Voices of protesters for and against animal testing are once again about to rise. On March 3rd, the Stop Vivisection European Citizen’s Initiative was submitted to the European Commission, after collecting almost 1,2 million signatures. The goal of this initiative – only the 3rd one to be successful since the launch of the citizen’s initiative programme – is to tackle [...]

“If you want walk fast walk alone, if you want walk far walk together”, this African proverb cited by Dr. Karim Berkouk, Deputy Head of Unit ‘Non-Communicable Diseases and the Challenge of Healthy Aging European Commission, summarises at the best the take-home message of the EBC seminar: “Criteria for success: The future of collaborative brain research” that took place in [...]

On March 3rd 2015, European Research Ministers met and reiterated their willingness for open science. Further to this event, DG CONNECT organized on the next day a workshop on “Open Data on e-infrastructure and services for Neuroscience”. This was motivated by the fact that the European Commission believes that Neuroscience is a particularly active field of research, whose needs and [...]

One of the key recommendations coming from the European Month of the Brain initiated by DG Research and held in May 2013 was: “There is a need for countries to develop, or refine, national strategies on brain research and healthcare within an overarching European context. Successful examples of national strategies in other research areas, such as cancer, already exist in Europe.” One example [...]

On 25th February 2015, the Joint Action on Metal Health and Wellbeing (JAMHW) held a meeting in Brussels to present and discuss its provisional findings and policy recommendations on the following thematic areas: depression, suicide and e-health; community-based approaches in mental health; mental health at work places; mental health in all policies. The main concerns raised on this occasion were [...]

On 23rd February 2015, the European Parliament Interest Group on Brain, Mind and Pain, co-ordinated by the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) and Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) was officially launched in Brussels. MEP Marian Harkin, who was co-chairing the event, stressed the fact that today, research, funding and public awareness regarding brain disorders don’t match the burden they represent. [...]

The EBC held its February Board & Industry Board Meetings in Brussels on February 18&19, 2015. On that occasion, delegates from EBC Board Members and industry partners had an opportunity to look into the proposed activities and projects for the organization on the basis of its Operational Plan for 2015. These were presented as follow up of discussions of the [...]

On the occasion of the Board Dinner Meeting, EBC hosted a Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE), gathering its Members as well as Industry Partners. The objective of the event was to set a platform for interactive discussions regarding neuro-enhancement in general, and the NERRI project (Neuro-Enhancement: Responsible Research & Innovation) in particular, in order to contribute to the process of formulating [...]

Following a recent raise in security alert level in Belgium, new rules were put in place in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels. As a result, Members of the EP were informed that they can no longer host events for external visitors in the European Parliament. All stakeholder events, exhibitions, cultural events and receptions scheduled for after 9 February have [...]

On 4th February 2015, the new Center for Rare Diseases of HSK, Dr. Horst Schmidt Kliniken in Wiesbaden was officially opened. This centre, which will be run by Prof.Maurizio Scarpa (President of Brains for Brain), is setting a landmark for the region and Germany as a whole in the fight against rare conditions. For the official ceremony, more than 250 [...]