Regional Committees

Africa Regional Committee

ARC is following the COVID-19 situation closely in Africa and will adapt its 2021 activities and programs according to local health and safety regulations, always putting the welfare of our organizers and activity participants first. We are also coordinating with SONA and the Ghana Neuroscience Society in preparation of the 15th SONA/4th GNS Hybrid Conference 2021, in Accra, Ghana. It was initially planned for 25-28 April 2021 and has now been rescheduled for 27-30 October, 2021. We hope that you will all be able to join us! In the meantime, we encourage African researchers to apply for the following open IBRO calls: IBRO Travel Grants, IBRO/IBE-UNESCO Science of Learning Fellowships, and the IBRO-MENA 7th International Workshop on Food and Brain Health.

Desire Tshala-Katumbay ARC Chair

Asia/Pacific Regional Committee (APRC)

We celebrate the new year 2021 with some exciting news! Yukiko Goda (Japan) and Bronwyn Kivell (New Zealand) have joined us as members of the Asia/Pacific Regional Committee. Welcome aboard! We also extend a heartfelt thanks to former members, Bong-Kiun Kaang (Korea) and Melinda Fitzgerald (Australia) for their contributions and dedication to APRC.

In 2021, there will be at least fifteen IBRO-APRC Associate School of Neuroscience available (either in hybrid mode or go virtual). Please stay tuned!

With this year’s International Women’s Day theme designated as #ChoosetoChallenge, we invite female neuroscientists to take the challenge, to help forge an inclusive world, continue making progress for an equitable society for all.

Pike-See Cheah
APRC Chair

Latin America Regional Committee (LARC)

LARC has opened a call for school proposals to take place in 2021. We invite applications for Associate, Advanced, and Specialized Schools in 2021 from LARC national society members as well as other neuroscience organizations. They can be virtual or in-person if health and safety conditions allow. The deadline is 31 March so apply soon!

IBRO-LARC Call for School Proposals 2021 

Adrian Palacios
LARC Chair

Middle East/North Africa Sub-regional Committee (MENA)

MENA is currently accepting applications for the 7th International Workshop on Food and Brain Health and How to publish books and write articles! This workshop aims to address the current topics in nutrition and food in human brain health with relevance to the Sultanate of Oman. There will be a mini-workshop on how to publish a book with Springer and how to write effective manuscripts by Springer-Nature Singapore.

Applications close 22 March.

Firas Kobeissy
MENA Chair

Pan-European Regional Committee (PERC)

PERC has two new grant programs launching this spring, the PERC-European National Neuroscience Societies partnerships (April) and Support for Soft Skills Training (May). They will be announced on IBRO social media and website so please check back soon. We will also be supporting the FENS-CHET Education and Training Clusters Initiative to stimulate and strengthen the cooperation among NENS schools, in particular to provide online material that could be shared and disseminated within the neuroscience community. Finally, we will be sponsoring and participating in the online FENS Regional Meeting and we encourage everyone to register and submit your abstracts.

Fabio Blandini
PERC Chair

US/Canada Regional Committee (USCRC) 

We look forward with renewed hope that our USCRC programs will be successful this year, as the vaccination programs for COVID-19 are being rolled out around the world. Many of our activities, as in other IBRO regions, were put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic. For 2021, in addition to the programs that were already in place, the USCRC added two new programs that we are particularly excited about. These include summer studentships and mentoring of undergraduate students from under-represented groups. These include: (i) a new site at McGill University (Montreal) for indigenous Canadian undergraduate students, which is in addition to a similar program in place at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver); (ii) a program for undergraduate students from minority serving institutions that focuses on Computational Neuroscience at Brown University and the Carney Institute.

Sam David
USCRC Chair