Past Activities

WWN/IBRO Professional Development session titled, “Cross Cultural Narratives: On Being the Under-Resourced Neuroscientist”
The session highlighted the personal journey of four female neuroscientists that have navigated challenging conditions imposed by tradition, culture, economic constraints, religion and/or politics. These neuroscientists shared circumstances and experiences that have  impacted their professional development and career trajectories, their personal journeys in science, the research programs they developed, the challenges they encountered, and strategies used to overcome them. The session was co-chaired by Drs Emmeline Edwards and Jean King. Panelists included Dr Stephanie Proano, Dr Sonia Bansal, Dr Sadaf Ahmed, and Dr Annabell Segarra.

Mentoring circle titled, “Building your Scientific Career“
The WWN/IBRO sponsored mentoring circle targeted mostly undergraduate and graduate students. The presenters highlighted 5 fundamental principles needed  in order to build successful  scientific careers: 1) To be reflective, know yourself, know your strengths and weaknesses, 2) To be proactive and do your homework, make a list of potential paths and link them to those things that you are passionate about, 3) To be ready to self-promote, to talk about where you want to go, what you want to accomplish, and what you need help with, 4) To be willing to adapt, change, and modify your goals according to challenges and opportunities, and 5) To build a network, because nobody can make it on their own, you need allies, mentors, a support system, and you need to be collaborative.

WWN/IBRO session titled, “Global Collaborations, Functional Research Networks and Funding”
During the IBRO World Congress 2023, WWN partnered with IBRO to sponsor an incredibly successful session titled, “Global Collaborations, Functional Research Networks and Funding Workshop’. We were gratified by the global representation among the panelists and attendees. The session was attended at full capacity, and we had to turn away latecomers. The 60-minute workshop consisted of five presentations by the following speakers: Dr Martha Davila-Garcia, Dr Emmeline Edwards, Dr Amira Zaki, Ms Rebecca Hadid. We were delighted with the global representation of 140 attendees from 44 countries.

WWN-IBRO-PASBAN All-Day Workshop titled, “Weathering the Storm: Cultivating Resilience and Managing Stress“
WWN sponsored a whole day programming in the Pakistan IBRO-APRC School ‘Integrating Neuroscience in Public Health: An Outlook on Neurobiological and Neurotherapeutics Aspects of Human Health’. Day 4 of the IBRO-APRC school in Pakistan was delivered by WWN members Dr Fadwa Al Mughairbi and Dr Shazia Shakoor. In addition, WWN conducted a Mentoring Circle/ Workshop titled, ‘Weathering the Storm – Cultivating Resilience and Managing Stress’, comprised of four presentations by WWN members Dr Deborah Suchecki, Dr Emmeline Edwards, Dr Jean King, and Ms Michaela de Kock.

WWN hosted a workshop and mentoring circle, ‘Leadership at all Career Stages’
WWN partnered with IBRO, the ALBA Network, the Southern Africa Neuroscience Society to host a workshop and mentoring circle at Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA) 2023 titled, “Leadership at all Career Stages” on July 14, organized by Prof Martha Dávila-García. The panel speakers included Dr Rachael Dangarembizi, Dr Gwladys Temkou Ngoupaye, Dr Chinna Orish, Prof Evelyne Sernagor, Prof Amira Zaky Hasan, Dr Oritoke Okeowo, Dr Lihle Qulu, Prof Francesca Cirulli, and Prof Martha Dávila-García. The session included a brief presentation on Leadership followed by topic-focused mentoring table discussions. Each mentoring table was facilitated by a WWN,  ALBA Network, or SANS team member and participants rotated through the various tables, each with a specific discussion topic. We were delighted with the global participation of 55 members.

WWN sponsored session on “Social Safety”
WWN co-sponsored a session with IBRO at the annual Dutch Neuroscience meeting (DNM) focused on ‘Societal Safety’ on June 22, chaired by Jocelien Olivier. The invited speaker for this session was Joriene Beks, an expert in psychological safety. She encouraged the audience to think about psychological safety in an interactive manner. The audience consisted of ± 60 persons, consisting of Master students, PhD students, postdoctoral candidates, and principle investigators, who all engaged in the question, “What do you think of when you hear the word “Psychological Safety?”