2013 ECN Programme

The ECN Forum runs regular seminars and workshops covering a variety of topics relevant to early career neuroscientists.  If you have any additional topic suggestions, please contact the ECN Committee. 

What's On

Queen Square Symposium
Organised annually in conjunction with Brain Awareness Week, the student-led Queen Square Symposium offers postgraduate students in the Institute of Neurology an invaluable opportunity to showcase and discuss their research. Everyone across UCL is invited to attend the 2013 symposium. For further details please see: /neuroscience/documents/Quuensqsymp.

Clinical Academic Careers: How to combine research and clinical practice

Thursday 25th April 2013 - 4:00-5:00 pm

Venue: Roberts Building, Torrington Place, room 421 (followed by a drinks reception in G40 Seminar Room, Ground Floor Medical Sciences)

The aim of this forum is to give an overview of clinical academic career trajectories combining clinical training and research and will comprise of personal experiences of clinical research careers in the field of neuroscience. The event is aimed at medical students, MD/PhDs, postdocs and postgraduate students from disciplines that are interested in the combination of research and practice as well as junior PIs.

Confirmed speakers:

• Dr Rick Adams, Clinical Research Associate, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging

• TBC (Clinical Senior Lecturer)

• Prof Geraint Rees, FMedSci, Professor of Cognitive Neurology, Director, ICN

Register here

ECN Grant Writing Workshop

Friday 3rd May 2013, 09.00-13:00

Venue: Board Room, Maple House

The aim of this half-day session is to help Early Career Investigators (PIs and post-docs) improve their applications for funding, whether project grants or fellowships. It will be a peer-led session in which participants will give and receive critical feedback on grant and fellowship applications in the style of a committee meeting at a funding body, with oversight from Professor Maria Fitzgerald and Professor Annette Dolphin. This is a rare opportunity to improve your "grantsmanship" skills, gain insight into how funding committees work, and to receive constructive feedback on your own applications.

To attend the workshop you MUST submit a grant application at the time of registration. This may be a fellowship proposal or project grant. You must submit a lay and scientific abstract and the research proposal only. CVs, costings, impact statement etc are not required. Please anonymise the application. Registration will be on a first come-first served basis and will only be confirmed with submission of the grant. Due to logistical constraints we can only accept registration from UCL staff, up to a maximum of 12 delegates.

Please submit applications and request for registration to rachael.pearson@ucl.ac.uk. All applications must be received by 12pm on 22nd April. If you are considering registering, please contact Dr Pearson before doing so.

All submissions will be treated with complete confidence.

2013 Tentative Schedule


Dates TBC

25th April – Alternative careers for clinicians

3rd May – Grant writing workshop

June – Extended grant writing talk

September – Women in Science

September – Grant writing workshop

November – Public Engagement


To keep up to date with upcoming events, join the ECN Forum