Results
Join The Neuro in celebrating the Brenda Milner Centennial Symposium by participating in a contest for high school, cégep, and undergraduate students interested in learning about cognitive neuroscience, capped off with a pre-symposium event on September 6, 2018.
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Cognitive neuroscience is the study of how the brain enables thought, language, memory, learning, and all other cognitive processes. It is the overlap of neuroscience, in which scientists try to figure out how the cells that make up the brain work individually and together, and cognitive science, where experimental methods from fields including linguistics, psychology, and computer science are used to understand cognition. Some of the major topics that cognitive neuroscientists study are attention, consciousness, decision-making, learning, memory, language, emotions, and sleep.
Students from the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill describe their research in cognitive neuroscience and what got them interested in studying the brain.
Competition: Help us imagine the future of cognitive neuroscience
As part of the Centennial celebration, we want to challenge the next generation of scientists to think about what the future of cognitive neuroscience might look like. We invite high school, cégep, and undergraduate students from the greater Montreal area to enter our contest by submitting a short multimedia video that will be judged by graduate students in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill. The winners of the competition will be invited to attend the Brenda Milner Centennial Symposium at the Neuro where they will be honored on stage, and where Brenda Milner as well as keynote speaker and Nobel Prize-winner Eric Kandel will be present, among other famous neuroscientists. Furthermore, the winning submissions will be displayed at the Centennial event, on this website, and on The Neuro social media accounts.
This is an excellent opportunity for aspiring young scientists to find out more about what being a neuroscience researcher might be like, be exposed to cutting-edge research, and mingle with world-class scientists. We hope that this opportunity will inspire students to pursue studies, and perhaps even a career, in cognitive neuroscience.
Description of the competition
Applicants are asked to answer the following prompt by making a short (30-60 second) video of any format. The video can be in English or French and can be made using any combination of multimedia.
The prompt: Choose one sub-discipline of cognitive neuroscience (for example: attention, consciousness, decision-making, learning, memory, language, emotions, sleep). What is a scientific question from this field that you are curious about, why are you curious about it, and where do you see the field 50 years from now?
What are we looking for?
Is there something that you are really passionate about? Music, language, food, sleep? If so, use this as an excuse to do some research about it! The best video entries will demonstrate excitement about a scientific question and an effort to understand the issues that are currently faced by the chosen sub-discipline. The information that we have provided here and on this page can be used as a starting point for researching your submission. You can be as creative as you like in making your video, however take care to use multimedia to enhance your response to the prompt and not detract from it.
For inspiration, check out the winning graduate student videos of the Science, Action contest held by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC): http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ScienceAction/index_eng.asp
Prize
Five winners each from the high school, cégep, and undergraduate entries will be selected. The winners will:
- Receive a certificate
- Receive one Neuro swag item (t-shirt, travel mug, or hat)
- Be invited to attend both days of the Brenda Milner Centennial Symposium, September 6 - 7, 2018 at The Neuro where they will be paired up with a graduate student buddy from the Integrated Program in Neuroscience for the day (See the program here)
- Be honoured on stage at the pre-symposium event (8:30-9:30 am, Sept. 6)
- Have the chance to meet famous neuroscientists who will be in attendance at the symposium
- Be featured on this website, at the pre-symposium event, and on The Neuro social media
How to submit
Review the rules and guidelines and submit your video using the submission form.
Deadline
The deadline for the competition is August 15, 2018 at midnight. Applicants will be notified of selection results in mid-August. For any questions about the competition, you may contact Kaija Sander at kaija.sander [at] mail.mcgill.ca.
Submit your “Tweetable” unanswered questions about cognitive neuroscience for the chance to win a prize
Be entered in a draw to win a Neuro travel mug, t-shirt, or hat by submitting your unanswered questions about cognitive neuroscience to us. The questions will be tweeted by @TheNeuro_MNI in the days leading up to the Centennial and might even get answered! You can submit as many questions as you like, but you will only be entered in the draw one time. The deadline to be entered in the draw is September 1, 2018 by midnight and the draw will take place at the Centennial pre-symposium event on September 6, 2018. Winners will be notified by email. For any questions about the competition, you may contact Kaija Sander at kaija.sander [at] mail.mcgill.ca.
Some examples:
Why are some people better at learning languages than others?
Why do we need to sleep?
Why is it harder to learn new things as you get older?
What is consciousness?
Where are memories stored?
How to submit
Review the rules and guidelines and submit your tweet using the submission form.
