Pedro Pintado Jorge Gonçalves is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at KU Leuven, with primary affiliation in the Department of Electrical Engineering and strong ties to the Department of Computer Science. He leads the Gonçalves lab at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuro Electronics Research Flanders (NERF), and is also a member of the KU Leuven Brain Institute and Leuven.AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence. His educational background includes training as a physicist with a focus on neuroscience applications. His research integrates machine learning with computational neuroscience to develop methods for extracting mechanistic insights from complex neural data. His work specializes in simulation-based inference techniques that bridge data-driven and theory-driven approaches in neuroscience. The publication trends reveal a strong focus on developing and applying machine learning methods to neuroscience problems, with particular emphasis on neural circuit modeling, biophysical simulations, and the development of computational tools like the sbi toolkit. His research spans multiple scales from single neurons to population dynamics and behavior. As an educator, he teaches courses including Calculus and Mathematical Engineering, and mentors numerous students through his lab. His collaborative approach is evident in his extensive co-authorship network across computational neuroscience and machine learning fields. Dr. Gonçalves actively supervises multiple PhD and master's students in his lab, fostering the next generation of computational neuroscientists. His research is supported by multiple ongoing projects including 'Simulation-based inference for mechanistic models of neural dynamics' (2025-2029) and 'Computational research into the principles of robustness in neural systems' (2023-2027). His laboratory focuses on combining theoretical models with advanced machine learning methods to design more accurate neural models, quantitatively test mechanistic hypotheses, and derive experimentally-testable predictions about neural systems in health and disease.










