From July 31st, until August 5th, the University of Pisa is hosting the European Summer School in Neuroscience, a summer course intended for Master’s degree students interested in delving into the complexity of the human mind and brain under the guidance of renowned European specialists. The Summer School is an initiative of Circle U. – the European University Alliance that brings together nine universities: Aarhus, Belgrade, Berlin, Louvain, Oslo, Paris Cité, Pisa, Vienna and King’s College London. – and was jointly organized by the University of Pisa, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, UCLouvain and Aarhus University.
Thirty students with different backgrounds coming from all over Europe and beyond are attending lectures and workshops at Le Benedettine Teaching Centre, taking part in the discussion of ongoing experiments presented by scientists of international fame. Among the participants, six students are from Circle U. universities: Tobias Richter (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Mathias Houe Andersen (Aarhus University), Ana Hadjès and Jad Laaboudi (Paris Cité), Cecilia Barachini and Monica Lavelli (Università di Pisa). They have spared a few minutes to tell us about this amazing experience: “We got the chance to know people from so many different backgrounds and courses of study and to learn about different approaches to research, which definitely widens your mind. Plus, we have established personal and working connections, which will be fruitful in the future.”
Five of the six Circle U. students: Tobias, Cecilia, Ana, Mathias and Jad.
Paola Binda, coordinator of the Summer School, and the other organisers Olivier Collignon (UCLouvain), Martin Rolfs (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Morten Storm Overgaard (Aarhus University), shared their positive feedback on this experience: “We are so pleased to see a community of students that are actively working to build a group where information is shared and that they are making the best out of the connection with the teachers. Circle U. has sparked something that certainly extends way beyond CU and Europe because we managed to have people from other continents”.
Olivier Collignon, Paola Binda and Martin Rolfs.
Professor Paola Binda said: “Locally it was an amazing opportunity to showcase us to local institutions – Italian National Research Council (CNR), Scuola Normale Superiore, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Imago7 – who were immediately very responsive and supportive and contributed to the Summer School. I can say that this was an amazing opportunity for us in the Pisan area to meet and exchange more and more about our research”.