Category Archives: Events

Information on activities that the CEN is undertaking, including Policy Seminars, Research Seminars, presentations at conferences, and meetings of the Research Group

UCL-IOE / HKU Education & Neuroscience Collaboration: Friday 15th January

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You are warmly invited to take part in the upcoming, second instalment of an exciting digital and e-learning collaboration between UCL-IoE and Hong Kong University.

Intended to facilitate inclusive and accessible conversations about current trends in education and neuroscience, and to link researchers working in different parts of the world, this Friday’s session will consist of;
  • Prof. Andrew Tolmie (UCL-IoE), presenting on Observation, Description and Explanation in Primary School Science
  • Prof. Michael Thomas (BBK) speaking on The Cognitive Neuroscience of Socioeconomic Status
  • Prof. Emily Farran (UCL-IoE) presenting a paper entitled A Multilevel Approach to Understanding Development

Abstracts are available here…

As this is a digital seminar, the session will be broadcast online, and is therefore intended to be accessed remotely from anywhere via a link sent to those who sign-up. Similarly, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of each other and the speakers via the twitter hashtag #UCL_EdNeuro and a google-hangout. There is also an opportunity to attend the session in person over coffee at UCL-IoE.
For more information and to sign-up, follow the Eventbrite link here… 

New Workshop on Current Issues in Educational Neuroscience for graduate students and researchers: Friday 20th November, 9:00 – 17:00

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Current Issues in Educational Neuroscience: A workshop sponsored by the Bloomsbury and UCL Doctoral Training Centres

Date and time: Friday 20th November 2015, Registration from 9:00, workshop 9:30 – 17:00

Location: Room B34, Birbeck, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX (updated location)

This full day workshop features a keynote presentation by Professor Daphne Bavelier entitled “Learning and transfer: Lessons from action video games”, two themed sessions on educational neuroscience (on the training of executive functions, and on the environmental factors associated with cognitive development and learning), a lunchtime poster session, and a panel discussion.

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Professor Daphne Bavelier (University of Geneva) is a cognitive neuroscientist who studies brain plasticity. Her research tackles questions such as: What are the factors that promote such learning and brain plasticity? Are some parts of our nervous system more plastic than others, making some skills easier to acquire?

Professor Bavelier presented the popular TED talk “Your brain on video games”.

Who is the workshop for? MPhil/PhD students, MSc students, and early career researchers

Is there a registration fee? No, registration is free, but you must register to attend.

How do I book? To reserve your place, please email the Centre for Educational Neuroscience administrator at centre4educationalneuroscience@gmail.com, with NOVEMBER WORKSHOP in the subject line. Please indicate in the email what programme you are studying on.

Can I present a poster? If you have research to present that is relevant to educational neuroscience (in its broadest sense) we would love to hear from you. Please email a 300 word abstract of your poster to the Centre for Educational Neuroscience administrator at centre4educationalneuroscience@gmail.com, with NOVEMBER WORKSHOP POSTER in the subject line.

CEN Research Group autumn schedule now available

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The CEN Research Group, which is open to those interested in the latest developments in educational neuroscience, meets weekly at 4pm on Thursday afternoons.

Our autumn schedule is now available here. The first meeting is on Thursday 15th October, with a journal paper presentation from Emily Farran. On 22nd October, Sarah Punshon will be talking about her new Wellcome-Funded project: “Getting stuck, going wrong and being stupid: could a theatrical adventure impact children’s beliefs about their mathematical brains?”. On Thursday 29th October, Dr. Ben Shaw from the University of Westminster will present his research on “Children’s Independent Mobility: how much freedom do our children have to get about by themselves and does independence affect child development?”

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The CEN Research Group is open to faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and students at Birkbeck and UCL (especially those on the Educational Neuroscience and Developmental Sciences masters, and PhD students studying relevant topics). It is also open to educationalists, educational psychologists, and interested teachers. Meetings aim to enable an atmosphere of informal discussion of the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology, and their relevance to education. If you would like to attend, please contact us at: centre4educationalneuroscience@gmail.com

Public lecture on Genetics and Education 18th November 2015

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Michael Thomas, Director of CEN, and Dr. Emma Meaburn, will give the Inaugural Annual Learnus Lecture, on the topic of Genetics and Education, on 18th November at 6.30pm, at Harvey Goodwin Suite, Church House, Dean’s Yard London SW1P 3NZ. The lecture will explore the potential contribution of modern genetic methods and findings to education. Here’s the flier:

Learnus Inaugural Annual Lecture

 

Summer seminar at CEN: 12-1pm, August 5th, Birkbeck: Prof. Yi-Yuan Tang on ‘Training Attention and Self-regulation’

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Professor Yi-Yuan Tang, visiting from Texas Tech University, USA, will give a seminar at the the CEN on Wednesday, 12-1pm on August 5th, at Birkbeck (Room 153, Malet Street building), with a buffet lunch afterwards.

