Neuroscience@Nottingham Day 2026

The Neuroscience@Nottingham Day took place on 8th January 2026 in the Sir Clive Granger Building at University Park. This year's event was organised by colleagues from the University of Nottingham (Silvia Maggi and Michael Okun), with support from Nottingham Trent University. The event attracted around 140 neuroscientists from across the twoNottingham universities. 

We were delighted to welcome two distinguished keynote speakers: Peggy Seriès (Professor of Computational Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh), who spoke on the emerging field of computational psychiatry, and Vladyslav Vyazovskiy (Professor of Sleep Physiology, University of Oxford), who presented his research on local and global regulation of sleep across species.

Throughout the day, eight short talks were delivered by early-career and senior researchers from both universities, covering topics ranging from molecular and cellular neuroscience to translational and clinical research. Several speakers remarked on the impressive breadth of neuroscience research represented across the programme.

 

The event would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors and exhibitors. Nine companies contributed to this year's meeting, and together with funding from the British Neuroscience Association, Nottingham Trent University, and the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, we raised £5,300 to cover the costs of the day. Two sponsors also presented during the morning session, showcasing their products and services to the neuroscience community.

The poster session was a highlight of the day, with 30 posters on display covering the full breadth of neuroscience research — from molecular and cellular mechanisms to cognitive, computational, and clinical studies. The quality of work presented was exceptional, making judging a challenge. Prizes were awarded to:

 

1st place (£50): Patricia Radu (School of Psychology, UoN) — Psilocybin and reversal learning: initial dose finding study in male and female Lister hooded rats.

2nd place (£35): Will Dixon (Computer Science, UoN) — When Imaging Meets Modulation: Building a Closed-loop Near-infrared Neuromodulation System.

Joint 3rd place (£20 each): Anya Snary (Institute of Health and Allied Professions, NTU) — Astrocytic STAT3 activation precedes neuronal degeneration in a proteotoxic mouse model; and James Read-Tannock (School of Psychology, UoN) — Graph-theoretic comparisons of structural covariance networks: quantifying a false discovery rate. 

Cross-institutional collaboration between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University remains a central aim of the event, fostering connections and new research partnerships across the Nottingham neuroscience community. 

Further information: Neuroscience@Nottingham: https://sites.google.com/view/nottsneurosci