News

Join us on LinkedIn

The International Neuroethics Society is now on LinkedIn!  We have started a members only group to expand your networking experience.  Be able to participate in discussion boards about Neuroethics news, job openings, research positions,  topics you’re interested in, etc.  Search “International Neuroethics Society” in the “Groups” search tab and you can request to join the group.  All posts are regulated by the INS Administrator to make sure content is relevant and appropriate. 

Penn Neuroscience Boot Camp, July 30 - August 8, 2012

The Penn Neuroscience Boot Camp is designed to give participants a basic foundation in cognitive and affective neuroscience and to equip them to be informed consumers of neuroscience research.  Through a combination of lectures, break-out groups, panel discussions and laboratory visits, participants will gain an understanding of the methods of neuroscience and key findings on the cognitive and social-emotional functions of the brain, lifespan development and disorders of brain function.

Each lecture will be followed by extensive Q&A. Break-out groups will allow participants to delve more deeply into topics of relevance to their fields. Laboratory visits will include trips to an MRI scanner, an EEG/ERP lab, and a transcranial magnetic stimulation lab. Participants will also have access to an extensive online library of copyrighted materials, including classic and review articles and textbook chapters in cognitive and affective neuroscience.

Please see this link for more information: http://neuroethics.upenn.edu/bootcamp.html 

Brain Matters 3: Values at the Crossroads of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, October 24-25, 2012, Cleveland Ohio

Symposium Organizers: Paul J Ford, PhD & Imad Najm, MD, PhD

Brain Matters 3 follows in the tradition of the two previous brain matters conferences in fostering further development in the field of NeuroEthics. Although abstracts will be elicited for presentations on a broad spectrum of NeuroEthics Research, the primary themes of the plenary talks for the conference address ethical dilemmas in the treatment and research for conditions with neurological symptomatology but that are without identifiable biological correlates/causes. The conditions of interest are often framed as medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), non-specific etiologies (NoS), or purely psychological. These diagnoses include, but are not limited to, chronic pain disorders, psychogenic movement disorders, conversion disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia. The complexities of suffering and disability experienced by individuals with these conditions are significant; including exposure to dangerous and futile treatments. Among clinicians, disagreement continues over which aspects of these conditions are “all in one's head,” either literally or figuratively. Hidden value assumptions about causation permeate research studies and clinical decisions, and effect underlying treatment and care of patients. These assumptions have significant influence on the obligations, roles, and entitlements for patients and health care providers. Patients who suffer from these conditions are “orphaned” by specialties and largely ignored in bioethics discussions. Research abstracts will be solicited both for oral presentations as well as poster presentations.

Plenary Speakers Include: 

Lisa Andermann, MD, MA   University of Toronto

Grant Gillett, MD, PhD  University of Otago (New Zealand)

Ben Greenberg, MD, PhD  Brown Unversity

Mark Hallett, MD  Human Motor Control Section, NIH

Siri Hustvedt, PhD   International Author

W. Curt LaFrance, MD  Brown University

Carmen Paradis, MD, MA  Cleveland Clinic

Markus Reuber, MD, PhD University of Sheffield (UK)

Col. E. “Cam” Ritchie, MD, MPH US Army

Jeffrey Schwartz, MD UCLA

Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, Rome, Italy    Neurobioethics: Summer Course of Bioethics 2012
Neurobioethics: The Human Person at the center of Neuroscience

The 2012 Summer Course in Bioethics organized by the Faculty of Bioethics and the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum will be held on July 2nd through July 13th.  The topic of the course will be: “Neurobioethics: The Human Person at the center of Neuroscience, Ethics, Law and Society”.

The new discipline of Neurobioethics makes use of empirical sciences in a continuous dialogue and partnership with the humanities, and pays particular attention to both neuroscientific data and the ethical, social and legal implications entailed in this area of knowledge and its applications, since it has been shown that they might affect the very concept of human person.

The aims of the course are:

• Provide professionals and scholars from various fields with a methodology that would include a multi and interdisciplinary approach to ethical issues of the neurosciences and to neuroscience of ethics.

• Encourage discussion and internal debate on the most relevant issues, using a thorough analysis and criticism of the neuroscientific data.

• Integrate this methodology in an anthropological and philosophical framework, according to a personalistic vision.

• Search forms of "integration" of knowledge and their applications, each person being "a biological, psychological, social, spiritual unit and a whole," even when frail, ill or close to natural death.

Among others, the following topics will be addressed:

1. Anatomy and physiology of the nervous system

2. History of neuroscience

3. Models of philosophy of mind

4. Science and philosophy of consciousness

5. Neurotechnologies applied to the study of consciousness and its disorders; transhumanism

6. Psychiatry and Neuroscience

7. Therapy of nervous system disease and brain manipulation: DBS and cognitive enhancement

8. Brain death

9. Neuro-morality and neuroscience of virtues

10. Neuroaesthetics

11. Neurolaw: bio-psycho-social predisposition to antisocial behavior and psychopathy

The topics will be covered by teachers of the faculty, members of the Neurobioethics Group sponsored by the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights and the Science and Faith Institute and by international scholars.  In addition to regular lectures and meetings, group activities for further reflection and discussion on selected topics, encouraging the active participation of all course participants, will also be offered.

The course is divided into two thematic modules. Each participant can attend the entire course or only one of the two modules. Participants will receive a certificate of attendance. The course is addressed to all persons interested in issues of bioethics, health operators, teachers and graduates of all disciplines. Master or doctoral students regularly enrolled at the Faculty in Bioethics (CE001 and CE002, respectively, for the first and the second module) can participate at no charge: they will be accredited with 3 credits (4 ECTS) for each module if they pass the written exam corresponding to their academic curriculum. A written test, which will take place at the end of each module, is assigned.

See http://www.uprait.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=details&id=223&lang=en for more information.

Wiley Interdisciplinary Review: Cognitive Science

In January 2010 Wiley-Blackwell launched a new publication entitled Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science and edited by Professor Lynn Nadel of the University of Arizona, USA. It is aimed at both novice researchers and experienced scientists, addresses key topics from the perspectives of neuroscience, psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology and biology, and is available via complimentary online access. Issues 1 - 4 can be viewed at http://wires.wiley.com/cogsci