cortex club

What is Cortex Club?

Cortex Club is a unique seminar series dealing with cutting-edge topics and significant, challenging issues in neuroscience. It is organized and run by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and provides an informal and egalitarian environment designed to encourage new ideas, problem solving and innovation. At each Cortex Club event, an invited speaker is asked to present a mixture of novel, technical, speculative, and possibly even controversial work or ideas. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions, make comments, and discuss with each other during the invited speaker's presentation. The direction of the discussion is allowed to evolve organically, whether that be down towards the nitty-gritty technical details of a new methodology, or up towards lofty ideas about the nature of the brain and the future of neuroscience. The idea is to develop something in the vein of the "coffee houses" of the enlightenment era, where "...they created a space where ideas could mingle, swap and create new forms" (Steven Johnson, author of the book 'Where Good Ideas Come From').

We encourage anyone who is interested in the brain and who enjoys in-depth, advanced discussions about it to participate in Cortex Club events. Although it is run by students and post-docs, it is intended to be a forum for people at any level of their career – from undergraduates to emeritus professors.

The events will be held upstairs in the Graduate Students' Union pub, in order to ensure that the atmosphere is relaxed and informal.

Organizers: Blake Richards, blake.richards@utoronto.ca; William To, william.to@utoronto.ca; and Jimmy Fraigne, jimmy.fraigne@utoronto.ca