Learn from the leaders, become a leader

The Courses at the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies are carefully designed and orchestrated to maximize the potential for interaction between the Faculty and participants in a very friendly and unintimidating manner.

Each Faculty member presents lectures and discusses with the participants for one entire day. Such long interaction together with the small, exclusive Course size provides the uncommon opportunity to fully explore the expertise of each Faculty, often through one-to-one mentoring. This is unparalleled and priceless.

Learning from the leaders, you will discard outdated notions, gain an appreciation for the latest ideas, and develop insights that will create in you fresh perspectives in your own field of research or clinical activity. You will complete the Course with a tremendous reserve of strategic thinking that you can put to immediate use, as well as mobilize as contingencies demand.

The Courses are not only suited for younger scholars. Noteworthy is the regular presence of seasoned investigators -often senior faculties at their own institutions- among the Course participants. The balanced audience that we strive to maintain in each Course greatly contributes to the development of intense cross-disciplinary debates among Faculties and participants that typically address the most advanced and emerging areas of each topic.

What to expect

Participants are selected on merit only, with attendance limited to a maximum of 50, allowing participants to flourish in an optimal learning environment.

Typically there are two 90-min sessions in the morning, followed by a 30-min open discussion. The Faculty and participants then spend a good part of the afternoon within the lecture hall, the cloister and the discussion areas of the NSAS and delve into an in-depth analysis of each Faculty member's domain.

The curriculum of each Course is outlined on its webpage. The preset program is however flexible: the participants often steer discussions toward a specific direction, and Faculty members incorporate these ideas and themes into their material and presentations. Structured, yet strongly personalized, each Course will likely bring about a full-scale transformation of participants.

Time during each day and one entire afternoon are reserved for recreation and local sightseeing—a relaxing and enjoyable time that the Faculty members and participants spend together. Also very popular are local cafés in a courtyard or on the main square, where the day's topics are further discussed, albeit over wine.

The Faculty members and participants eat meals and spend recreation time together: here, themes from daily discussions are very often reinforced, amplified, and challenged through. The Faculty members remain on-site with the participants for several days, many for the entire duration of the Course.

Words cannot fully do justice, however, to the informal, rich, and collegial atmosphere that develops at the NSAS—one that is very special and unique compared with any other course and conference venue.

Participants

Throughout the years the NSAS has welcomed participants from more than 40 different countries and, understanding the power of the program, many have registered again for more than one Course.

Typically participants range from graduate students to full professors, sometimes heads of department. Participants from most of the top Universities and research Institutions worldwide have taken a Course, including: