From June 9-11, the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) hosted a very popular Brainstorm workshop. Brainstorm is a collaborative software project dedicated to the analysis of electric brain activity using electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG), as well as other types of brain signals.

The EEG and MEG scanners at the MRC CBU are widely used in neuroscientific research within the Cambridge cognitive neuroscience community.

The tutors and main developers behind the software, Professor Sylvain Baillet and Dr Francois Tadel (Mc Gill University, Montreal), are world-leading experts in the field of high-level EEG/MEG data analysis. They are not only spearheading the development of new software tools for neuroscientific research, but also communicate the basic concepts of EEG/MEG methods to newcomers in the field.

We were also lucky to receive a talk from Professor Baillet’s extra talk on “Mechanisms & dynamical structure of brain rhythms: from rest to perception”.

The MRC CBU provided an excellent setting for this workshop, enabling young researchers to learn and exchange ideas in a beautiful environment. The analysis of brain waves was accompanied by the obligatory punting trip on the River Cam.

The successful event was organised by David Mayor (University of Hertfordshire) and Tony Steffert (Open University), with support from Olaf Hauk, Darren Price, Rik Henson and other members of the MRC CBU team.