Transatlantic Behavioural Neuroscience School 2026

PhD students and early-stage researchers are especially encouraged to apply. European students can obtain travel grants and fee waivers via FENS. 

The school is divided in five blocks:

  • 3D printing, where you will have an opportunity to learn the theory necessary to take full advantage of this technique and how to use Autodesk Fusion software to design elements of your behavioural setup
  • Electronics and Arduino, that is intended to provide the skills necessary to understand the design of devices used in behavioural research; it will also teach how to build and program such devices – among others, optogenetics laser controllers, automated doors, stimulus delivery systems and devices used for synchronizing data streams
  • Bonsai module that aims at teaching you how to use Bonsai to track your animals, conduct closed-loop experiments with Arduino and analyze your data
  • Deeplabcut and machine learning, where you will gain an in-depth understanding of the DL tools used in behavioural science and learn how to apply them to extract interesting information from your data
  • Project is the module where you will apply all the knowledge gained during the course to build a 3D-printed setup for studying phototactic behaviour in Drosophila, conduct experiments and analyze the data

School will be also composed of a series of lectures by researchers studying animal behaviour on different model systems and with different approaches.

Deadline to apply to attend is 15 March 2026. Event takes place 11 to 22nd August 2026.