CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
2010 ENSN NEUROSCHOOL
Oct 3rd-8th 2010
Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Würzburg, Germany
We are delighted to announce the third edition of our series of
interdisciplinary Neuroschools. This year we will continue to explore
the societal aspects of behavioural genetics, in particular genetic
studies of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression and
attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Behaviour and psychiatric conditions are currently assessed through a
set of co-circulating methods including animal models, behaviour
rating scales and biological markers, developed to identify pathology
and in the effort to design improved therapeutic medications.
Increasingly, behaviour is reduced to brain-based operations,
instantiating a division between biology and culture, mechanism and
context, brain and biography and marginalising a richer, inner-
subjective and ethical complex of meaning, personal history and
agency. However, mental illness is first and foremost a subjectively
experienced condition, deeply rooted in culture and social dynamics.
We will address the following questions:
How can complex behaviours be isolated and measured in the laboratory,
especially using animal models?
What are the intrinsic difficulties in defining the phenotypes to be
investigated?
What are the difficulties in including phenomenological aspects of
mental illness into a genetics experiment and and how can we resolve
those?
What are the current tools available to measure genetic variation
among individuals?
What tensions between vital and social norms define what is considered
to be 'pathological'?
We invite applications from graduate students and early to mid-career
research fellows in the disciplines of biology, neuroscience,
sociology, anthropology, psychology and history/philosophy of science
for a one week long period in the laboratory to attend seminars,
participate in laboratory'practicals' and focus groups, and to present
each other's work.
The school aims to help participants delineate their shared,
unresolved questions, think creatively about their work, start
fruitful collaborations, and explore the many known and yet unknown
interfaces between neuroscience and society. Students are selected on
the basis of their outstanding academic achievements, their research
interests and their aspirations to break through disciplinary
barriers.
During the school participants are asked to suggest a bold and
innovative, yet feasible, research project with societal relevance
incorporating sound methodologies and a variety of expertise in the
attempt to address timely and unresolved issues at the interface
between neuroscience and society. The present faculty assesses
projects on the basis of their justifiability, novelty and feasibility
and the winning team is given the chance to perform the experiment in
an ENSN host laboratory.
This year lectures and laboratory practicals will be hosted in the
Department of Psychiatry at the Univesity of Wuerzburg headed by ENSN
member Dr. Klaus-Peter Lesch. http://www.psychobiologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/
Detailed programme and application forms can be found on our website:
http://www.neurosocieties.eu/Neuroschools/WurzburgNeuroSchool/Wurzburg2010.htm
The deadline for applications for our 2010 NeuroSchool has been
extended until June 7th, 2010. The ENSN Neuroschools are very
rewarding experiences and have been given rave reviews from previous
attendees.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with lead tutor
Giovanni Frazzetto at g.frazzetto from lse.ac.uk or to us at
ensn from lse.ac.uk.
Best,
Caitlin Connors, on behalf of the
European Neuroscience and Society Network
