On the evening of October 20th, 2025, the BCI-URA team gathered for a celebratory dinner that marked a truly unforgettable moment in our research journey. That night, we celebrated not one but two milestones — the acceptance of our papers into MIWAI 2025 and SoICT 2025, two of the most prestigious international conferences held in Viet Nam this year — and the completion of our capstone thesis with an exceptional score of 97.5/100. It was a night filled with laughter, gratitude, and a quiet sense of pride — the kind that comes only after months of intense effort, late nights, and countless setbacks.
From Curiosity to Commitment
The story began with a single spark of curiosity. Nguyen Khanh Vi, a student deeply fascinated by how the brain works, dreamed of building a system that could connect computers and human thought — a field known as Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). Alongside Vi were Pham Minh Trung, Pham Minh Hieu, and Tran Duy Truong — three equally determined teammates who, despite having little to no background in neuroscience or research, were ready to dive into this strange, exciting world.
The early days were… humbling. We stumbled through complex mathematical theories, struggled with unfamiliar EEG data, and faced the infamous “wall of errors” every young researcher meets. Our biweekly meetings with mentors were filled with sharp feedback, constructive scolding, and invaluable lessons from Prof. Quan Thanh Tho, Dr. Ha Thi Thanh Huong, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Duc.
The Turning Point
Everything changed when the “divine twins,” Trung and Hieu, came up with an unexpectedly simple yet powerful idea — a new component for our model pipeline that significantly boosted system accuracy. That breakthrough became the turning point of the entire project. From there, things began to move fast. Our system was rapidly implemented, refined, and completed within weeks.
Then came our first milestone — our paper got accepted at MIWAI 2025, our very first international conference publication. We couldn’t believe it. It was the kind of joy that keeps you smiling for days…
The Double Triumph
Fueled by that success, Vi and Trường carefully prepared for their capstone thesis defense — and they made it to the top. The committee awarded them the highest score, marking the end of an exhausting but beautiful college time.
But the story didn’t stop there. Motivated by their first paper, the so-called “divine twins” decided to push further. They worked on another system, this time on the same dataset, but with a different approach — and it turned out so well that it became another conference paper, accepted at SoICT 2025. What made this second one truly special was the process itself. The entire paper was written in just one week — a chaotic mix of stress, late nights, and caffeine-fueled writing sprints. We honestly didn’t expect it to be accepted; it was meant to be a learning experience, a practice run for future submissions. Even more poetic: the acceptance email arrived on the very day of our team celebration, October 20th.
Gratitude and Growth
None of this would have been possible without the unwavering support and guidance of our mentors — Prof. Quan Thanh Tho, Dr. Ha Thi Thanh Huong, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Duc — whose trust, patience, and feedback shaped us into better researchers.
We also extend our heartfelt thanks to Nguyen Huu Tuong and Hoang Kim Long from the Brain Health Lab, HCMC International University, for providing the dataset and invaluable domain knowledge, and to Nguyen Song Thien Long for his tireless help with paper revisions and moral support.
The October 20th celebration wasn’t just the end of a project — it was the beginning of a journey. From clueless beginners to published researchers, the BCI-URA team learned not only about data and models but about resilience, collaboration, and curiosity — the real engines of discovery. As the evening came to a close, the sentiment around the table was hopeful: this milestone is just the beginning. Buoyed by their success, the team is ready leaning into the next chapter. Our supervisors have set new challenges; members are forward to achieving more fascinating successes.