Cutting Edge Research in Neuroscience Under the Spotlight

Delegates from Biological Sciences and Medicine were joined by colleagues from Psychology, Health Sciences, Engineering and the Environment and the Southampton Business School at the popular SoNG interdisciplinary event, co-chaired this year by Professor Vincent O’Connor and Dr Delphine Boche.

There were more than 50 posters on display on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s Disease to circadian rhythms; researchers also heard keynote talks by professors Michael Owen from Cardiff, Angela Roberts from Cambridge and Samuele Cortese from Southampton and presentations from Southampton PhD and postdoctoral researchers.

“I have just started my PhD at Cardiff but I was delighted to return to catch up with friends and colleagues and find out more about what’s going on at Southampton,” says Francesca Keefe who graduated  in summer 2015. “The University is a major centre for significant research into this important area of science.”

The 2015 conference theme was ‘Translational Neuroscience for Mental Health’ and the programme was put together by Dr Matthew Garner and Dr Graeme Fairchild from Psychology.

“The heartbeat of SoNG is our graduate and postgraduate community and we are pleased so many researchers at the outset of their careers wanted to take part in our lively forum and explore this area of extreme importance for the nation’s health and wealth,” says Vincent.

Francesca Keefe (BSc Biomedical Sciences) and Katharine Askew (MBioSci) won prizes for their projects. “The highlight of my degree was definitely my final year project,” explains Katharine. “I was given so much freedom to explore a research topic of my choice, supported by academic colleagues. I enjoyed it so much, I’m staying on to study for a PhD in neuroscience.”