.: About the Network of European Neuroscience Schools (NENS)

The Network of European Neuroscience Schools

In Europe, Neuroscience education at the graduate level is characterised by its broad spectrum of specialised areas as well as by a rich diversity of research fields. In addition to schools and programmes that focus on the entire neuroscience field and therefore have a broader spectrum, some institutions focus on concrete fields within neuroscience such as molecular, cellular, developmental, cognitive, clinical or computational neuroscience and on various systems within neuroscience. NENS possesses the most comprehensive online source of information on neuroscience graduate education, schools and programmes in Europe, displayed by the programme directory.

The Network of European Neuroscience Schools (NENS) was founded in 2003 and represents over 150 of those graduate schools and programmes across ca. 30 European countries that offer Masters, MD, PhD and doctoral degrees in neuroscience. NENS is a formal structure within the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS). FENS offers many services for its members among which the NENS initiative is particularly concerned with providing transparency for educational programmes in the field of neuroscience.

Furthermore, NENS offers a basis for communication between European neuroscience graduate programmes and presents an overview for interested scholars.

In particular, we have the following overarching goals:

• Promoting higher education in the field of neuroscience in Europe
• Assisting in generating quality standards in neuroscience programmes
• Encouraging and supporting mobility among graduate students and teachers
• Increasing choices and opportunities for graduate students by providing a comprehensive overview
• Improving the cooperation and network among current and future European scientists
• generating new and significant knowledge in the field
• Laying the basis for obtaining consortium funding at national and EU levels

Concrete support for your programme and your graduate students

Travel Stipends for graduate students

NENS offers stipends for graduate students that would like to gain methodological or practical experience in the laboratory of another NENS member school. Grants are targeted at graduate students at masters level or early phase of the doctoral studies that wish to acquire new skills into their research work. Funding of up to 1,000 EUR can be acquired. Only students of NENS Members schools are eligible to apply. Calls for travel stipends are regularly announced on this website.

Annual General Meeting

NENS offers an annual general meeting for coordinators and directors of NENS member schools and graduate programmes. This gives the participants the opportunity to talk about their programmes and experiences, and give feedback to NENS about potential support opportunities. Coordinators and directors can come together to discuss common issues and dilemmas that are faced in optimising neuroscience graduate education, engaging in state of the art research, and recruiting talented students to our programmes. Advice and interchange of experiences in terms of grant acquisition and identification of grant application partners, of recruiting strategies and the assignment of credit points, as well as of quality assurance are further possible key points for the meeting.

Document Server

The document server is a digital lecture database and is now available on the NENS website. The document server is based on the idea of sharing information on the respective curricula between the NENS Schools. It aims at helping all NENS members to improve the quality of their programmes by stating, comparing, and declaring comprehensive information on the curricula of their NENS programme. Therefore, all coordinators of the NENS Schools are invited to provide an overview of their course syllabi via the new digital lecture database the document server, which is available through the NENS Website. The access to the web facility is regulated via password and is exclusively available to NENS member Schools. After accessing the document server you have to fill in a template, submit this form and after revision by the NENS office it will be published via the document server. When the publication occurred you are a "contributing member" and are thus allowed to download other respective curricula from other contributing members.
With a well-established database we will have the great opportunity to gather detailed information about the curricula and teaching approaches of all NENS Programmes.

Why your neuroscience school should join

How to register with NENS

If you are a student

For further information contact the NENS Office on sonia.bolea@unil.ch

NENS Committee

Chair	Jean-Pierre Hornung, Switzerland
Committee Members	Pavle Andjus, Serbia Tomi Taira, Finland Ferdinando Rossi, Italy Jolanta B. Zawilska, Poland

NENS Office

Sonia Bolea
Biophore 2204
University of Lausanne
1015 Lausanne

Mail: sonia.bolea@unil.ch