OUTSTANDING SERVICE PRIZE !
ECR EVENT !
You can find all previous newsletters in the newsletter archive.
Registration is now open for ACNS 2023 in Sydney!
Dear Colleagues, Students, Distinguished Guests, Valued Sponsors, and Supporters,
It is our pleasure to invite you to the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society (ACNS), this year taking place in Sydney, one of the world’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities. The conference will be held from November 27th to November 30th, 2023, at the University of Sydney’s Abercrombie Business School, a stunning architectural masterpiece within walking distance of public transport, local bars and cafes. Sydney offers a wide range of attractions and vibrant nightlife. From the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, world-class beaches and national parks, to a plethora of bars, restaurants, and music venues, Sydney has something for everyone.
The conference will be an in-person event with a hybrid option available for those who need it. In addition, we will be piloting a new satellite hubs initiative to be more inclusive of ACNS members who would otherwise have to travel long distances (details coming soon!). As in previous years, the ACNS conference will bring together leading researchers and practitioners in cognitive neuroscience to share their latest research findings and insights. The conference will cover a range of topics, including cognitive and computational neuroscience, cognitive psychology, neuroscience of perception, and more. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with peers, engage in interactive discussions, and attend keynote speeches by renowned experts.
We are very grateful for the support from our sponsors, without whom the conference would not be possible, and we look forward to seeing you in Sydney!
– Thomas Carlson
On behalf of the local organising committee:
Muireann Irish, Anina Rich, Tijl Grootswagers, and Reuben Rideaux
Register for the 2023 ACNS Conference
We also thank the sponsors for this year’s event:
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
We are so excited to announce the recipient of the latest ACNS Outstanding Service Prize: Prof Paul Dux
Paul has an open and inclusive approach and has helped many ACNS members with career and research advice. Paul exemplifies much of what ACNS values: getting things done with integrity.”
I was a PhD student of the early 00s when cognitive neuroscience was really taking off across the world. I feel passionate about the field and, since its inception, ACNS has played such an important role in facilitating science in Australia. ACNS is a dynamic and progressive society and I was very proud to be elected its president in 2020. Obviously my term was heavily impacted by the covid pandemic and I was inspired by the committee’s efforts to support our members. Times were tough, but ACNS stood up. To see us all back together in 2022 and to collaborate with EPC and OHBM was immensely satisfying and really reflected collegiality in our field at its best. I’m so humbled to receive the ACNS Outstanding Service Prize and accept it on behalf of the many individuals who have played such a crucial role over the last few years. – Paul Dux
Congratulations! Paul will be presented with his Prize at the AGM at this year’s conference in Sydney.
Nominations for the Outstanding Service Prize are accepted year-round and have no closing date. Do you know someone who has gone above-and-beyond for ACNS? Please consider nominating them – we don’t accept self-nominations for this Prize, so show someone you’ve noticed how much they’ve served our Society! Details can be found here.
Title: Publishing in Academia: Reading between the lines
Date: Thursday 7th September 12pm – 1pm AEST
Register Link: https://uqz.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_E0n8nHMcTmyWkxUBnlkMSA#/registration
Description: As an early-career researcher, the process of getting your work published can often seem challenging and mysterious. For better-or-worse, publishing in reputable journals can significantly influence the impact of your research and ultimately your academic career success. This webinar will take a multifaceted look at the process of academic publishing, including some opportunities, tips, and tricks that can help you to put your best foot forward within the current systems.
Join Professor Simine Vazire (Professor of Psychology Ethics and Wellbeing at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences), Adjunct Professor Ginny Barbour (Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Journal of Australia, Director of Open Access Australasia, Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology), and Dr Will Harrison (UQ Amplify Lecturer and Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, UQ. Editor of i-Perception) for some publishing ‘between the lines’ insight.
Member Profile – Daniele Scanzi
Please tell us who you are, your institution and your title
Daniele Scanzi (he/him), PhD Candidate, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Tell us a little about yourself, and your research interests
Kia ora! I’m a first-year PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience. Originally from Bergamo (Italy), I moved to New Zealand in 2018. After a couple of years in Wellington, I found my way to Auckland where I got into studying cognitive neuroscience under the guidance of Prof. Paul Corballis. My PhD focuses on employing EEG to understand visual attention and awareness. Specifically, I want to unpack more the neural signatures of attention. Moreover, I like to keep myself busy and am working on a few other research projects, spanning from technical EEG simulations to applying network neuroscience and microstates in EEG.
