Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University and Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) at the Hebrew University Announce NeuroAI Collaboration
Cambridge, MA—The Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University and the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are pleased to announce a collaboration in NeuroAI, an emerging field at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
This collaboration will foster sustained intellectual exchange between the two institutions through faculty and trainee engagement, workshops, and other academic activities. These efforts aim to strengthen ties between their research communities and lay the groundwork for future joint initiatives, with a shared goal of advancing innovative, interdisciplinary research in NeuroAI.
NeuroAI seeks to understand intelligence across biological and artificial systems. Researchers in this field study how systems learn from experience, form internal representations, and use them to make predictions and guide behavior in complex environments. The collaboration will leverage modern AI tools to deepen our understanding of how brains, human and animal, learn, compute, and adapt, while drawing inspiration from biology to design more efficient, robust, and reliable AI systems.
The Kempner Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute focused on understanding intelligence in natural and artificial systems, bringing together researchers across machine learning, neuroscience, cognitive science, and related fields. The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences is a leading hub for computational neuroscience at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is part of a broader research ecosystem with strengths in artificial intelligence, computer science, and cognitive science.
The collaboration builds on existing ties between the two communities. Notable connections include Haim Sompolinsky, Kempner Associate Faculty member and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and of Physics (in Residence) at Harvard University, who is also Professor Emeritus at ELSC; Daphna Weinshall, Kempner Visiting Scholar and Professor of Computer Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Jonathan Kadmon, Assistant Professor at ELSC and former visiting scholar at Harvard University.
This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to advancing the science of intelligence and translating foundational insights from biology and computation into future technologies.
Media contact
Deborah Lang | kempnercommunications@harvard.edu
