News from the British Neuroscience Association: February 2012

13 Feb 2012 -

Dear Member

FENS Forum 2012 - abstract and earlybird registration deadline extended
You have a couple more days to submit an abstract to the FENS Forum meeting to be held in July 2012 in Barcelona.  The earlybird registration and abstract submission deadline has been extended to midnight on Wednesday 15th February.  Click here to register.  Student members of the BNA are able to apply for travel stipends to attend this meeting (T&C apply) - details can be found here.

Survey about Animal Licences
The BNA is becoming increasingly concerned by anecdotal comments that application to the Home Office for animal procedure licences is taking too long and is beginning to interfere with research project planning.  Before a constructive dialogue can be held with the Home Office Inspectorate, we are seeking examples of good service, as well as poor service, from our members.  A simple survey has been prepared and can be accessed here.  If you are a current holder of a personal or project licence, or are in the process of applying for a licence, please complete the survey - it won't take more than 5 minutes of your time.  Thanks for your assistance.

Neuroscience work placements
Several student members of the BNA have asked whether the BNA can help them to find Summer vacation work experience placements.  We are intending to compile a list of laboratories who offer placements/schools, and if your lab. is prepared to offer keen students the chance to gain a few weeks' practical experience please contact the BNA Office.

European Neuroscience Schools Programme 2012
A number of training opportunities are now available, including:
    April 15-20, 2012.  Drugs and the Brain: an update in psychopharmacology from experimental to clinic.  Braga, Portugal.
    June 3-10, 2012.  Evolution of concepts on pain.  Siena, Italy.
    July 30-August 24, 2012. Advanced course in computational neuroscience.  Bedlewo, Poland.
There are several other courses/schools and details can be found here. 

BNA membership cards
Some members might remember that credit card-sized membership cards were issued for a couple of year, ending in 2010.  We have been asked by a couple of members whether we are intending to repeat issuing cards.  Our view is that the cards are expensive to produce and as members can now access and manage their own records online it would simply be a waste of member fees.  Please remember that you can easily access your membership number from the BNA homepage, and if you have any problems Louise in the BNA Office will be happy to assist.  

Missing addresses
There are still a few members who will not have received a copy of the recent BNA Bulletin because the details we hold for them are no longer correct.   If you did not receive a copy of the Bulletin in December/January please contact the BNA Office and we'll help you to update your record.   The BNA Bulletins are available for download here as pdf documents.

Finally, we have uploaded a link to the Proceedings of the Biennial meeting held in Harrogate in April 2011.  This can be found by clicking the 'Publications' tab on the home page and selecting 'BNA Meetings'.  We are hoping to backfill this page with abstracts from previous meetings and proceedings of future BNA meetings will be posted here.

If you have any comments or suggestions for meetings, events, publications etc. please do not hesitate to contact your membership team.

With best wishes.

Dr Ian M Varndell
Acting Chief Executive
e.  ian.varndell@bna.org.uk 

FENS 2012 - Abstract submission deadline and Travel Stipends

18 Jan 2012 -

Dear Member

The 8th FENS Forum to be held in Barcelona is just six months away, and the prospect of warm sunshine and great neuroscience is very appealing!

A major date is now approaching - the deadline for abstract submission is midnight on the 5th February 2012.  The programme is spectacular (see http://forum.fens.org/2012), and it is important that as many researchers as possible will submit abstracts for the poster sessions which are central to the success of the meeting.  A number of Fellowships are available from FENS and IBRO and details of how to apply can be found on the FENS Forum website.

The BNA is also delighted to offer Travel Stipends to qualifying members of the BNA to attend the FENS Forum in Barcelona.  The following criteria apply:

·  the applicant must have been a member of the BNA for AT LEAST six months prior to making an application

·  the applicant must NOT have received a bursary from the BNA in the preceding 12 months

·  the applicant must be registered as an undergraduate or as a postgraduate or have been awarded their PhD no earlier than 2011

·  be registered for the FENS Forum meeting

·  have applied and submitted a poster/oral presentation (see deadline above)

The maximum amount of each stipend is likely to be GBP500 (EURO570) and is intended to be used to assist towards travel and accommodation costs. 

Deadline for receipt of applications is 1st April 2012.  Successful applicants will be informed by 1st May 2012.  

Please contact the BNA Office should you wish to receive more information and to request an application form.

I hope as many BNA members as possible will attend the FENS Forum and I look forward to seeing you there.

Dr Ian M Varndell
Acting Chief Executive
ian.varndell@bna.org.uk 

News from the British Neuroscience Association: January 2012

10 Jan 2012 -

Dear Member

A very Happy New Year from the BNA!

2011 ended with a festive Christmas Symposium at the Royal Society, London.  Around 200 members enjoyed an excellent series of talks on the theme, 'Food, Glorious Food' followed by an animated panel discussion with the speakers chaired by BNA President-Elect Russell Foster.  Our thanks go to the speakers - Tony Goldstone, Sadaf Farooqi, Marion Hetherington, Charles Spence and Julian Mercer for preparing the audience so well for the excesses of Christmas!  Awards* were presented to Sir Gabriel Horn (Contribution to Neuroscience), Oliver Sacks MD (Public Understanding of Neuroscience - accepted by Professor Jonathan Cole) and to Owen Thomas (2010 Undergraduate Prize), Kate Clarke (2011 Undergraduate Prize), Joseph Norris (2011 Special Commendation) and Dr Christian Munch (2011 Postgraduate Prize).  The event ended with a wine and mince pie reception.

*Details of the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Awards can be accessed here.

BNA Bulletin
All BNA members should have received a copy of the BNA Bulletin (issue 64) in the last two weeks.  If your copy has not arrived please contact Louise Tratt (office@bna.org.uk) and she will try to investigate why delivery has failed.  Don't forget that you can now login to your own details to amend your address, email etc. and to write a Personal Profile.  Contact Louise if you need assistance with membership matters.  Our sincere thanks go to Yvonne Allen and Kate Haddley (University of Liverpool) for their excellent editorial work with issue 64, to Bulletin designer Heidi Massey, and to Anne Cooke who stepped down as BNA Bulletin Editor earlier in 2011.  If you would like to write something for the next BNA Bulletin (copy deadline is 30th March 2012) please contact BNAbulletin@bna.org.uk with your suggestions.  The Editors are looking for:

• research articles and reports
• meeting/conference reports
• letters to the Editor (your views on any aspect of UK neuroscience)
• Local group and Public Engagement event summaries
• photographs and drawings
• poems, quizzes and fun items

Calendar
Some of you might have noticed that a Neuroscience Calendar link has been added to the BNA website - located in the left hand vertical panel just below the BNA/Support Us logo.  We are beginning to populate the calendar with meetings, events, deadlines etc relevant to neuroscientists working in the UK and we encourage you to submit items for inclusion in the calendar.  The information to appear on the calendar needs to be fairly simple, including date, venue, time, title, speaker(s) and organiser contact details.  We may be able to hyperlink from the calendar to the event, but please note that it might take up to 48h to add an item depending on workload.  Items for inclusion should be sent to the BNA Office.

Local Groups
Around 20 of the BNA's Local Group Representatives (LGRs) held a Forum shortly before the Christmas Symposium last month to discuss ways to improve communication between the BNA and our members, as well as making suggestions for improvements to membership, the website, to meetings and to strategy.  Several suggestions from that meeting are in progress, but a recent improvement has been made to the website by adding a Local Group Selector to the 'My Membership' page.  All BNA members are encouraged to register with at least one Local Group so that you can be kept informed of what's going on in your geographical region.  New members have to select a Local Group as part of their membership application process, and existing members can now login and select to join one or more Local Groups.  We have backfilled this data for a large number of existing members but errors or omissions are likely to be frequent, so please take a moment to login and select a Local Group or two.  You should hear from your LGR(s) about seminars and neuroscience events in your area.

and finally...Congratulations go to....
Professor Trevor Robbins FRS, Past President of the BNA, for being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Honours List for services to medical research.  This award is richly deserved and is excellent news for British neuroscience.

With best wishes.

Dr Ian M Varndell
Acting Chief Executive, BNA
ian.varndell@bna.org.uk