What are your interests outside of neuroscience?
I am a magician. Yup, I performed for around 10 years in Italy doing various shows – on the streets, at parties and in theatres. Although I’m not performing as much anymore, I still love to show tricks to people, especially if they are scientists. I find nothing funnier than seeing researchers trying to analyse what I’m doing as it is an experiment, coming up with the most complicated hypothesis, and being wrong.
Funny enough, it was my interest in magic that got me interested in psychology during my undergrad. Having learnt how to manipulate people’s perception of reality, I wanted to understand the psychological basis of magic tricks. Also, now you might understand why I’m interested in attention and awareness.
If you see me during a conference and you recognize me, feel free to ask for a trick!
If you’d like to see some magic, here’s a video of an old performance of mine (It’s in Italian, but the words are not really important): www[dot]youtube[dot]com/watch?v=Naj6pttO73w
Can you tell us about an event you’re organising that you think our members would be interested in?
I am one of the organisers of a series of fortnightly seminars where University of Auckland researchers involved in cognitive neuroscience present their studies or topic of interest. This is an excellent way for us to stay in touch and be a community. Every now and then we also get speakers from outside the university, and it is always exciting to hear about the research happening in other research centres. If you ever be in Auckland and you would like to meet other fellow neuroscientists and present your research, get in touch!
Are you interested in setting up some new collaborations? What would you like to collaborate on, and how can people contact you if they’re interested?
Definitely! Collaborations have been the best part of this first year as a PhD student. I’m pretty into creating communities of researchers, especially early-career, so anything related to this would be cool.
If people want to contact you, how should they do so? Do you have any social media profiles people can follow?
You can contact me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniele-scanzi/
I’m also happy to receive emails at: daniele.scanzi@auckland.ac.nz
Or you can go through my website: https://danielescanzi.netlify.app/
Exec Member Profile – Tijl Grootswagers
Dr. Tijl Grootswagers
ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience
The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development
School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences
Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
ACNS Environmental Working Group Lead (outgoing)
Tell us a little about your role in the Society, and any recent updates on activities
In 2018, I joined the ACNS exec committee as the general member. During that year, we established the Environment Working Group, which I have led since. The working group identified critical areas for enhancing the sustainability of our society. I then presented these initiatives to the exec committee and the annual conference organizing committees, advocating for their implementation.
After four years of service as the Environment Working Group lead, I have recently stepped down from this role. As we seek a successor, I encourage anyone who shares a passion for saving the environment and a motivation for championing sustainability within ACNS to connect with us. You can reach out via acns@acns.org, or feel free to contact me directly if you have any inquiries about this role.
Have you been working on something really exciting recently? Can you tell us about it?
Absolutely, I’ve been exploring the realm of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which I think bring a few useful new tools for cognitive neuroscientists. As AI now can be used to create seemingly authentic entities like human faces or original artworks. However, they do come with noticeable imperfections, restrictions, and biases. I have been working on figuring out how we can leverage AI-generated stimuli to probe human behaviour and brain responses. The most interesting result to me was that even though untrained observers cannot easily distinguish AI-generated stimuli from real images, their neural responses tell a different story. To hear more, come to our AI-symposium at this year’s conference!
If people want to contact you, how should they do so? Do you have any social media profiles people can follow?
Yes, do reach out via email (t.grootswagers@westernsydney.edu.au) or find me on the socials.
Making Jupyter Notebooks FAIR – ARDC
The Jupyter Notebook is an open-source, browser-based tool for creating virtual lab notebooks that document research workflows, code, data and visualisations. It is ideal for interactive data science and scientific computing across disciplines, supporting programming languages including Python, R, Julia and a few others. But despite this, there are several challenges in making them findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) to the benefit of both the creators and users.
See here for a practical guide to making your notebooks FAIR.
Sick of Twitter? Want to move to BlueSky?
If you are part of the science or medical twitter community seeking a BlueSky invite, please fill out this form. Your information will be deleted from this form after you receive an invite. Got an invite code to share? You can share it here.
