Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John Butler

@jslbutler.bsky.social

490 followers 500 following 160 posts

TU Dublin Maths/Stats/Comp/Neuro Lecturer | Multisensory Researcher | FENS Communication Committee | He/Him

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Nov 18

Bluesky intro, you might know me from:
1 Lecturing Maths and Stats at TU Dublin
2 My research, especially visual-vestibular processing
3 my work with @neuromatch.bsky.social
4 my #scicomm work
5 the FENS Comms com.
6 or just being a human
but if you don't that's grand as well. Hi

3 3 24

Reposted by John Butler

Richard Gao @rdgao.bsky.social · 15d

I've been waiting some years to make this joke and now it’s real:

I conned somebody into giving me a faculty job!

I’m starting as a W1 Tenure-Track Professor at Goethe University Frankfurt in a week (lol), in the Faculty of CS and Math

and I'm recruiting PhD students 🤗

a man wearing a white shirt and tie smiles in front of a window

ALT: a man wearing a white shirt and tie smiles in front of a window

media.tenor.com

30 31 180

Reposted by John Butler

Neuromatch @neuromatch.bsky.social · 26d

#ComputationalScience should be open to everyone. At Neuromatch, we run global courses with team activities, TAs, learning pods, and projects…but we also share all the learning materials to everyone.

🤓 #OpenSource #OpenAccess & #Free

➡️ neuromatch.io/open-educati...

#OpenScience #OpenEducation

9 19

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Sep 4

And few subgroups to follow up on the panel

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Sep 1

We printed 50+ Eigen-portraits and gave out loads of stickers
Huge thanks to everyone who came by. I really believe @dublinmaker.bsky.social event is a force for good as it celebrates equally all types of making from science, maths, engineering, jewellery making, weaving, robots, art to cosplay!

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Sep 1

My 11-year-old and I ran a table at @dublinmaker.bsky.social this weekend, mixing maths, art, neuroscience, and machine learning.
Over 100 people joined us to sketch emotions, act them out, and see their faces transformed into Eigenfaces using maths and computing.

1 2 9

Reposted by John Butler

Cian O'Donnell @cianodonnell.bsky.social · Aug 29

incredible Ada Lovelace quote highlighted in a talk by Steve Furber. She spells out the dream of computational neuroscience, 2 centuries ago. The sheer ambition 🤩

Steve Furber powerpoint slide showing picture of Ada Lovelace and a quote: "I have my hopes, and very distinct ones too, of one day getting cerebral phenomena such that I can put them into mathematical equations--in short, a law or laws for the mutual actions of the molecules of brain. .... I hope to bequeath to the generations a calculus of the nervous system."

1 21 77

Reposted by John Butler

Dublin Maker @dublinmaker.bsky.social · Aug 28

Two full days of hands-on workshops at #DublinMaker? From superhero flyers to smart cities and origami wonders - there’s something for every curious mind.
Check the full schedule & plan your maker adventure: www.DublinMaker.ie

1 5 5

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Aug 26

@dublinmaker.bsky.social is a phenomenal free family event. Where else can you meet knitters, weavers, zine makers, robots and a middle aged mathematician (me) showing face recognition algorithms.
I’ve all my regalia ready come along so some sketching, lean some maths get your own eigenface.

3 3

Reposted by John Butler

Dublin Maker @dublinmaker.bsky.social · Aug 25

Dublin Maker is happening this weekend - 30th & 31st of August in Leopardstown Racecourse.

In this video, organiser Amy Hassett shares everything you need to know before you go – from getting here & accessibility to top tips on getting involved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m991...

Dublin Maker - Know Before You Go

YouTube video by Dublin Maker

www.youtube.com

4 6

Reposted by John Butler

Simon Kelly @spk3lly.bsky.social · Aug 21

Check out our new multisensory decision study!
We tackle a decades-old Q: does faster detection of bimodal targets come from a race or co-activation between modalities? And also a vital, orthogonal Q: is it one decision process or two?
A1: co-activation
A2: two!
Read here: rdcu.be/eASYd

1 11 18

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Aug 14

I'm delighted to be back at @dublinmaker.bsky.social with the Digital Mirror workshop which shows the links between maths, portraiture, neuroscience and machine learning.

1 1 3

Reposted by John Butler

Dan Goodman @neural-reckoning.org · Aug 7

Spiking neural networks people, this message is for you!

The annual SNUFA workshop is now open for abstract submission (deadline Sept 26) and (free) registration. This year's speakers include Elisabetta Chicca, Jason Eshraghian, Tomoki Fukai, Chengcheng Huang, and... you?

snufa.net/2025/

🤖🧠🧪

SNUFA 2025

Spiking Neural networks as Universal Function Approximators

snufa.net

2 16 30

Reposted by John Butler

Marcus Ghosh @marcusghosh.bsky.social · Aug 1

How does the structure of a neural circuit shape its function?

@neuralreckoning.bsky.social & I explore this in our new preprint:

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

🤖🧠🧪

🧵1/9

A diagram showing 128 neural network architectures.

5 35 98

Reposted by John Butler

kiemohr.bsky.social @kiemohr.bsky.social · Jul 29

Delighted to share this paper, now published in @arvoinfo.bsky.social. With @spk3lly.bsky.social‬ and Anna Geuzebroek we explored differences in visual cortical responses for pattern pulses and pattern reversals. Here's the link:
jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx...

Pattern-pulses and pattern-reversals evoke different cascades of cortical sources in the multifocal visual evoked potential | JOV | ARVO Journals

jov.arvojournals.org

6 10

Reposted by John Butler

Micah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · Jul 28

Are you an ECR in the US? Thinking about moving to Europe? If you work on computational psychiatry, neuroscience, metacognition, or brain-body interaction, I’d love to support your application for a Lundbeck Fellowship to join our group this fall.

Key details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Lundbeck Foundation Postdoc Grant – Type 2 Overview (2025 Call)

Lundbeck Foundation Postdoc Grant – Type 2 Overview (2025 Call) Who: Researchers currently based outside Denmark who wish to move and conduct postdoctoral research at a Danish institution. Applicants ...

docs.google.com

1 20 28

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 27

It practically writes itself.
In episode 1 you have to compromise about where to live to so you end up in Tullamore.
It will be a comedy of misunderstandings like the Irish Frasier. It even has a theme song.
🎵 He’s a little bit country, she’s a little bit Kerry.

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 27

That would be an excellent RTE sitcom.

1 1

Reposted by John Butler

MIVE Lab @mivelab.bsky.social · Jul 26

📍MIVE Lab at @durham-university.bsky.social for #IMRF2025!
1️⃣ @jennycampos.bsky.social shared Anthony Moncada’s work on multisensory illusions & cognitive performance
2️⃣ Dr. Saryazdi on scent & memory
3️⃣ @jslbutler.bsky.social on modelling visual-vestibular self-motion
[Repost w/ correct posters]

1 1 2

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 26

Working with @jennycampos.bsky.social for the last 19 years has been an absolute joy of my research career.
It was great being able to present our new work that combines some old visual-vestibular data with a new model.

Bluesky

withjennycampos.bsky.social

1 2

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 21

Lastly I get a real buzz at IMRF chatting with modellers, electrophysiologists, EEG and MRI researchers, psychophysicists, developmental and clinical researchers. Or one researcher who encapsulates them all like @wallacelab.bsky.social who gave a beautiful keynote about his research

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 21

A few IMRF highlights for me were:
· @exhs.bsky.social work on perceived direction.
· Adrià Marly's elegant work on temporal integration
· @marcusghosh.bsky.social work which is a computational tour-de-force systematically exploring 128 different neuronal architectures for multisensory processing.

1 4

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 21

It was great presenting talks on Rebecca Brady's PhD multisensory modelling research
One on visual-vestibular modelling with temporal delay in collaboration w @jennycampos.bsky.social
The other one w Jennifer Bizley on modelling proportion of mulisensory neurons with respect to processing speed.

1 1 7

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 21

Thanks so much to @imrf.bsky.social organising committee @dorothycowie.bsky.social @markonardini.bsky.social @meike-scheller.bsky.social and Ulrik Beierholm and everyone else involved.
It was a great forum.

International Multisensory Research Forum 2025 @imrf.bsky.social · Jul 18

It's a wrap!
We are happy to bring IMRF 2025 to a close, but also sad to say goodbye to so many lovely, smart people! (or at least "until next year").

2 2 15

John Butler @jslbutler.bsky.social · Jul 18

Maths for the win.
Or a win for maths.