Around 200 people gathered at Karolinska Institutet (KI) from 11 to 13 May for the European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU) event: Next Generation – Skills, Talent, Careers & Innovation. Students and staff from across the Alliance took part in an event comprising three parallel activities: the XI Board of Rectors, the General Assembly, and the Neuroinnovation Summit. The delegation from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) was led by the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Cooperation, Vicente Micol; the NeurotechEU lead at UMH and Director of the Institute of Neurosciences (UMH-CSIC), Juana Gallar; and the Director of the International Relations Office, Inmaculada Blaya.

XI Consejo de Rectores y Asamblea General de NeurotechEU

XI Consejo de Rectores y Asamblea General de NeurotechEU

The UMH delegation at the General Assembly included the Director of the Area for International Promotion and the Translational Research Centre in Physiotherapy, María del Carmen Lillo, and the Deputy Vice-Rector for Institutional Positioning and Rankings, José Manuel Blanes. Furthermore, several UMH professors involved in creating NeurotechEU teaching content attended: Physiology Professor Víctor Meseguer, Medicine Professor Ángel C. Pérez Sempere, and Institute of Neurosciences researcher Silvia de Santis. The event also saw the participation of NeurotechEU project managers María José Such, quality management expert, Virginia García, and Sonia Martín; new learning models expert Anna Mura; the NeurotechEU communications manager at UMH, Júlia Santacreu; and the UMH student representatives on the NeurotechEU Student Council, Bárbara Corral, Desirée Gracia, and Jorge Maldonado.

Delegación de la UMH en el XI Consejo de Rectores y Asamblea General de NeurotechEU

The General Assembly concluded with a meeting of the NeurotechEU Student Council, where they discussed strategies to ensure student representation throughout the Alliance’s second phase. Subsequently, the students attended a social event organised by and for them, in their capacity as representatives of the various consortium universities.

Student Council de NeurotechEU en el XI Consejo de Rectores y Asamblea General de la Alianza

Running alongside the Board of Rectors and the General Assembly was the annual Neuroinnovation Summit, a conference focused on integrating neurotechnology into healthcare and the commercialisation pathways for research innovations. Representing UMH, Silvia de Santis, a researcher from the Institute of Neurosciences (a joint centre of UMH and the Spanish National Research Council), delivered a keynote entitled: From Diffusion MRI to Virtual Histology: Tracking Neuronal and Glial Changes in Ageing and Alzheimer’s.

Silvia De Santis investigadora del Instituto de Neurociencias CSIC-UMH en el Neuroinnovation Summit de NeurotechEU

NeurotechEU is a European University co-funded by the European Commission, dedicated to creating a higher education and research space focused on neurotechnology. Its goal is to provide affordable technological solutions for health issues related to neuroscience and mental health. In addition to UMH, the NeurotechEU alliance comprises eight other universities: Radboud University (Netherlands), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the University of Bonn (Germany), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the University of Lille (France), Reykjavik University (Iceland), and the Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria).