Phonetics at Stockholm University Blog

Den 2 april 2019 är Ingvar Lindqvistdagen 2019 på KVA

Vi hedrar gymnasie- och högskolelärarna som fick årets Ingvar Lindqvists priser med KVA ledamöters presentationer av forskningsfrågor.

Relationen mellan humaniora och naturvetenskap kommer att tas upp med utgångspunkt från forskningen i fonetik vid Stockholms universitet. Jag pratar 17:20 och kommer att använda barnets språkutveckling som anledning till att prata om språkets struktur, talproduktion, talperception, akustik.
Det blir kopplingar till fysik, fysiologi och matematik som jag hoppas kan inspirera dessa fantastiska lärare att relatera sina naturvetenskapliga ämnen till humaniora.

Välkomna!

This was a very interesting session highlighting the importance of international coordination and collaboration in order to achieve better management of experimental data generated by different neurolabs.
My understanding is that the group organizing the current AAAS session focuses mainly on animal models and how to exchange detailed brain imaging data from small rodents that can be used to calibrate brain models. Obviously, the ability to use multi-lab data to build realistic models of fundamental brain functions is crucial for the advancement of the field and it appears to me that it might be useful to articulate these efforts with the somewhat similar LORIS project, that is aiming at establishing protocols for the exchange of human brain imaging data to expand the empirical basis of fMRI studies. The complexity of the data is huge and there are important ethical issues associated with the exchange of human brain imaging data but the high cost of the research suggests that adequate data exchange across laboratories is the way to go.

Materials from the official AAAS 2019 program

Session’s abstract
Understanding how the brain works is one of today’s grand scientific challenges and has spurred a global explosion of growth in neuroscience. Countries around the world are investing in basic research and neurotechologies through large-scale projects in North America, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Many neuroscience researchers and research funders believe that a global effort is needed to allow for critical breakthroughs to maximize the impact of new discoveries, and to increase the return on investment in neuroscience research that will ultimately benefit society as a whole. In 2017, representatives from the world’s major brain projects made a formal declaration to establish an International Brain Initiativeto foster coordination and collaboration across these projects. This session highlights the outcomes of these large-scale investments and the impact of global collaborations. Speakers will present cutting-edge discoveries made possible by international collaborations, and explore the progress and challenges faced by both individual scientists and country specific initiatives, as they work across geographic and cultural divides.
From the official AAAS 2019 program:
https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Session/21864

A new model for international collaboration i neuroscience

Dr. Michael Häusser is Professor of Neuroscience at University College London and the Facilitator of the International Brain Laboratory (IBL). Dr. Hausser will present the vision of IBL and describe progress towards its goal to enable experimentalists and theorists to work together to transcend boundaries between laboratories and countries in order to understand the neural basis of decisionmaking.
(https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/24171)

The Korea initiative and global collaboration

Dr. Sung-jin Jeong is the Director of the Brain Research Policy Center at the Korea Brain Research Institute. She has also been leading the effort to develop and launch the Korea Brain Initiative. Dr. Jeong will present on the scientific plan for the Korea Brain Initiative and opportunities for international collaboration.
(https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/23905)

Toward circuit optogenetics

Dr. Valentina Emiliani is the Director of the Neurophotonics Laboratory at the Paris Descartes University and works at the interface of physics and biology. She develops novel microscopy techniques for neurophysiology, including a three-dimensional holographic illumination method used for manipulating individual neurons in circuits. Dr. Emiliani will present her cutting-edge advances and the necessary future developments in circuit optogenetics.
(https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/23908)

Opening session

Over 1000 attendees have gathered and are now waiting for the AAAS 2019’s opening session to begin.

The very crowded ballroom where the opening session is about to start.

Welcome, prizes and speeches

The Philip Hague Abelson Prize for 2019 was given to Cato T. Laurencin.

Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, spoke diplomatically about the importance of symbiotic cooperation between industrial and scientific partners, a much needed force to counter the current diverging forces.

Margaret A. Hamburg, AAAS President, was more direct to the point and contrasted J. F. Kennedy’s interest in promoting scientific development for the good of mankind with the current adminstration’s troubling uninterest for evidence-based decisions, ignorance of scientific facts and dangerous spreading of misconceptions that endanger people’s lives.

This morning at 07.00 it was still quiet. The registration for this year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science opened later, at 07:30, but there was already at breakfast the usual vibrating atmosphere of engaged scientists.

Registration desks, still quiet this early

Now the first pre-meeting session is going on. The theme is “Communicating Science and Policy”. We are learning from the panel about the importance of educating politicians, meeting with them and following up the meetings as a continuous process of mutual interest. Not surprisingly, there is a general agreement, both in the panel and the delegates, on that such contacts are important for factual-based decisions and also to provide researchers with an understanding of how policy and funding decisions are achieved.

The three 10-minute presentations from the panel triggered a very long and broad list of oral and twitter questions to the session’s organizers. Many personal experiences and useful recommendations are being presented and discussed. Of course, the themes and solutions are not totally new for researchers who have considered the issues of communicating science but they are a good reminder of the importance of these questions and that there is a large body of engaged scientists. The involvement and enthusiasm of our american colleagues is very good news and I am hopefull that they will succeed in their efforts to educate the public and the politicians that represent them.

An interesting aspect raised by a member of the audience was the need to draw a line between unacceptable lobbying and educational meetings with decision makers. High integrity and ethic standards apply here too, of course!

Looks like this will be a giving meeting, although it has not yet started officially.

Great to have the opportunity to be part of this!