Message from the President – Melanie Woodin
Dear Colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to represent the Canadian neuroscience community as the new President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience. Canada has a rich and storied history in neuroscience and I am looking forward to working with all of you to continue that tradition.
Our trainees, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, are the heart of our community. To recognize their important contributions to Canadian neuroscience, I aim to deeply engage with them during my term as President. CAN is proud to support the Canadian Neuroscience Seminars, which are monthly virtual seminars, organized by post-docs and for post-docs. We were also excited to host the first trainee power pitch sessions at the CAN meeting last month, which featured short talks by trainees to promote their poster presentations. Both these opportunities were proposed and organized by CAN trainee members, and CAN is honoured to support them.
CAN also offers support for grass-roots advocacy activities, and most of these are driven by the involvement of trainees. We always welcome submissions for support on our website.
In addition to support for scientific and advocacy activities, we also aim to make our meeting more accessible, through an increasing number of travel awards and the addition, this year, of Conference Childcare, Dependent, or Disability Care Subsidies. We extended the application period by a month after the meeting, as we recognized parents, caregivers and people with disabilities may require more time to apply for support.
Advocacy remains one of CAN’s priorities for the coming year. While we applauded the investments made in the last federal budget, which increased funding for student scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships and included renewed funding for the Brain Canada Foundation, we must continue to advocate for science funding. Further increases in the budgets of CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC are required to support the Canadian science ecosystem, including most trainees who are paid through research grants. Our advocacy team will continue to work to promote and show the importance of increased funding for basic and brain research in Canada. I invite you to get involved with our advocacy team to promote this very important message.
I wish you all a nice Summer and look forward to connecting again in the Fall!
Melanie Woodin
President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience
Election results & New Board members
We are very proud to welcome the following new members of the CAN Board of Directors, starting June 1, 2024
Vice-President
VP-elect
Secretary
Board member
Board member
View the new CAN leadership team here.
CAN AGM
We held our Annual General Meeting of members in Vancouver last month. View the 2024 AGM slide deck for an update on CAN’s activities.
2024 Meeting Highlights
CAN wants to thank and congratulate the CAN 2024 meeting chairs, Stephanie Fulton and Matt Hill on the great success of the meeting, and the excellent scientific program presented.
Public lectures
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience 2024 Public lectures, titled: Cannabis and Psychedelics: Hype or hope for addictions, brain diseases, and mental health took place on May 18, 2024 at the Science World Theater.
The event was organized and hosted by Mark S. Cembrowski, and featured talks by
- Leah Mayo: Psychedelics as new mental health treatments: hype or hope?
- Catharine Winstanley: The puzzle of problem gambling: addiction without the drugs?
- Matthew Hill : Cannabis: Separating fact from myth
We thank the speakers for delivering very engaging talks on timely topics of great interest, the student volunteers who were key to making this a successful event and Mark Cembrowski for organizing an overall great event!
Trainee Power Pitch sessions
Trainee Power Pitch sessions are a new initiative presented at the CAN 2024 meeting, organized by trainees, for trainees. The concept was proposed and organized by J Quinn Lee & Gilberto Rojas Vite. Every day of the CAN 2024 meeting, participants were chosen to present their research in three minutes only, with three slides. These exciting sessions took place just before the afternoon poster session.
We want to congratulate Quinn and Gilberto on the organization, and all the presenters who took up the challenge to share their work!
The Canadian National Brain Bee Showdown
CAN was very happy to host the Final showdown of the Canadian National Brain Bee Showdown at the CAN2024 meeting. This exciting event took place on May 21, 2024, where we got to meet the very impressive top three brain bee winners Brielle Huang (Edmonton), Emily Huang (Waterloo), and Lisa Wei (Winnipeg). Congratulations to all three participants, and to Lisa Wei, who won first place and will represent Canada at the International Brain Bee, which will be held in the Fall.
From the Canadian Brain Bee website
The Canadian National Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for high school students, grades 9 through 12. Students study brain and neuroscience research topics including memory, sleep, intelligence, emotion, perception, stress, aging, brain imaging, neurology, neurotransmitters, genetics, brain disease, and more. To compete in the Canadian National, students must first compete in a regional brain bee competition in Canada. The top place winner of each official regional brain bee will advance to the Canadian National level of competition. Finally, the top place champion of the Canadian National Brain Bee will advance to the next level of competition: the International Brain Bee.
