Just before Christmas the Rector of the University of Cologne was informed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) that the renewal of the 2014 founded Research Training Group „Neural Circuit Analysis“ (RTG 1960; http://rtg-nca.uni-koeln.de/) was granted for another 4.5 years. 14 PIs from the Medical Faculty and the Mathematics and Sciences Faculty collaborate together in a structured graduate progamme. Research projects focus on the operation of neural networks contributing to the control of energy homeostasis, motor behavior, sensory processing and their malfunction under disease. Presently, more than 20 graduate students are enrolled in this programme.