Only a few months passed since our last biennial meeting in Prague, but in these few months the world has changed in many ways and we are now facing challenges that were unimaginable last year. In these turbulent times I am very happy that the EBBS community is lively and active, and that our democratic elections have now successfully ensured the future of EBBS leadership. I extend a warm welcome to our new ExCom members Francesca, Muriel and Lars as well as to Igor and Alex, who are joining again the ExCom in new positions this time. At the same time, I want to express my gratitude to the stepping-down members of the executive committee. Antonis Stamatakis has done a wonderful job as Secretary General during the past 6 years and ensured with his tireless efforts that the society was running smoothly. Francesca Sargolini, Mark Walton and Sebastien Bouret were active and invaluable members of the executive committee and their input and help will be dearly missed. Thank you! I hope you will all be leaving the committee with the certainty that the future of the EBBS is in firm hands. I also want to officially welcome Marina Picciotto as recently co-opted overseas member of our executive committee.
Coming back to the challenges that we are facing, I want to specifically address some of them. As I already emphasized when I steppedinto office, equality and gender balance are central values that I myself and our society stand for. The recent tragic events in the US have again highlighted how important it is to fight inequality and racism, and to actively support initiatives to promote diversity and equality in our society and beyond. As President of the EBBS I will therefore do what is in my power to continue this fight.
A second challenge that I already raised early on was the necessity to adapt scientific meetings to be more environment-friendly and reduce the need for air travel. In some ways the Covid19 crises has accelerated this process and we are now forced to adapt to new realities of virtual meetings and conferences. I am very much looking forward to see what we can learn from the virtual FENS Forum this year, which includes the EBBS co-organized Mini-Conference “Behavioural neuroscience for the next decade: Why behaviour matters to brain science” and the EBBS-Elsevier-Behavioral Brain Research Lecture. Also for our next biennial meeting 2021 in Lausanne we are engaged in preparations for a hybrid meeting, so that participation will hopefully be possible in real live, but also virtually. You can already check out some details on our new meeting web page www.ebbs2021.org.
In closing, I hope that all of you are successfully facing the challenges that 2020 has in store for us and look forward to seeing you at the FENS Forum virtually and hopefully soon also again in real life.
Mathias Schmidt, EBBS President
Based on the results of the on-line elections, the incoming members of the EBBS Executive Committee are:
President Elect: Igor Branchi
Secretary General:Alex Easton
Ordinary Members: Muriel Koehl, Lars Schwabe and Francesca Zoratto
Welcome aboard new members!
Be part of #FENS2020, 11-15 July 2020
July 11, 8:30-11:30
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS), European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) invite you to our jointly organised mini conference. A variety of topics will be covered, focusing on the role of behaviour in Neuroscience and the translatability of animal models to human traits and psychiatric disorders .
You can follow EBBS in Facebook and Twitter for scientific news, meeting announcements and funding opportunities.
Facebook: EBBS.science
Twitter: EBBStweets
Even the older ones among us agree that what we are all experiencing now are unprecedented challenges. Only a few weeks ago life was going on in expected and dependable ways, and now the whole world seems to be upside down and many things that we took for granted are now put to the test. The difficulties that we were facing last year now seem often small and petty compared to the major problems individuals and our whole society are currently dealing with.
In these difficult times, it is most important to remember that nobody is alone in this situation. You are part of a large community, and in this community we will support each other in any way possible. I believe that one of the biggest problems related to the Covid-19 crisis is the uncertainty and unpredictability of the situation, which requires a high degree of resilience. Our society harbors a lot of expertise on this matter. In the end, the question of how we deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and all the negative consequences related to this will be an issue of brain, mind and behavior – all of which are of core interest to the EBBS. Our mission statement is to be “committed to maintain high standards in the field of behavioural neuroscience and, more generally, to shape a positive future for neuroscience and wider society”. This is now more important than ever.
We, the members of the Executive Committee of EBBS, will mobilize all resources available to this society, to assist in successfully overcoming this crisis. I hope that all of you, your families and loved ones are healthy, safe and weather these challenges as good as possible.
Mathias Schmidt, EBBS President
We invite nominations for candidates (who should be members of EBBS) to stand for election for President-elect, Secretary General and three Ordinary Members.
Nominations should be sent by e-mail to the current Secretary General Antonis Stamatakis (astam@nurs.uoa.gr) no later than April 15, 2020.
Nominations should include a short CV of the candidate (about ½ A4 along with a photo if possible). This will be published together with the web-on-line ballots.