From a statistical mistakes guide to how to write a lab handbook, eLife compiled some of our most useful guides and advice for academics here
- 22 persuasive communication devices that you should watch out for when writing or reading a research article
- A lab handbook can help with the day-to-day challenges of running a lab and promote a positive culture
- Every lab has its own procedures and philosophy, and an onboarding package with a few key elements can help new members settle in.
- Guidance for conducting and reporting studies using multiple analysts for more reproducible results.
- Ten common statistical mistakes when writing or reviewing a manuscript
- 7 actions that academic institutions and departments can take to improve their science training
- Guide for writing anti-racist tenure and promotion letters
The School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering seeks to appoint an established research leader in Computer Science who shows strong accomplishment in database management systems and data management technology, or related areas. See here for details.
Assistant Professor, Princeton Psychology, USA
Princeton Psychology is hiring this year. We welcome applicants whose research is interdisciplinary or spans across subfields. Research methods and topics can include (but are not limited to): novel computational approaches, cross-cultural research, natural language processing, perception, development, learning and memory, relationships, affect, social interaction, and how these processes operate in real life contexts. The successful applicant must have an active program of research and be prepared to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology. PhD expected. See here for details.
Assistant Professor, University of British Colombia, Canada
We are seeking applicants with strong research records appropriate to a research-oriented doctoral program. We are looking for outstanding candidates in any area of quantitative psychology. Applicants should have research interests that complement existing strengths in the department (psych.ubc.ca/people). The successful candidate will be expected to maintain a program of scholarly research that leads to publication, conduct effective undergraduate and graduate teaching and research supervision, and contribute to departmental service. See here for details.
Postdoc Recruitment Event, Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI), USA
The BHI Postdoc Recruitment Event is a two-day event, designed for PhD or MD/PhD students and current post-docs looking for postdoctoral training in basic, translational, and clinical research in neuroscience and connect them with Rutgers faculty interested in recruiting post-docs. We will select up to 20 highly qualified candidates to attend this all-expenses-paid event. We are particularly interested in candidates from groups underrepresented in biomedical and health sciences. Apply by September 30, 2023 at https://forms.gle/Xx9yq8gj4uUPHWdk6 or contact us bhi@bhi.rutgers.edu. Selected candidates will be notified by October 2023 and, soon after, we will help make your travel arrangements to visit Rutgers.
Neuropsychopharmacology seeking submissions from Early Career Commentaries
This article type offers opportunities for trainees and early-stage investigators (within 10 years of terminal research degree or residency and have not had R01 or equivalent) to share their scientific ideas and perspectives.
Topics can include journal-club style commentaries, research perspectives and opinions, comments on current issues, dueling opinions, or another focus.
See here for more information
IBRO Travel Grants
The IBRO Travel Grant program aims to foster neuroscience research by providing support to early-career Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows from diverse geographical and scientific areas who wish to participate in international neuroscience meetings and events taking place in 2024.
See here for more information
AINSE WISE School & Mentorship Program
AINSE Ltd., with support from ANSTO, are hosting our seventh educational school for first-year undergraduate women in STEM, with an emphasis on their career opportunities within nuclear science and engineering. The AINSE WISE School provides an ideal opportunity for students to network with their peers from across Australia and New Zealand and to hear from special guest speakers about their journeys to successful careers in STEM.
See here for details
Students of Brain Research (SOBR) is an academic and social network that facilitates knowledge and skill development between students across Australia with an interest in brain research. Our members study across the many fields associated with brain research, including cellular and molecular neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry, neurogenetics, behavioural neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neuropharmacology and more.
SOBR’s membership drive for 2023 is now open! You can join now for free – and get exclusive access to the SOBR Symposium, SOBR Dinner, and online networking/education opportunities.
You can check us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook – just search for ‘SOBR’
Australasian Brain Stimulation Society (ABSS) conference
Abstracts are now open for the 2023 Australasian Brain Stimulation Society (ABSS) conference to be held in Sydney this November (8am – 5pm on Sunday 26th November, and from 8am – 12pm on Monday; immediately preceding the ACNS conference). The conference will bring together researchers from a range of diverse backgrounds in the field of brain stimulation to share and discuss their latest research. The ABSS encourages abstracts for both oral and poster presentations related to brain stimulation, as broadly defined, and including basic, clinical, and cognitive science. Brain stimulation research in both humans and animal models is welcomed. We encourage abstracts from all career levels including students, EMCRs, and senior investigators. We also welcome submissions of work where data collection is still being finalised; abstracts and titles can be updated prior to the conference.
