During April 1-3, 2013, "Biological underpinnings of cognitive abilities in health and disorder" was successfully held at the Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CSRC). This workshop was co-organized by Dr. Changsong Zhou (Associate Member of CSRC) and Prof. Werner Sommer (Humboldt University). The theme of the workshop was about individual difference in cognitive abilities and the various factors underlying such individual differences, including genetics, brain anatomy and brain activity. Studying such biological bases and model its correlation to inter-person cognitive variability is also the foundation to better understand aging effects and brain diseases.

The major topics of the workshop included Measurement/Data Analysis Methods, Connectivity, Cognition/ Language, Social/Emotion. 16 speakers presented interesting work in the workshop, from Germany, Hong Kong and so on. Totally about 30 participants attended the meeting. The workshop was very fruitful to foster discussion on potential Germany-China collaborations.