Molly O’Reilly
University of Sussex, UK

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.107.21

10–13 April 2017, ICC Birmingham, UK

I am a third-year PhD student at the University of Sussex, and this past April I was given the opportunity to attend the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) festival of Neuroscience, held in Birmingham. My research focuses on preventing the hearing loss associated with clinical drug treatments, which is rather a niche area. The conference was therefore a fantastic opportunity to network amongst the broader neuroscience community. It also provided a chance to broadcast my research, as I was selected to present a poster and also give a short talk during the rapid-fire poster session. As I had previously not given a talk to such a large audience, it was an invaluable experience.

My attendance at the event was facilitated by the support of The Physiological Society, who provided me with a travel grant in order to attend. I cannot thank them enough for their support, as I found the conference to be extremely beneficial, both in terms of personal interest and the gain of experience. The highlights of the festival for me personally were the daily poster sessions, some of the talks that were not related to my research but of a great interest to me, and The Physiological Society’s own symposia on the theme of The Neurobiology of Stress.

The daily poster sessions were a really exciting part of the conference – the poster hall was lively and buzzing every day. The poster sessions were grouped in terms of their subject area, and I attended each day. The enthusiasm in the room was inspiring, and everyone was so inquisitive. During my own poster session, I had a great deal of interest and a constant audience, alongside lots of good questions and useful suggestions.
I have already used some of the suggested ideas in my research back in the laboratory.
I highly recommend attending these types of events.

The talks were also very good – there was such a diverse range of topics and presentation styles. As an example, some of my favourite talks included:

• The hidden wounds of childhood trauma: psychoneuroimmunology of early stress and the impact on mental health (Andrea Danese – King’s College London, UK)
•  See what you hear – how the brain forms a representation across the senses (Uta Noppeney – University of Birmingham, UK)
• APOE4 from man to mouse (Sarah King –University of Sussex, UK)
• Structural and cellular studies to elucidate the mechanisms of APOE isoform action and provide targets for therapy (Louise Serpell – University of Sussex, UK)

As you can see, some of my favourite talks were from researchers based at my own institution. It can be so easy to immerse yourself in your own research and lose sight of what other researchers within your institution are working on, so it was really enlightening to get a glimpse into this. There was a great representation of different institutions at the festival and a really broad set of delegates.

Lastly, the topic of neurobiology of stress really ignites my interest, so I was pleased to be able to explore this in such a comprehensive manner through The Society’s symposia. The symposia were led in such a way that researchers without prior knowledge could engage. Overall, the conference was a fantastic experience and I cannot commend The Physiological Society enough for their role in my ability to attend.