Members are invited to submit proposals to support an EBBS sponsored International Lecturer at meetings, workshops or summer/winter schools. Applications for small, local meetings are discouraged.
A travel grant of € 700 will be awarded to defray the additional costs of a lecturer from another country.
Applicants (who must be EBBS members at the time of application and in good standing with their membership fees) should provide sufficient details to satisfy the following points:
A brief report on the meeting and the lecture should be submitted after the meeting. Applications should include a one-page CV of the nominated lecturer. They should be made at least 6 months before the meeting and addressed to the Secretary AntonisStamatakis (astam@nurs.uoa.gr).
You can follow EBBS in Facebook and Twitter for scientific news, meeting announcements and funding opportunities.
Facebook: EBBS.science
Twitter: EBBStweets
We invite nominations for candidates (who should be members of EBBS) to stand for election for President-elect, Secretary General and three Ordinary Members.
Nominations should be sent by e-mail to the current Secretary General Antonis Stamatakis (astam@nurs.uoa.gr) no later than April 15th, 2020.
Nominations should include a short CV of the candidate (about ½ A4 along with a photo if possible). This will be published together with the web-on-line ballots.
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS), European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) invite you to our jointly organised Mini Conference. A variety of topics will be covered focusing on the role of behaviour in Neuroscience and the translatability of animal models to human traits and psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Ana Pocivavsek (Dept Pharmacology, Physiology and neuroscience, University of South Carolina, USA) will give an EBBS-sponsored lecture at the 18th International Conference “Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience” (MMiN 2020) in Lyon, France, June 28th-July 1st, 2020 (http://mmin2020.univ-lyon1.fr/).
Dear all,
this is a strong encouragement to participate in the FENS Forum this coming July, in Glasgow. FENS has extended the early registration and abstract submission deadline to February 25th (see details below and here: https://forum2020.fens.org/).
Optimize your travelling: this is an outstanding meeting, with a fantastic program of plenary lectures, symposia, technical workshops, posters, debates, socials, great networking opportunities and all within a vibrant community. Travel grants available.
Hoping to see many of you there!
Kind regards,
Carmen Sandi, FENS President
JNS annual meeting
Deadline for abstract submission: January 26th 2020!
Deadline for early bird registration: March 26th!
FENS members can register for the Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society 2020 at special rates.
You can follow EBBS in Facebook and Twitter for scientific news, meeting announcements and funding opportunities.
Facebook: EBBS.science
Twitter: EBBStweets
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS), European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) invite you to our jointly organised Mini Conference. A variety of topics will be covered focusing on the role of behaviour in Neuroscience and the translatability of animal models to human traits and psychiatric disorders.
In order to attend the 12th FENS Forum 2020 which will be held in Glasgow, UK, 11-15 July 2020, EBBS offers 5 travel awards: 1 for a post-doc and 4 for PhD students.
Awardees will receive € 500 via Bank Transfer after the end of the meeting.
Applicants must be EBBS members at the time of application and in good standing with their membership fees.
Applications for the Travel Fellowship should include:
Members are invited to submit proposals to support an EBBS sponsored International Lecturer at meetings, workshops or summer/winter schools. Applications for small, local meetings are discouraged.
A travel grant of € 700 will be awarded to defray the additional costs of a lecturer from another country.
Applicants (who must be EBBS members at the time of application and in good standing with their membership fees) should provide sufficient details to satisfy the following points:
A brief report on the meeting and the lecture should be submitted after the meeting.
Applications should include a one-page CV of the nominated lecturer. They should be made at least 6 months before the meeting and addressed to the Secretary Antonis Stamatakis (astam@nurs.uoa.gr).
"Brain stroke: why, how and hope"
19-22 April 2020, Rungstedgaard, Denmark
Co-chairs: Costantino Iadecola (Weill Cornell Medicine, United States) and Timothy Murphy (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
Stipends are available (1,000 EUR for international students or early career scientists)
Early application timeframe: 31 October 2019 - 17 January 2020
Regular application timeframe: 18 January 2020 - 12 February 2020
Visit the website
FENS members societies and partners are offering travel grants and stipends for students and early career investigators to support their attendance of the FENS Forum 2020, each organisation has different eligibility criteria and application deadlines
FENS-IBRO/PERC Travel Grants (200 grants available)
Deadline 18 February 2020
Visit the website
FENS members can register for the Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society in 2020 at special rates.
