Lasers4EU

Lasers4EU Training: Hands-on Course on MINDLAB: Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain, 4-7 Nov 2025
2025-11-04 - 2025-11-07 | Castelldefels, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
The core faculty of the ICFO-MINDLAB, a think tank working jointly towards a transdisciplinary understanding of the brain, offers a school to introduce cutting edge technologies to study neuroscience at the molecular, cellular and systems level to students in a combination of lectures and hands-on experience leading to group projects.
What is MINDLAB?
MINDLAB stands for “Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain” and is an interdisciplinary creative playground rooted squarely in academic rigor, comprising of research groups from ICFO and beyond. We focus on advancing fundamental knowledge on how the mind emerges from the behavior of individual molecules, neurons and brain networks but also creating and commercializing transformational future technologies with outstanding potential to impact our society for good.
Hence, this course will expose participants to the state-of-the-art of photonics-based technologies tailored to monitor a hierarchy of scales in the study of the brain: i.e. from single molecules up to the whole organism.
The MINDLAB faculty includes world leading experts in their fields. The expertise of the core faculty is complemented by a diverse set of affiliated adjunct faculty from various research centres in Barcelona but also through clinical and corporate partners.
This year’s school will open with the Annual Meeting of the Barcelona Medical Photonics Network (BMPN). BMPN is a platform to promote the research and development activities in photonics being carried out in the Barcelona region through long-standing collaborations between ICFO and its biomedical and clinical partners. Always centered around a targeted clinical area, this forth edition of the BMPN annual meeting is perfectly aligned with the scope of MINDLAB. By addressing real-world healthcare challenges, BMPN will set the stage for the training program, providing essential context and inspiration for participants. The speakers and audience will include clinicians as well as technology developers and innovation managers, from the Network but also professionals and collaborators from outside the region.
Hands-on sessions
Participants will engage in lab sessions focused on the latest photonics technologies. Each lab session will provide participants with an opportunity to work directly with advanced equipment and gain valuable practical skills.
The sessions will take place in the following labs:

Super resolution Light microscopy and Nanoscopy
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Medical Optics
Photon Harvesting in Plants and Biomolecules
Single Molecules Biophotonics

Eligibility
We welcome applications from motivated students and early-stage researchers across a range of disciplines: physics, optics, engineering, electronics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and related fields.
Priority will be given to master’s-level and advanced undergraduate students, though PhD candidates and young postgraduates are also encouraged to apply.
How To Apply
There is NO fee for students to attend the school.
Applicants must submit:

A Curriculum Vitae, including contact details.
A statement of purpose outlining their motivation for attending the school.

Applications must be submitted online, and all required application material must be complete in order to be considered.
The deadline for applications is September 30, 2025.Successful applicants will be notified during the week of October 6, 2025.
For any questions, please contact us at frontiers@icfo.eu

More information

Register here

HZDR Data Management Days 2025 - Shaping Research Data Practices with Lasers4EU
2025-11-11 13:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
This year’s HZDR Data Management Days will take place from Tuesday, 11 November (1 p.m.) to Wednesday, 12 November (3 p.m.), featuring a mix of lectures and interactive workshops.The programme on 12 November is only for internal participants.
In the context of advancing digitalisation and an ever-increasing need for reproducibility, this year’s event will focus on the data and software management landscape in general and at HZDR in particular.
HZDR colleagues will share insights into typical challenges in data and software management and present practical solutions developed in their daily work.
On 11 November, the lectures will be held in a hybrid format and are open to external participants. Lasers4EU partners are warmly invited to join the online sessions.
A session of particular relevance for the Lasers4EU community will address data management planning using RDMO (Research Data Management Organiser). As funding agencies increasingly require Data Management Plans (DMPs) defining how data and metadata are handled during and after projects, the HZDR instance of RDMO, accessible via Helmholtz ID, supports collaborative preparation of DMPs, even with external partners.
Within this context, the Lasers4EU project serves as a potential use case for tailoring generic DMP questionnaires to specific needs, distinguishing between questions for proposing scientists, access-providing facilities, and repository providers. The session will therefore be of direct interest to Lasers4EU partners involved in data management, access coordination, and research infrastructure development.
For more information and the full programme, please visit HZDR Data Management Days 2025

Register here

Lasers4EU Industrial Advisory Committee meeting, 17 November 2025
2025-11-17 10:00 - 11:30
The first meeting of the Lasers4EU Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) will take place on 17 November 2025, bringing together representatives from industry and project partners to help guide the project’s strategic direction.
IAC members are expected to provide professional and technical input on key aspects of the project, including exploitation opportunities, innovation needs, and the incorporation of industry perspectives into the design and evaluation of project activities. Their contributions will help ensure that Lasers4EU remains closely aligned with market demands.
Please note: this is an internal project event.

Lasers4EU Activity Board meeting, 13 January 2026
2026-01-13 10:30 - 12:00
The Activity Board of the Lasers4EU project will hold its next meeting on 13 January from 10:30 to 12:00 CET.
Login details will be provided by the Laserlab-Europe Office.
Please note: this is an internal project event.

Lasers4EU Activity Board meeting, 2 April 2026
2026-04-02 10:00 - 12:00
The Activity Board of the Lasers4EU project will hold its next meeting on 2 April from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST.
Login details will be provided by the Laserlab-Europe Office.
Please note: this is an internal project event.

Lasers4EU Access Board meeting, 5 May 2026
2026-05-05 14:30 - 16:30
The Access Board of the Lasers4EU project will meet on 5 May 2026, 14:30-16:30 CEST.
The link to connect will be shared by the Laserlab-Europe office.

This is a project internal event.

Laserlab-Europe and Lasers4EU Annual and Users Meeting 2026, 26-29 May 2026
2026-05-26 - 2026-05-29 | HiLASE, Dolni Břežany, Czech Republic

Lasers4EU Training | Experimental methods and data analysis for femtosecond and attosecond spectroscopies: transient absorption spectroscopy, time-resolved photoelectron/photoion spectroscopy, 9-11 June 2026
2026-06-09 - 2026-06-11 | Max-Born-Institute, Berlin, Germany

Lasers4EU Training | Hands-on Course on MINDLAB: Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain, 13-17 July 2026
2026-07-13 - 2026-07-17 | Castelldefels, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
The core faculty of the ICFO-MINDLAB, a think tank working jointly towards a transdisciplinary understanding of the brain, offers a school to introduce cutting edge technologies to study neuroscience at the molecular, cellular and systems level to students in a combination of lectures and hands-on experience leading to group projects.
What is MINDLAB?
MINDLAB stands for “Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain” and is an interdisciplinary creative playground rooted squarely in academic rigor, comprising of research groups from ICFO and beyond. We focus on advancing fundamental knowledge on how the mind emerges from the behavior of individual molecules, neurons and brain networks but also creating and commercializing transformational future technologies with outstanding potential to impact our society for good.
Hence, this course will expose participants to the state-of-the-art of photonics-based technologies tailored to monitor a hierarchy of scales in the study of the brain: i.e. from single molecules up to the whole organism.
The MINDLAB faculty includes world leading experts in their fields. The expertise of the core faculty is complemented by a diverse set of affiliated adjunct faculty from various research centres in Barcelona but also through clinical and corporate partners.
This year’s school coincide with the arrival of ICFO’s Summer Fellows, a group of highly motivated master-level or engineering students in their final years of study, who join ICFO research groups for three-month internships (July-September)
Hands-on sessions
Participants will engage in lab sessions focused on the latest photonics technologies. Each lab session will provide participants with an opportunity to work directly with advanced equipment and gain valuable practical skills.
The sessions will take place in the following labs:

Super resolution Light microscopy and Nanoscopy
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Medical Optics
Photon Harvesting in Plants and Biomolecules
Single Molecules Biophotonics
