European Neuroscience and Society Network tackles neurosocieti...( The neurosciences have such a wide-r...),Health

The neurosciences have such a wide-ranging influence on so many areas of life that a new concept of the community has developed called neurosocieties. To bring this community together, the European Neuroscience and Society Network (ENSN), funded by the European Science Foundation (ESF), has initiated a series of activities to stimulate discussions and exchange on the social, legal and ethical implications of new developments in the neurosciences. The project, which will run from 2007 to 2012, will lead European conferences and organize workshops and innovative neuroschools to foster inter-disciplinary learning across Europe and North America.

The ENSNs inaugural conference, Neurosocieties: the rise and impact of the new brain sciences held at the BIOS Centre in the London School of Economics last November, brought together 100 people from the neurosciences and social sciences in a lively discussion covering topics ranging from neuroeconomics to neuropharmacology. These subjects were considered from a variety of perspectives including health and politics in an effort to understand the full impact of the neurosciences on society. Results from the workshops show that the word neuro has a strong claim as an almost universal prefix, touching as it does on a multitude of disparate fields.

The success of the meeting was in giving leading European researchers in this field a chance to gather together for discussions that will help to set the stage for the future, said Linsey McGoey, co-founder and advisory expert to the ENSN, This led to provocative debate, as one of the novelties of the ENSN is that we are very keen to open the debate to those critical of the capitalization of the neurotechnologies and those who believe the best way to bring neurotechnologies to the market is to engage industry experts with scientists. This way we aim to foster greater collegiality between disciplines rather than adversarial stances.

McGoey explained that in additi
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