Abstract submission deadline: 26 January 2020
Early bird registration deadline: 26 March 2020
Visit the website
"Artificial and natural computations for sensory perception: what is the link?" 7-13 June 2020, Bertinoro, Italy
Scientific chairs: Brice Bathellier (Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, France), Andrew King (Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Oxford University, UK) and Andreas Tolias (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA)
Application deadline: 3 February 2020 (Midnight, Brussels time/CET)
Visit the website
You can follow EBBS in Facebook and Twitter for scientific news, meeting announcements and funding opportunities.
Facebook: EBBS.science
Twitter: EBBStweets
Our biennial meeting in Prague is already a number of weeks ago, but I still have very fond memories of this event. We again were able to experience a wonderful mixture of excellent science and fruitful discussions among colleagues and friends, and I am very grateful to everybody that worked very hard to make this meeting a success. EBBS meetings are always very special, as particularly at these meetings I have the feeling of belonging to a scientific family, a growing community that does not consist of strangers and competitors, but rather collaborators and friends. I am therefore thrilled and thankful to be leading this great society for the next 2 years.
Looking to the future of EBBS, I first want to announce two events. First, EBBS is co-organizing a one-day symposium immediately prior to the FENS Forum of Neuroscience in Glasgow (see more information below). This will be an outstanding event, where the most exciting concepts and recent findings in behavioural neuroscience will be discussed, and will certainly be a highlight of the FENS meeting. Secondly, I am very happy that Carmen Sandi, past president of EBBS and current president of FENS, agreed to host the next EBBS meeting in 2021 in Lausanne. The preparations for this meeting are already well underway, and the EBBS committee together with the local organizing committee will work very hard to make this meeting a success.
The EBBS as a society and we as its members have the opportunity, but also the obligation, to shape the future of neuroscience and to contribute actively in steering it to the right direction. In this regard there are a number of topics that are especially important to me and that I will emphasize on during my term as President of this society. I am very proud that EBBS has for many years already been a pioneer in equality and gender balance, long before this topic caught more international attention. It is therefore only natural that we continue on this path and fight any sort of bias and inequality in our community. We therefore became an official partner of the ALBA network (http://www.alba.network/) and will further heavily support all initiatives to promote equality and diversity in the brain sciences and beyond.
A second major focus of my term as EBBS president will be the support of young scientists, thereby continuing the efforts of my predecessors Most of us became scientists because of our curiosity and will to understand basic biological processes. However, to be successful in a scientific career is becoming more and more difficult and scientific excellence is often not sufficient to achieve this goal. Especially for a young scientist there are numerous obstacles on the way to a tenured position, and EBBS will do what it can to offer support and guidance to the next generation of behavioural neuroscientists.
Finally, we are all aware of the major challenges that lie ahead of us as society. Societies are changing, the climate is changing, and we cannot ignore these problems and carry on our lives as usually. Is it still appropriate that scientists jet from one small meeting to another across Europe and the world? How can we organize our meetings in the most eco-friendly way and reduce our carbon footprint? What new avenues can we take to promote behavioural neuroscience, break down scientific boundaries, while keeping our identity as society? These are pressing issues and I invite all of you to actively contribute to this discussion by reaching out to me and the other EBBS committee members. Together, I am confident that we will find the best possible solutions.
Kind regards,
EBBS President
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS), European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) invite you to our jointly organised mini conference. A variety of topics will be covered, focusing on the role of behaviour in Neuroscience and the translatability of animal models to human traits and psychiatric disorders.
Registration is open!
Visit the websiteIn order to attend the 12th FENS Forum 2020 which will be held in Glasgow, UK, 11-15 July 2020, EBBS offers 5 travel awards: 1 for a post-doc and 4 for PhD students.
Award winners will receive a cash award of € 500 (after the end of the meeting via Bank Transfer).
All applicants must be EBBS members at the time of application and in good standing with their membership fees.
Applications for the Travel Fellowship should include:
Members are invited to submit proposals for support of an EBBS sponsored International Lecturer at meetings, workshops or summer/winter schools. Applications for small, local meetings are discouraged.
Deadline January 31st, 2019
A travel grant of 700 Euros will be awarded to defray the additional costs of a lecturer from another country.
Applicants (who have to be members of EBBS) should provide sufficient details to satisfy the following points:
Please note that a brief report on the meeting and lecture should be submitted after the meeting.
Applications should include a one-page C.V. of the nominated lecturer. They should be made at least 6 months before the meeting and addressed to the Secretary AntonisStamatakis (astam@nurs.uoa.gr).
You can follow EBBS in Facebook and Twitter for scientific news, meeting announcements and funding opportunities.
Facebook: EBBS.science
Twitter: EBBStweets