Conference Corner (September 2023)
Author: Leanne Monteiro and Tegan Hargreaves
Presenting at conferences is a great way to reach a large audience, hear the latest research, network with experts in your field, strengthen your CV, and facilitate your future career. Here are some upcoming conferences that may be of interest to neuroscience graduate students. Be sure to take a look at the links below for the most up-to-date information about these and many more upcoming scientific meetings.
| Conference | Abstract Submission Deadline | Registration Fees | Location | Meeting Dates |
| World Congress of Psychiatry | Past | $200 CAD | Vienna, Austria | September 28-October 1, 2023 |
| Canadian Computational Neuroscience Conference | Past | Free | Virtual | October 5-6, 2023 |
| 2023 Innovations in the Science of Cannabis Conference | None | Free (MGDCMCR2023-FREE) | LR Wilson Hall @ McMaster University or Virtual | October 10-12, 2023 |
| The Canadian Psychiatric Association 72nd Annual Conference | Past | $110 CAD | Vancouver, BC | October 18-21, 2023 |
| International Conference on Neurology and Brain Disorders | September 28, 2023 | In-Person: $1130 CAD Virtual: $725 CAD | Boston, MA | October 19-21, 2023 |
| 19th Annual NeuroMusic Conference | September 29, 2023 | In-Person: $75-100 CAD Virtual: $30 CAD | McMaster University | October 28, 2023 |
| Society for Neuroscience Conference | Past | In-Person: $670 CAD Virtual: $340 CAD | Washington, DC | November 11-15, 2023 |
| American College of Neuropsychopharmacology | Past | In-Person: $270 CAD Virtual: $175 CAD | Tampa, FL | December 3-6, 2023 |
| The New VISTAs in Vision Research | September 29, 2023 | $100-130 CAD | York University | December 4-7, 2023 |
| Neuronal Circuits | January 12, 2024 | In-Person: $1125-1500 CAD Virtual: $235 CAD | Long Island, NY | March 20-23, 2024 |
| Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference | December 7, 2023 | TBD | Florence, Italy | April 3-7, 2024 |
| Cognitive Neuroscience Society | December 5, 2023 | TBD | Toronto, ON | April 13-16, 2024 |
| 17th Canadian Neuroscience Meeting | January 31, 2024 | $230-360 CAD (2023 rates) | Vancouver, BC | May 19-22, 2024 |
| Canadian Psychological Association | December 2023 | $ 316.40 CAD | Ottawa, ON | June 21-23, 2024 |
| Organization for Human Brain Mapping | November 17, 2023 | TBD | Seoul, Korea | June 23-27, 2024 |
| Alzheimer's Association International Conference | Opens December 2023 | TBD | Philadelphia, PA | July 28-August 1, 2024 |
| The Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Conference | TBD | TBD | Winnipeg, MB | September 21-24, 2024 |
How to Optimize Attending to Get the Most out of your Virtual Conference Experience
- Apply for conferences you normally would not be able to attend
- Italy, France, Brazil? Travelling to these places during graduate school can be difficult. However, with online conferences, you don’t need to pay for travel expenses, blurring borders and opening opportunities for networking and sharing your knowledge with the top of your field from around the world
- Register for everything you are interested in and attend what you can
- Many conferences record the talks and upload them later
- Try watching the most important talks for your research and catch up on the rest when you have time
- Go to the posters of experts whose work you admire, ask them questions, and get their contact information
- Ask questions online in the chat
- If you are someone who gets intimidated asking questions in person, virtual talks can be a great way to overcome that by being able to submit your questions in the chat
- This can also be a great way to work up your bravery to ask questions during in-person conferences and lectures
Travel Grants
McMaster’s Graduate Student Association (GSA) offers travel awards worth up to $500 to travel for conference presentations. Students can apply through the AwardSpring tile in Mosaic. In addition, each conference usually has different internal and external funding opportunities, so be sure to check for conference-specific funding wherever you register to attend.
The MiNDS program also offers a travel award up to $500 (to be matched by your supervisor).
Regular attendance (80%) at Colloquium, Journal Club and Seminar Series talks is required to qualifyThe application can be found here or for more information, Sandra knows all!
- https://www.nature.com/nrn/conferences
- https://conferenceindex.org/search?query=neuroscience&page=1
- https://conferenceindex.org/conferences/neuroscience/canada
- https://www.conferenceseries.com/neuroscience-meetings
If you know of any other conferences that other students may be interested in, please reach out to us!