Resting-state functional connectivity has taken the brain imaging community by storm. Five to ten minutes of MRI data collection from almost any subject or patient can reveal organized systems of activity in the brain that can be used in a wide variety of ways for basic and clinical research, and even to guide non-invasive brain stimulation. 

CONN is one of the most popular software packages for functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fcMRI) analyses of resting state and task fMRI data, with over 6,000 published studies to date using CONN. It is ranked in the top 1% most frequently viewed and downloaded neuroimaging tools in NITRC, and it enjoys a large and active user community, with over 2,000,000 page-views and 14,000 user-support posts.

In this workshop the neuroimaging researcher and lead developer of CONN, Alfonso Nieto-Castanon, brings his exceptional expertise to offer a course covering all aspects of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fcMRI) analyses in CONN. The course welcomes both new and existing users. It covers basic and advanced features of CONN as well as general topics in functional connectivity analyses. Participants bring their own laptop computers, and classroom presentations are followed by substantial time for questions and exercises using CONN with expert guidance available. Course attendees receive a certificate of completion at the end of the workshop.

This workshop is offered in two different modalities: 

Course contents include essential topics in CONN such as Setup definitions and CONN project design, fMRI preprocessing pipelines, data denoising and quality control, seed-based and ROI-to-ROI connectivity measures, or group-level GLM analyses and inferences, practical discussions covering example clinical applications of functional connectivity analyses, GLM designs for illustrative research questions, batch scripting, and the use of parallelization options in High Performance Computing environments, as well as presentations covering the theory and practice of all specialized functional connectivity methods available in CONN, including generalized Psycho-Physiological Interaction models, temporal modulation analyses, Independent Component Analyses, voxel-to-voxel connectivity measures, network- and cluster- level statistics, graph theory, functional connectivity MultiVariate Pattern Analyses, or dynamic connectivity analyses. 

Use the following links to explore the course contents in more detail, check the schedule, or register to the next CONN workshop.

Principal speaker: Alfonso Nieto-Castanon, Ph.D.

Invited speakers: Robert L. Savoy, Ph.D., Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Ph.D., Sheeba Arnold Anteraper, Ph.D.

FAQ: 

1. How many individuals are accepted into the course?

1. • 50 people

2. Are there any differences between the online/virtual and in the in-person course?

   • Faculty, course contents, and live-class hours are identical in the two courses. Other than the venue, the only difference is that office-hours or video-recordings are not offered during the in-person course due to time and logistic constraints

3. When does registration close?

   • Registration closes when a course is fully booked (courses have always reached full occupancy, consider registering early!)

4. How much does the course cost?

   • Registration fees vary between €1,000 and €2,000 depending on course and applicable discounts. See course registration for details

5. Do postdocs qualify for the student rate?

1. • No, sorry, only full-time graduate students qualify

6. I cannot pay by credit card. Do I have any other options?

   • Yes, you may request an invoice and pay by bank transfer. Initiate your registration normally and send the course administrator an email requesting a bank transfer option. Please provide your institution details to be included in your invoice, and allow additional time (up to 5 days) for the transfer to be processed

7. How do I prepare for the course?

   • Before the start of the course you will be asked to prepare your computer and download a sample dataset using the instructions described in the computer setup section. You will also be asked to provide an informal biosketch (no more than two paragraphs in length), to be distributed to the faculty and to other course participants, briefly describing your background, experience, and what you most hope to get out of the program. Around two weeks before the start of the course you will receive a welcome email with instructions to obtain your login credentials and access the course materials

8. I already have a dataset that I am working on, can I use this during the course instead of the sample dataset?

   • Yes, of course! Using your own data during the course is highly encouraged (please note that due to time constraints particularly in the in-person course we may have limited ability to address or fix issues specific to your own dataset if we are not made aware of these well in advance) 

9. I have some questions about my own analyses or data. Is it possible to get your comments on these?

   • Yes, of course! In addition to in-class Q&A, there is an Open Questions shared document where you can post any questions that you would like us to address during the course. We will try to address some of those questions directly during the live class hours when the topics most relevant to each question are discussed, or during office-hour segments (in the virtual course only) if the questions are too specific or if they require us to take a closer look at your data

10. What are office-hours?

    • There are typically four office-hour segments during the CONN workshop (in the virtual course only). Each segment consists of an additional unstructured Zoom meeting dedicated to addressing any questions that may have not been already addressed during the course. Attendance is optional and questions may include problems with the homework or issues specific to your own datasets or analyses.