact graduateprograms AT bccn-berlin.de if you need a confirmation of registration or similar document for travel purposes.

On Tuesday, Feb 24, the school offers two parallel tracks: The Philosophical Track focuses on theoretical aspects, meta-ethics and moral responsibility. The Empirical Track offers theoretical foundations as well as a number of practical ethical aspects in neuroscience, such as deep brain stimulation, brain death, artificial intelligence, and data protection.

Fees: The Winter School is free of cost but registration is necessary.

Venue: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Philippstr. 13 Haus 6 & 4, 10115 Berlin

Certificates of Attendance: Certificates of attendance will be issued upon request for those who attend at least 4/5 days.

Certificates of Credit: External students can receive up to 3 ECTS for their participation in the Winter School if they attend in presence and fulfill the following criteria:
3 ECTS: attend the School, take part in the Group Work session and submit a 2-page essay.
2.5 ECTS: attend the School and take part in the Group Work, no essay.
0.5 ECTS: attend only the Good Scientific Practice (GSP) session.

If you would like to receive credit, please indicate that on the registration form.

Organisation: Dirk Mende and Lisa Velenosi

Contact: graduateprograms AT bccn-berlin.de

Additional information for Master's students of the program Computational Neuroscience:

The Winter School coincides with the compulsory module "Ethical Issues and Implications for Society" for first year BCCN Berlin Master's students. For complete module description see the program structure here. Master's students of the program Computational Neuroscience have to attend the empirical track as well as write an essay.

The Winter School is jointly organized by the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, and the Excellence Cluster "Science of Intelligence".