“Ideas, Imagination, and Inspiration” was the theme of the recently held General Assembly of the European University of the Brain and Technology – NeurotechEU. Organised by the University of Bonn (Germany) alongside the semi-annual meeting of the Alliance’s Council of Rectors, this event brought together over 150 people, including Alliance staff and students. The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), which currently holds the presidency of the Council of Rectors, was represented by the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Cooperation, Vicente Micol; the leader of NeurotechEU at the UMH and director of the Institute of Neurosciences (UMH-CSIC), Juana Gallar; and the director of the International Relations Service, Inmaculada Blaya.

During the meeting of the delegations from the universities belonging to the NeurotechEU alliance, the Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria) confirmed its upcoming incorporation into the Alliance. The Rector-elect of said university, Gert Mayer, presented the institution, highlighting its strengths and what its contribution to the alliance will be, including its close link between basic science and clinical and applied research in neurosciences and molecular biology.

Also attending the working meetings were the Deputy Vice-Rector for Research Management and director of the Brain Machine Interface Systems (BMIs) of the Elche Institute of Engineering Research (I3E-UMH), José María Azorín; the Deputy Vice-Rector for Institutional Positioning and Rankings, José Manuel Blanes, who participates in the work-package promoting mobility between the partner universities of the alliance; representing the UMH in the work package dedicated to the development of common strategies and policies was the Professor of Food Technology, Esther Sendra; and the researcher from I3E-UMH, Eduardo Iáñez, who participates in the working group dedicated to the development of the academic programme in neurotechnology of the alliance.

Also in attendance were the applications technician from the Innovation and Technological Planning Service, Víctor Álvarez; the NeurotechEU communications manager at UMH, Júlia Santacreu; the doctoral student Jesica Martínez; and the UMH representative on the NeurotechEU Student Council, Desirée Gracia.

For their part, the student representatives of the Alliance presented an artistic project in which students from the Student Council of each NeurotechEU member university displayed a part of the brain. In the case of the UMH, Desirée Gracia and Jesica Martínez represented some of the practically unknown functions of the cerebellum with regard to attention. To this end, they prepared an interactive questionnaire.

The European NeurotechEU alliance is a project co-financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme, which seeks to provide the scientific community with a centre for higher education and research focused on neurotechnology, with the aim of solving health problems related to neuroscience and mental health through affordable technologies. In addition to the UMH, the NeurotechEU alliance consists of seven other universities: Radboud University (Netherlands), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the University of Bonn (Germany), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), the Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the University of Lille (France), and the University of Reykjavík (Iceland).