Calling Students From Around the World to Submit a Neuroethics Essay
The INS is pleased to announce a call for submissions for the 2018 Student/Postdoc Essay Contest in Neuroethics! The contest—now in its fifth year—aims to promote interest in neuroethics among students and postdocs from around the world. 
Essay submissions can cover any topic in neuroethics and should address a focused problem at the intersections of the mind and brain sciences, ethics, and law. Participants can submit their essays in one of two categories.

  • Academic Essay
  • Science Communication Essay

One winner from each category will be selected and recognized at the 2018 INS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Each winner will also receive a 1-year INS student membership and a travel stipend to support travel expenses to the meeting. Additionally, up to five authors of science communication essays will be selected to participate in a 1-on-1 editorial mentorship. 

Review the call for essays for complete details and requirements. Submissions must be received by July 9, 2018, at 11:30 p.m. EDT.
Example essay topics include, but are not limited to: neuroenhancement, brain stimulation, ethics of neurodegenerative illness, philosophy of mind, clinical ethics in psychiatry and neurosurgery, neural imaging, big data and neuroscience, brain–computer interaction, military applications of neurotechnology, and free will. The committee makes no restrictions regarding neuroethical topics and encourages authors to take creative approaches with their essays.
Take a moment today to introduce the INS to your colleagues and students who are interested in neuroethics and the responsible use of advances in brain science.
INS CO-SPONSORED EVENT
Human Brain Organoids and Chimeras: the Science, the Ethics
Big Data Institute, University of Oxford; Oxford, England
June 1, 2018; 2:00–5:00pm (BST)
Human brain organoids, miniature ‘brain structures’ generated from stem cells, have the capacity to generate new, complex and developing neuronal tissue and to provide neuroscientists with a different and maybe more usefu l model of parts of a functioning human brain than has ever before been possible. Join us to find out more about how human brain organoids and chimeras are being used in research, now and in the future. Contribute to discussions on the scientific, ethical and legal challenges that scientists and society must confront.

Ilina Singh (chair), Wellcome Trust Centre for Ethics and the Humanities, University of Oxford and Hank Greely, President of the INS and Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences, Stanford Law School will lead a series of talks and discussions.

