From 18-20 January 2023, the 7th HBP Student Conference on Interdisciplinary Brain Research provided an inspiring open forum for collaboration among early-career researchers working in brain and brain-related research. 95 young scientists from 26 countries joined this year’s conference, which after two years again took place in person at the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain. The Programme provided a versatile scientific and social curriculum for the students to enjoy and network. With 72,6 % of participants coming from outside the HBP, the #HBPSC2023 proved again to be a truly open and inclusive encounter and an important moment for young researchers to get together and exchange new ideas.

Insightful keynote lectures focusing on HBP research fields

The #HBPSC2023 Programme Committee consisted fully of early-career researchers from the HBP with varying experience in planning this manifold event. Together they were able, yet again, to design an exciting programme schedule from students for students.

The conference offered five insightful keynote lectures spanning across the research fields of the HBP as well as discussing the future of brain research. #HBPSC2023 kicked off with an insightful talk by Javier de Felipe (Cajal Institute) showcasing the connection between revolutionary scientific methods of the 19th century and updated technologies, and how, with their help, the nature of synapses could be explored. Helen Barbas (Neural Systems Laboratory, Boston University) provided insights into her work to understand why the connections of the prefrontal cortex have distinct implications for executive control, learning and memory, and vulnerability in psychiatric and neurologic diseases and Gaia Novarino (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) presented her research focusing on the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), specifically on ASD-risk genes and mutations leading to their activation. Pawel Swieboda (EBRAINS AISBL) argued in his talk a vision of the future of brain research enabled by EBRAINS and its tools and how especially early-career researchers are at the heart of this effort.

In the field of neuromorphic computing and AI technologies, Emre Neftci (Forschungszentrum Jülich) gave an overview on Spiking Neural Networks using gradient-based methods, which can achieve competitive accuracy and performance compared to Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and how those resulting algorithms can be implemented. The conference was concluded with an inspiring talk from Viktor Jirsa (Aix-Marseille University) on Multiscale brain modelling for clinical translation in EBRAINS.

Attendees discovered EBRAINS tools during interactive workshops

Besides lectures, attendees were invited to delve into different tools offered by the HBP’s EBRAINS Research Infrastructure. Workshops gave an introduction on how to use EBRAINS for specific scientific use cases and provided insights into various tools that can be used for visualization, machine learning etc. The programme was further complemented with workshops on more general themes such as data governance, entrepreneurship, funding related strategies and dual use & misuse issues in neuroscience.

69 students and young researchers presented their own work

The focal point of the conference was the Student Sessions, during which young researchers presented their own work throughout four oral presentation sessions and two poster sessions. 69 abstracts have been accepted for display at the Conference and the young scientists used their presentation and poster slots to give insightful talks on their projects and discuss them with their peers. The abstracts will be made available in post-conference proceedings published by Frontiers.

The HBPSC2023 Programme Committee awarded the best contributions with the #HBPSC2023 Best Talk & Poster Awards. Rachele Fabbri (University of Pisa) received the Best Talk Award for her work on ‘A novel computational platform to simulate the oxygen-dependent firing behaviour of biological neural networks’, while the Best Poster Award was given to Estrella Veiga Zarza (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) for her poster on ‘Brain bases of attitude and preference change motivated by cognitive dissonance: a scoping review’. 

In addition, a People’s Choice Best Abstract Award, selected by the conference participants, was awarded to Hanna Köhler (Jena University Hospital) for her contribution entitled ‘Cortical reorganization in patients with deafferentiation pain after brachial plexus avulsion or amputation‘.

Networking and discussion sessions provided opportunity for extensive dialogue

Finally, the #HBPSC2023 also provided a great forum for informal exchange. An Ask Me Anything Session invited participants to ask everything they ever wanted to know about collaborations and how to foster them. Viktor Jirsa, Michele Migliore and William Knight offered their advice and insights to the next generation of scientists in this popular format. A networking session on Wednesday evening, supported by the EBRAINS Community Building Unit, invited participants not only to exchange and find new collaborations or engage with experts from the HBP and EBRAINS, but also to discuss everyday life topics around research and shared useful tips and advice.

On behalf of the HBP Education Programme and the #HBPSC2023 Programme Committee we want to thank all speakers, workshop hosts and tutors, student presenters and participants for activating their brain and their social plasticity – as conference chair Sandra Diaz put it in her remarks – without them, none of these exciting sessions would have been possible.