President of FENS Speaks About Growing Neuroscience Community in Europe

Pierre Magistretti is the president of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS). He is also a vice chairman of the European Dana Alliance for the Brain. Magistretti is currently a faculty member of the Institut de Physiologie at the Université de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland.

NQ: Given the growth of the FENS forums since 1998, how do you envision the organization growing over the next few years?

Magistretti: There is still room for expansion for FENS in terms of membership through the increase in the membership of national societies. Even more importantly for us, we can work toward an increase in the participation of scientists who attend the FENS forums.

NQ: How do you expect to extend the scientific content of the next forum, which is to be held in Lisbon, Portugal? What are you doing to encourage student and foreign participation?

Magistretti: We have a program committee, which is being chaired by Professor Wolf Singer, from Germany. He is an outstanding scientist, as are the other members of the program committee, and we’ve come up with a very attractive program. I think the scientific quality will be very good.

There are fellowships from FENS and the national societies to support student participation. The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) is providing fellowships, mostly for Central European participants. We were very pleased to learn that SfN will offer some fellowships for North American graduate students to attend. These fellowships will go a long way toward increasing the participation of students.

NQ: What sort of impact is FENS seeking to have on the European neuroscience communities?

Magistretti: FENS represents 31 national societies and 18,000 neuroscientists and is the most visible and most representative partner to advise the European Union on neuroscience developments and support for research through European Community grants.

The forum is an important activity and we really look forward to developing it even further. FENS also organizes schools that take place every second year, alternating with the years in which the forums take place. Several of the FENS schools are organized in collaboration with IBRO. These have a substantial impact on our community.

NQ: What are the biggest challenges for FENS, and what steps are you taking to address them?

Magistretti: Our biggest challenge is to manage our growth. We are managing the growth by distributing certain functions across specific European countries; this has the advantage of maintaining the internationally representative nature of FENS. Among others, we have an office in Berlin, through the auspices of the German Society for Neuroscience, which is responsible for administrative tasks like membership. The editorial office for the FENS journal is in Cambridge, England. An office in Bordeaux, France, under the auspices of the French Society for Neuroscience, ensures the logistics of the forums.

NQ: How can FENS and the Society for Neuroscience work together?

Magistretti: We have already begun collaborating by having regular meetings between the presidents and the executive committee members at events like the Society for Neuroscience meeting or at the FENS forum.

There can be an exchange of information through the newsletters, and, together, we can also work to increase trans-Atlantic participation in the forums and meetings; we encourage the participation of American scientists at the FENS forum. Of course, the participation of European scientists is already quite significant at the SfN annual meeting. In this sense, SfN has been encouraging participation by providing slots to FENS for abstract submissions. Clearly, the idea is to foster exchanges and participation in the respective meetings.

When necessary, our organizations can take a common stand on important issues, such as last year, when then-SfN President Fred H. Gage and I signed a common letter to support the establishment of a primate research facility in Cambridge, England.

Our organizations can work together by keeping each other informed, increasing the exchange, and taking common positions when necessary.

NQ: The Society for Neuroscience has established a regional chapter structure that has now expanded abroad. How does FENS envision the best way for local or regional SfN chapters within the European region to organize themselves?

Magistretti: Officially, the FENS council has not discussed this matter yet. It will be brought up to the Council at its next meeting in the fall. For the moment, our position is that we should be open to anything that expands opportunities and provides access for neuroscientists to a number of very interesting benefits.

FENS does not think that it would be ideal for SfN chapters in Europe to cover single nations. That would duplicate part of the function of the national societies. We would discourage establishing national chapters, but other geographic distributions could be helpful. There are, for example, transnational regions that have historical ties and regions that share a common culture even though they belong to different nations, because of history over the last centuries. These transnational regions could be a chapter. Large cities might also be good candidates for chapter representation.

NQ: The Society has a number of benefits for SfN chapter members, such as the Grass Traveling Scientific Lecture Series, capacity building grants for chapters from SfN, and some travel award programs. What other benefits does SfN chapter participation bring to its members?

Magistretti: Among topics that we discussed recently with Gage and SfN Executive Director Marty Saggese are the public awareness activities—for example, Brain Awareness Week—that have been very popular in the United States. If a chapter existed abroad, there would be an infrastructure in place that would help coordinate those kinds of activities locally in Europe, and I think that would be another potential benefit of establishing local chapters.

NQ: Given that FENS is a coalition of European neuroscience societies, and that some of those member nations may have varying legislative and policy issues, how do you envision your organization facilitating public advocacy and addressing legislative issues?

Magistretti: There is a growing impact on the funding of science research in Europe being made by the European Union in Brussels. Grants from the European Union are usually designed for multi-group, transnational applications. FENS will undoubtedly work with other European organizations to sensitize the European Community to the importance of funding neuroscience research throughout Europe.

At the national level, FENS can provide a very strong, unified position on certain issues, based on specific panels of FENS neuroscientists, the FENS Council, or the executive committee. FENS could provide initiative and highly qualified advice to national societies or support the initiatives of a member society for specifically national issues.

NQ: What are some ways that FENS can partner with other international organizations?

Magistretti: IBRO has been reorganizing into regional councils. FENS is working with two of those, the Western European Regional Council and the Central European Regional Council, to engage in common activities.

One example is the schools mentioned earlier. Another project is to establish an inventory of graduate programs in neuroscience throughout Europe. We would also like to establish some fellowships to support, in particular, young students from developing countries, facilitating their attendance at these graduate programs in neuroscience in Western and Central Europe. Support of neuroscience in developing countries is one of the major tasks of IBRO, and it blends well with the FENS concept of supporting educational programs. This is one area where we collaborate. In fact, we just established the fellowship program to help further this mission.

Public awareness is another area in which IBRO and FENS will collaborate, along with the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB) initiatives. There will be a shared effort by FENS, IBRO, and EDAB to promote public awareness in Europe and to distribute material in several languages outside Europe.

NQ: What do individuals need to do if they want to participate in FENS programs?

Magistretti: The FENS schools are widely advertised, and scientists are encouraged to submit proposals, which are then evaluated by the school committee of FENS. Scientists are also encouraged to submit proposals for schools and panels planned in collaboration with IBRO. Once the schools are formally accepted and advertised, then applications by students are welcome. Proposal submission and applications to attend the schools can be done through the FENS Web site (www.fens.org), and they will be processed regularly. Participation in the FENS forum is another way for individual scientists to get involved. For the Lisbon forum, the deadline for application of abstract submissions is in early February, and can be done on the Web.

NQ: What programs does FENS have in place to support the professional development of neuroscientists?

Magistretti: The Web site has advertisements of positions available. When universities or departments have openings, they can advertise on the site. Another way in which FENS encourages the development of neuroscience is the European Journal of Neuroscience. I should stress that American scientists are welcome to submit to this journal and SfN members now have free access to the Journal through SfN’s Web site.

NQ: Do you foresee any changes or additions to your organization’s current programs?

Magistretti: I think we really want to consolidate those that we have just started. The forum is now well in place. When it first started, the forum was like a bicycle with training wheels. I think that we have taken off the training wheels and now we just have the two big ones; the forum can go on its own. The school program can expand even more. We should develop more fellowships and collaborations. I really think that FENS is still in its youth.