Brain Connectivity Workshop
Founded in 2002, the Brain Connectivity Workshop (BCW) is an annual international meeting for in-depth discussions of all aspects of brain connectivity research. By bringing together experts in computational neuroscience, neuroscience methodology and experimental neuroscience, it aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between anatomical connectivity, brain dynamics and cognitive function. These workshops have a unique format, featuring only short presentations followed by intense discussion.
This year’s workshop is co-organised by Wellcome, putting the spotlight on brain connectivity in mental health disorders. We look forward to having you join us for this exciting, thought-provoking and inclusive event.
Date: 20-21 September, 2023
Event timings: The meeting will start online at 09.30 and finish at 18.00 on day 1. Day 2 will start at 09.00 and finish at 17.00. All times are British Summer Time (BST).
Location: Virtual attendance only.
Maths in the Brain Workshop 2023
Innovations in the application of mathematical methods in neuroscience. After a successful launch in 2019, this year Maths in the Brain will expand and bring together researchers across Australia with a shared interest in understanding the brain from a quantitative perspective. Leading experts will meet in person to present their latest work on mathematical modelling of brain structure and function to understand how disease affects the brain and how coordinated brain activity gives rise to perception and cognition.
The event is sponsored by the Brain Mapping and Modelling Research Program of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. Early career researchers will have an opportunity to present their work.
Date: 23 October 2023
Location: This is an in-person meeting located at:
Monash College, 750 Collins St, Docklands, VIC 3008
Call for abstracts (closes 2nd October 2023)
We are now accepting abstract submissions for the ECR session. Submitted abstracts will be presented in the poster session and the highest quality abstracts will be selected for the Flash Talk session. Registration is free and abstract submissions close on 2nd October 2023. Submit your abstract here.
Register for free.
Four-day educational course in Laminar fMRI
This course will provide an introduction to fMRI of cerebral cortical layers, and will provide didactic lectures spanning neuroscientific background, high-resolution fMRI data acquisition and analysis, interpretation, and publication, focused on the practicalities of conducting a successful experiment, as well as hands-on training in data analysis. It is designed for beginners who are new to laminar fMRI, however researchers at all experience levels are welcome!
Date: October 2-5, 2023
Location: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, MA, USA. The course will be offered in-person, onsite at MGH, however there is a remote option available.
Course webpage, lecture topics, schedule, and registration: https://education.martinos.org/workshop-on-laminar-fmri/
Registration closes September 17; the number of attendees is limited.
For more information: email us questions at laminarfmricourse@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
‘Re-branding’ event at Melbourne Uni Cognitive Neuroscience Hub
At this event, we will unveil our new brand identity and showcase the extensive scope of research conducted by the hub. Celebrate with us through engaging presentations by in-house and international experts in the field, student flash talks and stimulating panel discussions. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or simply curious about the field, this event offers a unique opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and learn from experts in the field.
Join us as we celebrate this milestone and discover the latest advancements in cognitive neuroscience! See here for details
Free MRI, NMR and Diffusion Symposium and Workshop, Western Sydney University
This event showcases innovation in NMR analysis, imaging and data processing methodology, highlighting applications across a range of research fields, with a particular focus on the environmental, ecological, agricultural and veterinary sciences.
Date: September 13
Register here
Psychosis Australia Conference and Workshops
Two innovative workshops available. 1) Lived Experience – The Biomedical Model Vs Open Dialogue: This one-day workshop led by Satu Beverley discusses the effectiveness of the treatment of mental illness under the Biomedical Model and Open Dialogue. 2) Researchers – 3 part workshop chaired by Prof Christos Pantelis: Multi-axial Profile Scores (MAPS): A Fingerprinting Framework for Improving Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders, Multiblock Partial Least Squares Correlations: Identifying brain-cognition patterns in schizophrenia, and Dynamic Causal Modelling for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Date: September 11-13
See here for details