Where and When: The 2024 Canadian National Brain Bee competition was hosted in two exciting phases. Regional brain bee winners were invited to compete in the first phase, which was held virtually on Saturday, April 20, 2024. The top 3 competitors from the first phase (Brielle Huang (Edmonton), Emily Huang (Waterloo), and Lisa Wei (Winnipeg)) won travel and accommodation to compete in the second phase of the Canadian National: the Final Showdown, which was held in person at the 2024 Canadian Association for Neurosciences annual meeting in Vancouver on May 21, 2024.
Learn more on the brainbee.ca website
Advocacy lunch – Power of storytelling
The 2024 CAN advocacy lunch session focused on the power of storytelling to strengthen our advocacy message. Scientists are experts in communicating science with their colleagues, but communicating to the public and decision makers in engaging and enlightening ways is a skill they must also develop. Stories are a powerful tool to engage the public, combat misinformation and increase research funding.
The panelists were
- Duncan McHugh, Digital & Instructional Media Producer | The Learning Centre | lc.landfood.ubc.ca, University of British Columbia
- Kim Hellemans, Assistant Professor and the Associate Dean of Science (Student Recruitment, Wellness and Success) at Carleton University & co-host of the podcast, Minding the Brain. https://science.carleton.ca/profile/dr-kim-hellemans/
- Alireza Kamyabi, Policy analyst in the Office of the Chief Medical Health Officer in Vancouver Coastal Health. https://www.alirezakamyabi.com/
Host: Liisa Galea, co-chair of the CAN Advocacy committee
Dependent care subsidies
CAN is very proud to have provided dependent care subsidies for the CAN meeting. The objective of this program is to help alleviate the financial burdens of childcare or adult dependent care while attending the Canadian Association for Neuroscience meeting for oral or poster presentations. Members who require a travel companion due to their own disability were also eligible for the subsidy.
More meeting highlights and pictures
View the CAN meeting image gallery here
Congratulations!
Caroline Ménard wins the 2024 CAN New Investigator Award for groundbreaking research on stress vulnerability and resilience.
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience is very proud to announce that Dr. Caroline Ménard from Université Laval is the winner of the 2024 CAN New Investigator Award. Her innovative research program is shedding light on the biological mechanisms underlying vulnerability and resilience to stress, with the help of state-of-the-art photonic technology and with the aim of developing pioneer strategies to treat or prevent depression.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 CAN- CIHR-INMHA Brain Star Awards!
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN) and the Canadian Institutes of Health’s Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (CIHR-INMHA) are proud to announce the winners of the 2023 Brain Star Awards.
The CIHR-INMHA Brain Star awards, administered by the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, are awarded to students and trainees who have published high impact discoveries in all fields and disciplines covered by CIHR’s Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction in the 2023 calendar year.
The top 3 Brain Star Award winners of the year made a presentation at the CAN meeting in May. Nina Cluny, Assistant Director of INMHA, presented an overview of the activities of the institute, and presented the three winners at the CAN meeting.
View the profiles of all the winners here
Advocacy
Read CAN’s response to budget 2024
Read our response to the latest federal budget: The Canadian Association for Neuroscience applauds new investments in science and research announced in budget 2024
Interview with CAN President Adriana Di Polo
Read an interview with CAN President Adriana Di Polo published online and included in a special insert in the March 30 Toronto Star: Research is the key to better brain health
Upcoming opportunities
In a recent News release, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance invited Canadians to participate in its annual pre-budget consultations process. The committee will table a report on these consultations in the House of Commons with recommendations to be considered by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the development of the 2025 federal budget.
The submission deadline is August 2, 2024.
Read the call for written briefs here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/FINA/news-release/13216576
CAN outreach and advocacy awards program
The CAN outreach & advocacy awards program aims to support the important work trainees do to promote and showcase neuroscience research and education to a wide audience.
Sponsorships consist of a financial contribution of up to $1000 CAD to support a specific event/activity, a letter of recognition from the CAN advocacy committee, and a feature article about the event on the CAN website and social media accounts. The event/activity does not have to be in-person, but can be virtual, through social media, etc. The requests for the funds should be clearly justified.
If applicable, CAN should be acknowledged as a sponsor / supporter of the activity.
