In 2022, IBRO was proud to support a large variety of funding and training opportunities. From a total of 1159 grant applications, 250 awards have been distributed to neuroscientists at all career stages from 57 countries. In addition, IBRO has supported 30 schools on various neuroscience-related topics, from neurogenetics to computational neuroscience. 748 participants were able to attend the schools that took place across all five IBRO regions.
Below, the chairs of the regional committees and the early career committee highlight the impact of their initiatives in 2022, and reinforce their commitment for a bright 2023:
Asia/Pacific Regional Committee (APRC)
2022 has been a fruitful year for APRC. We have successfully hosted an IBRO Global Neuroscience Horizons Webinar, supported six neuroscience schools, and funded multiple Brain Awareness Week events, fellowships, and travel grants. These programs have benefited hundreds of scientists in the neuroscience community within the region. This success was only possible thanks to the collaborative effort from local neuroscience societies and FAONS. Looking towards 2023 and beyond, APRC’s impact and leadership in Asia Pacific countries seems increasingly visible and important. APRC will continue to address the needs and challenges of different neuroscience communities, especially those in underrepresented countries. APRC is committed and dedicated to holding itself and our members to the highest bar, to promoting and advancing global neuroscience research, and to increasing brain awareness within the region.
Africa Regional Committee (ARC)
ARC has kept a post-pandemic momentum in 2022, with exciting activities taking place in all regions of Africa. In 2022, a total of 44 grants were awarded to recipients in 11 different countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia. More than 1000 applications were received to attend one of the 15 Schools and Workshops that were successfully organized in Mali, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya (IBRO-NIH-Welcome Trust Grantees Networking), Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Tunisia. In addition, IBRO-ARC supported the first post-doc neuroscience training in DRC. Participants at this event believe that the training will have both short- and long-term benefits for their career development, including an improvement to their proposal writing skills, networking, and collaborative networks, while the most anticipated long-term impact was improvement as a researcher and the successful transition into independent researcher status. I would like to wish you a happy new year. Stay tuned with ARC, and we look forward to meeting you at the SONA Neuroscience Congress in July 2023, Johannesburg, South Africa!
Latin America Regional Committee (LARC)
This year was marked by the gradual return of some face-to-face activities, with an increase in interest in applying for IBRO-LARC funds to assist in congress attendance, foster collaborations between labs, and support the organization of congresses, meetings and symposia. At the same time, I’m pleased to highlight an increase in the number of countries and people who have been awarded funds. The FALAN congress in Belem, Brazil, which was supported by IBRO-LARC, demonstrated the great interest across the region in neuroscience continuing to grow in a coordinated and collaborative manner. We still have many challenges ahead, such as achieving greater regional integration and participation, promoting gender equity and diversity of people and countries participating in IBRO, and advancing in supporting the establishment of more permanent hands-on neuroscience training in the Latin American region. We will aim to support the installation and development of local capacities, as well as seeking a greater complementary alliance between the different regional committees.
Pan Europe Regional Committee (PERC)
In 2022, IBRO-PERC funded two schools, in Romania and Northern Ireland, and awarded 60 grants out of 187 application requests received. Among the grantees, 32 were female and 28 male. For the first time, IBRO-PERC supported two parental leaves. Next year, we will be thrilled to fund two schools, in Romania and Portugal, and support 9 scientific meetings happening in France, Portugal, Germany, Georgia, Slovenia, and Serbia. In addition, with the IBRO World Congress happening in a city in the PERC region, in Granada, Spain, we will be supporting the attendance of young scientists via travel grants. We look forward to meeting you there! Happy Holidays and see you in Granada in September!
Early Career Committee (ECC)
IBRO ECC welcomed 2022 with a new group of members. We put together several networking and scientific exchange events between our individual members and their scientific networks across Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. We organized a successful event at the FENS Forum 2022 in Paris, “Colours of the Brainbow”, in partnership with the ALBA and FENS-Kavli networks, towards shaping a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in global neuroscience. For 2023, IECC is working on launching a mentorship initiative to train students in science writing along with other exciting events at the IBRO World Congress 2023.
Happy holidays from everyone at IBRO and happy 2023!