SCONe Newsletter- May 2023

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Dear SCONe members,

We’d like to start this new form of updates so that everyone has a chance of knowing what is happening across the network. The aim will always be to keep this concise so it’s a quick read. As this is the first of its kind, this one might be a lot longer though…

Project Updates:

We are working towards a final draft of the position paper (including thinking about what else to call it). Make sure to attend the meeting on 1 Jun 2023, 10:00 BST, for a discussion of emerging big questions (~2hrs). Zoom link sent earlier and will be sent again closer to the meeting, also available on the SCONe Discord (access required).

We have started a collaborative research project that is currently gearing towards a meta-analysis of alpha lateralisation effects based on existing literature. Regular meetings are on, and updates can be found in the corresponding Discord channel (access required). This effort can still be joined.

Conferences & meetings:

SCONe will be meeting at the SAMBA conference in Salzburg, 13 – 14 Jul. Make sure to register by 31 May if you want to attend the conference. The (inofficial) SCONe satellite will take place on the morning of 15 Jul (likely 9am-1pm) – hybrid options to be explored.

From 16-19 Oct, we’ll have the global conference CuttingEEG 2023. Several SCONe members will be involved in organising local “gardens”, and some even in the main event, as speakers or organisers.

Website & Social Media:

As a consequence of moving SCONe admin from Stirling to Dundee, there are some changes to our internet presences. The SCONe twitter account now has the updated handle @SCONe_neuro. Also huge thanks to Laura Klatt who’s taken over some (if not most) of the account’s tweeting. (Get in touch if you are interested in having access to our SocMed accounts and help us out spreading the word). Our website can be found at https://sites.dundee.ac.uk/scone. Emails should be sent to scone@dundee.ac.uk.

One thing that can be found on the website, and that we’d like as many as possible to contribute to is compiling a list of openly available datasets from experiments that look into some aspect of brain rhythms  – see here, and click on ‘Open Datasets’. In order to have your dataset listed, you will need to fill in this form. (Note that the data will not appear immediately but only after a content check.)

Funding & Jobs:

We are looking into extending the SCONe funding lifetime past the end of 2023, as well as expanding based on the current network. Some of us have recently attended an info session on EU COST actions and they still seem the most comprehensive way of entertaining a pan-European network of like-minded researchers. Discussions surrounding a bid for a COST action (due Oct 2023), or similar, will be part of the SCONe meeting at SAMBA.

[Send us job adverts to be listed here … can also be posted on the Discord channel]

Other:

We welcome Søren Andersen, Raquel London, James Dowsett, Benedikt Zoefel and Keith Doelling to SCONe – happy to have you on board.

[Let us know whether there are other categories of info to be covered here, e.g., recent papers from SCONe members, etc.]

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Best wishes,
SCONe Steer Com

Celebrating 1 year of SCONe!

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One year ago, the Scottish-EU Critical Oscillations Network was launched to connect researchers across Europe who are interested in brain rhythms. In 2022, SCONe saw amazing progress, hosting for the first time of an in-person meeting in Helsinki, Finland, as a satellite of the International Conference of Neuroscience! This meeting brought members together to discuss the next stages of our collaboration. We focused on shaping a position paper, a first joint publication that we progressed further through several online meetings over the course of the year. The paper is nearing completion and we aim for a publication in the second half of 2023.

2023 will bring some changes. Previously hosted at the University of Stirling, the network admin will be based at the University of Dundee, Scotland, from May 2023 on.

We will also be moving social media platforms in 2023. Our Twitter account will still exist, but our most active platform will be on Mastodon, where the SCONe account is currently hosted at: https://sciences.social/@SCONe

SCONe would like to thank you for your strong and continuous support, and we look forward to many more interesting events and accomplishments in 2023!

SCONe Logo Competition

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SCONe needed a logo – as aspiring networks do. So we asked our members to enter their ideas into a logo competition, and vote for their favourites. After a nerve-wracking tie between two of the contenders in the online voting, it came down to a deciding face-off during our March meeting.

The first place winner of the SCONe logo competition

The winning entry came from Malte Wöstmann, with the addition of a hand-drawn brain from Karin Bakardjian. Also thanks to the graphics department of the Max-Planck institute for Empirical Aesthetics and Johanna Rimmele for the close runner-up design.

The runner-up design

Congratulations to the winner and huge thanks to everyone who took part in the competition!

First SCONe in-person meeting in Helsinki

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SCONe members rounded off an exciting ICON 2022 with the first in-person meeting of the newly founded network ever.

In a cosy meeting space at the University of Helsinki we discussed future endeavours of SCONe, and in particular, an upcoming publication. This massive effort, the details of which will be shared at a later date, will involve all members. To celebrate the occasion, we finished our meeting with some fine Finnish seafood.

Thanks to everyone who attended online and in-person! With this much engagement and enthusiasm, SCONe’s future is looking bright.

Introducing SCONe

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In summer 2021, Paul Sauseng (LMU, Munich, Germany), Satu Palva (University of Glasgow, Scotland, University of Helsinki, Finland), Anne Keitel (University of Dundee, Scotland) and Christian Keitel (University of Stirling, Scotland) successfully applied for a Saltire Network Facilitation Award from the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) to start the Scottish-EU Critical Oscillations Network.

The Network officially started on 1 Jan 2022 with 20 members from labs and workgroups in nine different European countries and has since grown steadily. We all share a strong interest in
rhythmic brain processes and how they influence perception, cognition, and behaviour.

Research into brain rhythms has already fundamentally extended our knowledge of normal brain function, and how disturbances of rhythmic activity relate to known brain dysfunctions. Further advances in our understanding, and more importantly, our ability to interact with brain rhythms to promote a healthier society will require the concerted international efforts of leading research groups.

SCONe will deliver the groundwork and allow researchers to go beyond their usual reach and seek out expertise in a pan-European network of experts on brain rhythms. We will establish an infrastructure for putting together high-impact collaborative research grants, creating knowledge exchange opportunities and multi-centre data management know-how.

So far, we have started work on our first position paper, and held online gatherings to discuss additional SCONe-related projects. We are now looking forward to meeting in-person at a satellite event at the ICON 2022 in Helsinki.