Clara Kümpel
learning theory · neuroscience-inspired AI
Zürich // London
Hi, I'm Clara. I'm interested in how neural networks and humans learn. I like to apply ideas from neuroscience to machine learning theory and vice versa.
Recently, I am mostly interested in learning dynamics and optimisation to improve learning in neural networks from an efficiency, modular, neuroscience-inspired angle.
During my master's at ETH Zürich, I spent some time studying nonlinear learning at the Gatsby Unit (UCL) in Andrew Saxe's lab and self-supervised learning at Mila with Blake Richards' lab. I am also working on optimisation theory with Jonathan Cornford from the University of Leeds. Before I did a computer science degree with IBM, worked on neurosymbolic AI at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, on computational neuroscience at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights (NY), and studied knowledge graphs and cloud computing in their research labs in Zurich and Stuttgart.
Feel free to reach out if you think we might get along :)
- July 2026oralI will be giving an Oral Presentation at ACL 2026 in San Diego
- June 2026Finished my Master's at ETH Zürich in Computer Science
- June 2026spotlightInvited Spotlight talk at the 7th International Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI in Rome
- March 2026posterPresenting a Poster at Cosyne 2026 in Lisbon
- November 2025Visiting the Andrew Saxe's Lab at the Gatsby Unit in London at UCL!