Additional details to follow. Contact Elaine Snell (esnell@neuroethicssociety.org) if you have questions. (This is the same Oxford event mentioned in a recent president's letter .)
NIH releases first dataset from unprecedented study of adolescent brain development
Last month, the U.S. National Institutes of Health released an unparalleled dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. To date, more than 7,500 youth and their families have been recruited for the study, well over half the participant goal. Approximately 30 terabytes of data—obtained from the first 4,500 participants and about three times the size of the Library of Congress collection—will be available to scientists worldwide to conduct research on the many factors that influence brain, cognitive, social, and emotional development. This study is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States.
CALLS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
DGPPN Congress 2018 – The German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics is seeking submissions for symposiums and oral presentations for the annual DGPPN Congress titled, "Focusing on the Future." The conference will provide a comprehensive overview of current developments in psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatics. The Congress program will cover all relevant mental illnesses and will put emphasis on biological, psychotherapeutic, and social psychiatry topics. Health, political, societal and cultural issues will also be an important focus. In 2018 the DGPPN Congress will be held November 28–December 1 in Berlin, Germany. Symposium proposals are due April 13 and oral presentation submissions are due June 22.
Call for CiNaPs 2018 Abstracts – The University of Antwerp Centre for Philosophical Psychology is now accepting submissions for the Causality in the Neuro- and Psychological Sciences 2018 conference. The conference aims to bring together philosophers and scientists to explore the notion of causality at the interplay of the neurological and psychological sciences. They invite submissions on a wide range of topics, including the nature of causality, the methods used to test for causal relations in these disciplines, the roles of evidence and theory in grounding causal claims, and causal modeling (including machine learning and AI) in relation to the neurological and psychological sciences. Submissions on other related topics are welcome too, provided they engage with both causality and the neuro- and/or psychological sciences. Abstracts are due May 15.
Call for SfN 2018 Abstracts – The abstract submission period for the Society for Neuroscience 2018 annual meeting opens April 12 and closes May 3.
SfN Open-Access Virtual Conference – SfN and the NIH will be hosting a conference, titled, "Enhancing Rigor and Transparency in Neuroscience," on April 10 (9am–5pm) and will be made available on-demand for those who register in advance. 
MEMBER NEWS
Philosophers' Brief on Chimpanzee Personhood – INS member Syd Johnson teamed up with Andrew Fenton to report on the recent public release of an amicus brief supporting chimpanzee personhood. The brief was created by 17 philosophers as a part of the Nonhuman Rights Project's efforts to remove two chimpanzees from captivity to a sanctuary. The report argues that our current conceptualization of personhood is arbitrary and should include some nonhumans. "Our central point can be simply stated: “person” and “human” are not synonyms. In fact, there is nothing unintelligible about the idea of nonhuman persons—anyone with even a passing knowledge of world religions and the beings that populate their teachings is aware of examples of persons who are decidedly not humans." – Syd M Johnson and Andrew Fenton (Impact Ethics)
JOBS / CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Temporary Lectureship – The Chair of Philosophy of Language and Cognition at Ruhr University Bochum is seeking a full-time temporary postdoctoral position for a lecturer at the Department of Philosophy II, beginning at the earliest possible date. The application should reveal a research focus in the Philosophy of Language and Cognition and/or Neurophilosophy. The applicant should already have a record of linking philosophical questions to the research results and methods of the cognitive and neurosciences. Applications are due April 1.
Postdoctoral Fellowship – The University of Vienna; Applications are due April 3.
Postdoctoral Fellowship – The University of Bordeaux is currently seeking candidates for two postdoctoral positions in the Philosophy of Biology and/or Philosophy of Medicine and/or Conceptual/Theoretical Biology in the context of Thomas Pradeu’s ERC Starting Grant project, “Immunity, Development and the Microbiota: Understanding the Continuous Construction of Biological Identity.” Applications are due May 14.
THE NEUROETHICS BLOG
Downloading Happiness – In response to the increasing use of mobile health platforms in healthcare, the author discusses the neuroethical issues that we will encounter with this technology including issues of privacy, adherence, and evidence-based practices. "The potential benefits of improved patient-provider relationships, decreased per capita cost, and increased access to care make discussing cross-disciplinary strategy, limitations, and directions invaluable with regards to emerging neurotechnologies." – Sorab Arora (Emory University)
Neuroprosthetics for Speech and Challenges in Informed Consent – The author reviews the use of implanted microelectrodes for patients with locked-in syndrome. "The research is still in its early days, and devices are not yet being trialed in patients with severe communication impairments. However, when the research and eventual application reaches the clinical population of intended users, there will be a number of challenges relating to obtaining the informed consent of those users." – Hannah Maslen (University of Oxford)
RESEARCH / ARTICLES
Lawful physician-hastened death: AAN position statement – "The AAN has decided to retire its 1998 position on “Assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the neurologist” and to leave the decision of whether to practice or not to practice lawful physician-hastened death to the conscientious judgment of its members acting on behalf of their patients." – Russell et al. On behalf of the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee; a joint committee of the AAN, ANA, and CNS (Neurology)
The Dazzling Promise of Ketamine – "Investigations into ketamine’s novel mechanism of action, including blockade of NMDA receptors, glutamate burst, and rapid induction of synaptic connections that reverses the deficits of stress and depression, have reinvigorated research efforts to identify additional rapid-acting glutamatergic antidepressants with reduced side effects." – Ronald Duman (Cerebrum)
PRESS / GENERAL
Do Adult Brains Make New Neurons? A Contentious New Study Says No – "From the 1980s onward... researchers [have shown] neurogenesis does occur in the brains of various adult animals, and eventually found signs of newly formed neurons in the adult human brain. The trouble is: This stream of fresh neurons might not actually exist." – Ed Yong (The Atlantic)
A Neuroscientist Explains: is the internet addictive? – "A Neuroscientist Explains [the podcast] is finally back for its second season. To kick off, we revisit Daniel’s article on why random acts of kindness make us feel good. Except this time, it’s not random acts we’re looking at but addictive behaviours and substances." – Daniel Glaser and Max Sanderson (The Guardian)
Take This App and Call Me in the Morning – "Health tech companies are making a big push to digitize medicine, introducing novel tools like digital pills that track when patients take their drugs and smart spoons that can automatically adjust to hand tremors. Now they want some patients to get prescription treatments from the app store as well." – Natasha Singer (The New York Times)
How Psychopaths See the World – Ed Yong (The Atlantic)
MEETINGS / EVENTS
 Defining Death: Organ transplantation and the 50-year legacy of the Harvard report on brain death
April 11-13; Boston, MA, USA
April 13-14, 2018; Bethlehem, PA, USA
May 10-11; Chicago, IL, USA
Organized by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, this workshop seeks to explore the convergences and disparities in approaches to intelligence in neuroscience and computer science. It will reflect on how brain-based intelligence is similar to artificial intelligence and also how both can be combined in neurotechnology.
May 16-18; Milano, Italy
BCIs: Not Getting Lost in Translation
May 21-25; Pacific Grove, CaA, USA
June 3-9; Bertinoro, Italy
During this summer session, titled, "Neural stem cells, brain organoids and brain repair, " INS President Hank Greely will be presenting.
Human Enhancement: Bioethical Challenges of Emerging Technologies
June 9-13; Rome, Italy
Neuropsychopharmacology: Meeting Global Challenges with Global Innovation
June 16-19; Wien, Austria
June 26-30; Montréal, QB, Canada
June 27-29; Paris, France
July 7-11; Berlin, Germany
November 1-2; San Diego, California
The  International Neuroethics Society  is an interdisciplinary group of scholars, scientists, clinicians, and other professionals dedicated to encouraging and inspiring research and dialogue on the responsible use of advances in brain science. Practitioners from a wide range of disciplines join the Society to interact, learn, and participate in critical neuroethics discussions that further this growing field.  Join today!