Our Story

From a simple idea to a global movement.

Our story spans virtual conferences, the creation of Neuromatch Academy due to COVID-19 shutting down traditional in person summer schools, and a global community committed to inclusivity, collaboration, and open scientific learning.

Building Community

 When the COVID-19 pandemic made in-person gatherings impossible, Neuromatch reimagined scientific conferences online (2020-2022). These virtual events not only connected researcher during challenging times but also created an enduring model for accessible, global scientific collaboration.

Launching the Academy

During the pandemic, organizers of traditional computational science summer schools came together. Neuromatch Academy emerged from this collaboration as a globally accessible, mentored program, empowering students and early-career researchers regardless of geography, finances, or local resources.

Why "Neuromatch"?

We started by running virtual computational neuroscience conferences where we 'matched' attendees to sessions and each other using algorithms developed by our co-founders.

Since then we've refined and built upon these algorithms and use them to today in field building and 'matching' TAs ad students into learning pods. 

Our logo

From notebook sketches to a global movement, Neuromatch’s logo reflects the collaborative spirit at the heart of our community.

Early designs by Titipat Achakulvisut and collaborators helped shape not just a visual identity, but the ethos of an open, inclusive, and globally connected education movement.

  • 2020Founding

    Neuromatch Conference and Neuromatch Academy were founded! Built our first course, Computational Neuroscience, and ran several virtual conferences.
  • 2021Adding a second course

    We introduced our second course, Deep Learning, as we recognised the need for more geographically accessible learning opportunities. NMC ran several more virtual conferences, leveraging our matching algorithm.
  • 2022Sustaining Operations

    as Neuromatch grew, we welcomed our first full-time employees, including CEO and Program Director. Ran the final NMC Conference and sunset this area of work. Open Publishing, now Scholar Nexus, was founded.
  • 2023Growth

    Launch of Computational Tools for Climate Science Course (Climatematch) and the Impact Scholars Program, offering mentored research experiences.
  • 2024Expanding

    We launched our NeuroAI Course and expanded the Impact Scholars Program to all courses. Built and ran our Open Science course in collaboration with NASA.
  • 2025Field Building

    Developed our Field Building pillar through MEXA, including running our first Research Accelerator program.

Neuromatch’s journey is shaped by people, ideas, and a commitment to accessible education. These selected articles explore our history, key milestones, and how our approach has evolved over time.