Past ENSN Events
2009
SCHOOL, AUSTRIA
ENSN Mini-Neuroschool on Neuroimaging
Vienna, Austria
1-3 April 2009
The topic of this year’s mini-NeuroSchool was social neuroscience and functional neuroimaging. Developments in functional imaging have revealed neurofunctional correlates of various behavioural traits, subjective states and experiences, and diagnoses or pathologies. At the same time, they have given origin to new ways of representing them and have created new ‘objects’ (e.g., functional brain images, hyperactive or hypoactive brain areas, discussion on localisation vs. neuronal networks) that reify these different ways of thinking about human behaviour, diagnoses and experiences. Neuroscientific objects and ways of thinking thus shuttle between the social context and the laboratory. The aim of the “mini-neuroschool” was to assess the rigour and precision of current methodologies and the limitations of experimentation in modern neuroimaging – and to discuss its contextualisation in contemporary society, the uses and practices to which it is put, and the way in which this science affects policy and everyday life.
Applications due: February 20, 2009
Contact: ensn@lse.ac.uk
2008
Our Brains Our Selves - Aarhus Mirror Workshop
Aarhus University, Denmark
Nov 30 - Dec 1, 2008
The European Neuroscience and Society Network hosted a two-day workshop held from November 30 - December 1 in Aarhus, Denmark. Held in conjunction with the 'Global Minds' conference at the University of Aarhus, the event built upon the recent success of our 'Our Brains, Our Selves' workshop at Harvard University. The Aarhus 'Our Brains, Our Selves' workshop mirrored the format and themes of the Harvard event for early-career European researchers. This workshop brought together scholars whose work addresses ethical, legal and social dimensions of neuroscience, and may help us to better understand why it is so vigorously asserted that we are on the cusp of immense changes in human and social forms.
First Interdisciplinary Neuroschool of the European Neuroscience and Society Network
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
Rome, Italy
Sep 29 - Oct 4, 2008
The topic of this year’s NeuroSchool was behavioural genetics. Together, we critically assessed the current methodologies of experimentation in this branch of research and discussed its implications in the context of contemporary society. Lectures covered the history of behavioural genetics, the latest scientific evidence in the field, as well as the history and sociology of psychotropic drugs. Tutors and lecturers included Cornelius Gross (EMBL), Klaus-Peter Lesch (University of Wuerzburg), Nikolas Rose (BIOS, London School of Economics) and Ilina Singh (BIOS, LSE). The NeuroSchool allowed ample opportunities for cross-exchange of data and insights and creative thinking about innovative avenues in the field and fruitful inter-disciplinary collaborations.
Our Brains, Our Selves: Historical and Ethnographic Approaches to the New Brain Sciences
Cambridge MA, May 1-3, 2007
Over two-and-a-half days, about 25 participants from Europe and North America gathered at Harvard University to discuss the ways that grounded, historically contextualized studies of neuroscience contribute to analyzing the ethical problems, individual practices, and social problematics that emerge in relation to the brain sciences. Although this was a meeting of the European Neuroscience and Society Network, the meeting was held in North America for two reasons: first, to promote awareness of the Network and its activities on a global level; and second, to develop connections with scholars across the Atlantic. We view true international discussion and collaboration as essential given the global characteristics of neuroscience research and industry.
Harvard Workshop Program (pdf)
2007
Neurosocieties: The Rise and Impact of the New Brain Sciences
London, Nov 12 - 13, 2007
This meeting marked the inauguration of the European Neuroscience and Society Network, a networking project funded by the European Science Foundation and convened by researchers at the BIOS Centre, London School of Economics. The November meeting was the first in a series of international workshops and conferences bringing together leading neuroscientists, philosophers and social scientists for sustained discussions and cross-disciplinary dialogue on the following themes:
* Neuroscience and society: framing the agenda in Europe
* Public health and the politics of the neurosciences
* Neuroeconomies: markets, choice and the distribution of neurotechnologies
* Sources of the neurochemical self: consciousness, personhood and difference
Neurosocieties Program (pdf) Neurosocieties Report (pdf)
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