- What is our goal?
- The history of IK
- Organization
- Executive Committee
- Advisory Board
- Conference Management
The Interdisciplinary College (IK) is an annual, intense one-week spring school which offers a dense state-of-the-art course program in neurobiology, neural computation, cognitive science/psychology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and philosophy. It is aimed at students, postgraduates and researchers from academia and industry. By combining humanities, science and technology, the IK endeavours to intensify dialogue between the various disciplines. Participants come mainly – but not exclusively – from European countries, lecturers from all over the world. Courses include up-to-date introductions to the main fields of the IK, as well as an in-depth treatment of the focus topic, which is changing from year to year. The IK is also a unique social event. In the long evenings, participants enjoy a very special atmosphere: minds meet, music is played, and friends are made in the welcoming conference site at Lake Möhne.
What is Our Goal?
You will attend a lot of very interesting courses and lectures, some relating to your usual topics and so some that are completely exotic to you. You will learn a host of new things and remember some almost forgotten bits, while you will grow curious at quite a few new topics. The house will be brimming with discussions and interdisciplinary exchange that leaves most participants thinking differently, or from new angles, about their usual topics.
There will be free and open discussion and interaction between students, lecturers and all other participants, drawing a benefit from the fact that everyone is comparatively unexperienced in at least some topics while bringing along expertise in others. Many participants decide to contribute by either presenting a poster, a rainbow lecture, by volunteering as a “sunshine” to support one of the lecturers, or even by making an artistic or comedic contribution (which often happens in spontaneously formed teams) to the dinner gala night. Participants have often described the IK as a celebration of curiosity where you can connect with brilliant people from a broad range of disciplines that are somehow involved with -or affected by- cognition.
The history of IK
The IK evolved from the former ‘Artificial Intelligence Spring School’ (KIFS), which took place almost annually from 1982 to 1996, and contributed significantly to the development of AI in Germany. Since the beginning of the 1990s, AI had been well established in German universities and the mission of the KIFS had been fulfilled. It was time for a comprehensive departure into interdisciplinarity. This venue was paved out by several events, especially by two workshops “Wege ins Gehirn” (Paths into the brain) and “Autonomie und Adaptivitaet” (Autonomy and Adaptivity). These non-public workshops were organized by the Federal Ministery of Education and Research and brought together leading scientists in these fields. The final decision to turn the KIFS into the Interdisciplinary College was taken at the first of these workshops in 1996. The IK “movement” has since then been carried on by a body of leading researchers from the concerned disciplines. The IK inherited the charming scenery and the intensity of the KIFS. Since 2003, the IK is held in English. The IK has now been run annually since 1997, each time with overwhelmingly positive feedback from its participants.
Organization
Executive Committee
Simon Büchner (University of Freiburg)
Ansgar Büschges (University of Cologne)
Felix Hülsmann (University of Bielefeld)
Herbert Jaeger (University of Groningen) speaker
Emily King (Colorado State University)
Katharina Krämer (Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln)
Jutta Kretzberg (University of Oldenburg)
Jan Leininger (Ludwigsburg)
Rainer Malaka (University of Bremen)
Benjamin Paaßen (Bielefeld University) speaker
Cosima Prahm (BG Hospital Tübingen)
Felix Schmitt (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Gregor Schöner (Ruhr-University of Bochum)
Ronald Sladky (University of Vienna)
Jan Smeddinck (Newcastle University)
Terry Stewart (National Research Council of Canada, University of Waterloo Collaboration Centre)
Andrew Straw (University of Freiburg)
Marieke van Vugt (University of Groningen)
Kai Vogeley (University of Cologne)
Susan Wache (University of Osnabrück)
Ipke Wachsmuth (Bielefeld University)
Philipp Wicke (LMU Munich)
Wanja Wiese (University of Mainz)
Elisabeth Zimmermann (University of Vienna)
Advisory Board
Tamim Asfour (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
Jennifer Fewell (Arizona State University, USA)
Jessica Grahn (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
Dieter Jaeger (Emory University, Atlanta, USA)
Arvid Kappas (Jacobs University Bremen, Germany)
Ed Large (University of Connecticut, USA)
Justin London (Carleton College, USA)
Luc Steels (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
Jun Tani (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
Conference Management
Christine Harms (Conference Manager)
-ccHa- Schillerstrasse 8
D-53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
Tel.: +49 (0)2641/903578
Fax.: +49 (0)2641/903580
e-Mail: christine.harms@ccha.de
João Miguel Cunha (University of Coimbra)
Benjamin Paaßen (Bielefeld University)
Sarah Schulz (Berlin)
Philipp Wicke (LMU Munich)
Poster Chairs
Felix Hülsmann (Bielefeld)
Susan Wache (feelspace GmbH)
Stipend & Sunshine Chairs
Simon Büchner (Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg)
Jan Leininger (Ludwigsburg)
Technical Directors
Jochen Sprickerhof (Munich)
Michael Görner (University of Hamburg)