Connecting Treasures
19 July 2018
This year’s ABC annual meeting wore a whole new dress and it was an exciting afternoon - all in the name of networking, and connecting all the treasures that are to be found within ABC.
The day started off with an opening talk by Richard Ridderinkhof, ABC’s Scientific director, who presented the new strategic mission of ABC. He highlighted that while ABC has been successfully in fostering interdisciplinary research and facilitating a variety of novel smaller-scale research lines, to bring things to the next level and transform these in durable interdisciplinary research lines it was key to improve its visibility and thematic profiling.
ABC aims to achieve this by enhancing internal cohesion and external visibility, by encouraging collaboration and formation of alliances with other consortia currently working in related fields in Amsterdam, and internationally.
Briefly, the new thematic areas will be
These will be across transversal cross-disciplinary perspectives including
These themes will be developed further for an even better framing.
In addition ABC strives to enhance:
For further details on the ABC mission statement read here
The day focused the spotlight on young scientists, who are actively involved in the projects supported by ABC. The program consisted of short department highlights or pitches, to give insights in their work. We hope that these introductions will create the basis for new collaborations, and lay the foundation for building new networks, by connecting the wonderful treasures that are held within ABC.
During the day there were 2 fantastic rounds of highlight talks, followed by an exciting and dynamic session of pitches. This format allowed for a lively discussion and questions, both during the sessions, as well as during the breaks. The presentations highlighted the large variety of topics across all fields from social sciences, linguistics, psychology, cognitive sciences and fundamental neuroscience.
The day ended with a cozy dinner and drinks in the patio of “De Brakke Grond” where lively discussions continued on the future of ABC, sharing ideas and getting to know new colleagues.
Thanks to all the speakers and everyone who visited for another great ABC Day, and we hope to see you again next year!
All photos by Juul op den Kamp