CON²PHYS: CONceptual CONsistency in ePHYS
One dataset, one questionnaire, many truths
CON²PHYS is a collaborative study that aims to quantify how much, or how little, consensus exists among neuroscientists when interpreting fundamental in vivo electrophysiology concepts.
This project stems from the conviction that systems neuroscience is becoming an increasingly fragmented field. Terms like “representation”, “functional connectivity” or “gamma oscillations” sound universal, yet their definitions and implementations vary widely depending on who you ask.
Do these differences make a difference? That’s precisely the empirical question that CON²PHYS will answer.
How does the project work?
We will give you a single dataset to analyze and 15 multiple-choice questions to answer. The questions are seemingly straightforward and deliberately underspecified, and you will answer them using your own assumptions and pipelines. The goal is to reveal how our everyday analytical choices – often arbitrary, often invisible – might ultimately lead to different results.
Participation is open to all neuroscientists with substantial prior systems neuroscience experience regardless of the subdiscipline: from computational to molecular neuroscience, and everything in between. Participation comes with a concrete incentive: you are expected to invest roughly 30–50 hours of work and will be included as co-author on the main CON²PHYS manuscript.
News and coverage
Eighteen teams analyzed the same neurophysiology dataset—and got wildly different answers
Read about what the CON²PHYS pilot studies reveal about conceptual consistency in neuroscience, why reasonable analytical choices can lead to profoundly different results, and what motivated the full community-wide study.
Follow the project
Interested in following CON²PHYS without participating right now? Sign up to receive occasional updates about new results, events, publications, and opportunities to participate.
Postdoctoral opportunity
Open position
Join the CON²PHYS team
The Chini Lab at the University of Liège is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work on CON²PHYS and related projects.
Interested candidates should email Mattia Chini at mchini@uliege.be, attaching their CV and including a brief explanation of why they are interested in the position and in this line of research.
Project timeline
The CON²PHYS project is now open for participation. You can submit your analyses and questionnaire responses until 30 November 2026.
Ready to get started? Go to How to Participate to find out how this works in practice.
Supported by
CON²PHYS and its associated hackathons have received financial, organizational, data-hosting, and venue support from the organizations below. The form of support varied across events.