To apply, please visit:
https://can-acn.org/can-trainee-advocacy-outreach-sponsorships/
Opportunities & Resources
Call for nominations – Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
Scientific Directors (SDs) of CIHR Institutes are leaders in their respective fields who champion and support health research, knowledge mobilization, and capacity development at the highest level of scientific excellence. As key representatives of CIHR, they provide scientific leadership and advice, shaping CIHR’s health research priorities and investment strategies with the goal of improving the health of people in Canada and around the world. This role provides an unparalleled opportunity to mentor and train the next generation of health researchers, advocate for researchers, people with lived experience and other partner communities and give back to the health research ecosystem.
Learn more about the role of the Scientific Director.
Read the full Call for nominations here: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/53950.html
Brain Prize nominations
The Brain Prize is currently the world’s largest prize for neuroscience and is awarded each year by the Lundbeck Foundation. The Brain Prize is awarded to one or more individuals who have distinguished themselves by making outstanding contributions in any area of neuroscience- from basic to clinical, and since it was first awarded in 2011 The Brain Prize has recognised 47 scientists from 10 different countries. You can find out more about The Brain Prize here.
Special issue of Philosophical Transactions B entitled Long-term potentiation: 50 years on
Royal Society Publishing has recently published a special issue of Philosophical Transactions B entitled Long-term potentiation: 50 years on organised and edited by Wickliffe C Abraham, Timothy V P Bliss, Graham L Collingridge and Richard G M Morris and the articles can be accessed directly at www.bit.ly/PTB1906.
The Royal Society is also looking for new theme issues. If you are interested in submitting, please Read about the experience of former Guest Editors and download our flyer. Then, if interested, feel free to contact the Commissioning Editor, Helen Eaton: helen.eaton@royalsociety.org.
Upcoming events
View our calendar for a list of upcoming events. Get in touch if you would like your event listed
Neurojobs
View recent advertisements from our website
- Position for a postdoctoral fellowship in neurorehabilitation – Université de Montréal 2024/06/26
- Assistant or Associate Professor in Cardiac Arrhythmias 2024/06/26
- Doctoral student position available in the Descalzi lab at the University of Guelph 2024/06/25
- Postdoctoral Fellowship in Descalzi Lab – University of Guelph 2024/06/25
- MSc, PhD and Postdoc Positions – Sensorimotor circuits for motor control and learning in mice, UQTR 2024/06/21
- Academic MS Neurologist – McMaster University 2024/06/14
- Postdoctoral fellow position in systems neuroscience of memory at the University of Toronto 2024/05/31
- Postdoctoral Positions in Stem Cells and Regenerative Neuroscience – University of Manitoba 2024/04/17
View the neurojobs webpage here: https://can-acn.org/neuro-jobs/
CAN members can submit advertisements for free
Renew your membership or become a member today!
If you have not already done so, we invite you to renew your annual membership or become a member of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, for the 2023-2024 membership year. Your membership helps support our activities which aim to promote neuroscience research and advocate for increased funding for research in Canada.
CAN continuously strives for the betterment of the Canadian Neuroscience community by:
- Advocating for increased funding for basic research in Canada (https://can-acn.org/advocacy/) and supporting grass-roots advocacy initiatives
- Promoting Canadian neuroscientists and neuroscience research, through awards, our website and social media
- Strengthening the Canadian neuroscience community by providing opportunities to connect and network
- Supporting Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Neuroscience in Canada, through the efforts of the CAN-EDI committee, and by supporting grass-roots actions proposed by neuroscientists (https://can-acn.org/equity-diversity-and-inclusivity-in-neuroscience/)
- Developing partnerships to help us achieve our goals – Examples include a Memorandum of Understanding with the Society for Neuroscience, which provides significant funds for advocacy in Canada; with CIHR-INMHA to manage the Brain Star awards; with IBRO and BrightFocus to support participation of underrepresented groups in the CAN meeting through Travel award attribution.
Your membership helps support these initiatives and many more. To learn more about us and the benefits of being a CAN member, please visit: https://can-acn.org/become-a-member/
CAN membership is open to all scientists, principal investigators and students actively involved in neuroscience research from across Canada and around the world. CAN membership dues are paid annually and cover the calendar year from September 1st to August 31st.
We hope we can count on your participation and support this year!
Save the dates – Next Canadian Neuroscience Meeting May 21-25, 2025 in Toronto
18th Canadian Neuroscience Meeting
May 21-25, 2025 in Toronto
Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels
