The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) is a European

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

scientific societies A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...

for basic scientists and physicians whose research is focused on the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

and

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

(i.e.,

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

History

The federation was founded in 1998 to coordinate and present at the European level the research of members of national and European neuroscience societies. It succeeded the European Neuroscience Association. FENS federates 44 member societies and 5 associate member societies, representing around 23,000 scientists.

Activities

FENS organises an international scientific meeting in even years, the FENS Forum of European Neuroscience. Every meeting takes place in a different European country hosted by its national neuroscience society. In the odd years that no Forum meeting takes place, a FENS Regional Meeting is held. In addition, twice yearly more specialised meetings are organized in collaboration with the Lundbeck Foundation, called The Brain Conferences.

Publications

Together with

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

, the federation publishes the ''

European Journal of Neuroscience The ''European Journal of Neuroscience'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neuroscience. It was established in 1989 with Ray Guillery (then at the University of Oxford) as the founding editor-in-chief. The ...

'', a monthly

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

, and the ''FENS Forum Abstracts'', the proceedings of the FENS Forums of European Neuroscience.

References

External links

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European Brain Council
{{authority control Neuroscience organizations International scientific organizations based in Europe Scientific organizations established in 1998