The seminar will be on “Training Attention and Self-regulation: Brain Mechanisms and Applications”.

Abstract: “Attention and self-regulation play an important role in learning and education. It remains largely unknown how to train these capacities effectively. This talk will introduce two types of training methods – state training and network training. Network training involves practice of a specific task (e.g., attention, working memory) repeatedly and thus exercising its specific brain network. State training uses practice (e.g., physical exercise or mindfulness meditation) to develop a brain state that may influence the operations of many networks. State training certainly involves networks, but it is not designed to train networks using a cognitive task. Research has shown that both types of training can improve attention, cognitive control, emotion regulation and neuroplasticity. I will discuss the brain mechanisms and applications of these types of training in learning and education.”

All welcome.

Workshop on the Science of Learning 21 October at the Royal Society

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As part of the state visit of the President of Singapore to the UK later this month, the Centre for Educational Neuroscience ran a 1-day workshop in collaboration with Singapore’s National Research Foundation on the Science of Learning at the Royal Society on Tuesday 21st October 2014.

The workshop included presentations from Dr. Hilary Leevers of the Wellcome Trust on current funding developments in the UK for educational neuroscience, from Prof. Derek Bell, Director of Learnus, on how to advance the field of educational neuroscience, from several members of CEN including Prof. Denis Mareschal, Prof. Andy Tolmie, Prof. Michael Thomas and Dr. Iroise Dumontheil on specific research projects, and talks from a number of leading researchers from Singapore including Dr. Mariam Sharifah (Principal Specialist, Educational Psychologist, Ministry of Education), Prof. Ellen Do (Co-Director, Keio-NUS CUTE Center 
Interactive and Digital Media Institute, National University of Singapore), Prof. Ranga Krishnan (Dean, Dike-NUS Graduate Medical School), Prof. Balazs Gulyas (Professor of Translational Neuroscience, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), and A/Prof Manu Kapur (Head, Learning Sciences Lab, National Institute of Education, Singapore).

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Forthcoming lecture in September: Prof. Chia-Ju Liu – “Affective Learning: Evidence from Neuroscience”

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Prof. Chia-Ju Liu, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan, will be giving a talk on “Affective Learning: Evidence from Neuroscience” on Thursday 18th September.

The talk will be at 4pm in Room 534, in Birkbeck Main Building.

Come on find out about the emotions! All welcome.

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Dr. Chia-Ju Liu is currently the Dean of College of Science, the Director of Science Education Center and Educational Neuroscience Lab at National Kaohsiung Normal University. Her research recently focuses on educational neuroscience, including cognitive science and science learning, scientific thinking and processes. Her current research projects are “The influences of different dimensions of science representations on students’ understanding of science concepts”, “The study of consisted elements of scientific creativity with ERP”, “The study on the effects of spatial ability and visual representation on forming mental image in learning science”, “Exploring the role of imagery ability in learning science concept”, and “Nonlinear analysis of brain dynamics”. These research aims to explore and characterise students’ scientific learning practices and reasoning processes based on educational neuroscience using EEG/ERPs. With the Eye Tracking methodology, Prof. Liu aims to identify learners’ exact scientific learning process, and enhance their science learning experience. Her work has been published in several SCI, SSCI, and TSSCI journals. Her research work has been published in International Journal of Science Education, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Neuroscience Letters, Learning Environments Research and other educational journal.

Summer term CEN Research Group schedule now available

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The schedule for the CEN Research Group meetings through to July is now available. Highlights include seminar presentations from Professor Susan Gathercole from University of Cambridge on interventions for working memory impairments in developmental disorders, and from Dr. Roi Cohen Kadosh from University of Oxford on whether neuroscience can enhance academic achievements. Other sessions consider mobile technology and deaf students, twin studies of reading development, spatial cognition and STEM education, and an e-learning tool for biochemical pathways. Sessions take place on Tuesday afternoons. See tab above for further details.