Neuroscience of poverty

We are pleased to invite you to the Twelfth International School on Mind, Brain and Education (ISMBE) “Neuroscience of poverty”, to be held at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture, in Erice (Sicily) Italy, September 1 – 7, 2017.
As you can see at the following website, the ISMBE has a long history of bringing together researchers from disparate fields to catalyze research relating cognitive science and neuroscience to education: www.mbe-erice.org.

The experience of growing up in poverty has profound influences on the development and developmental opportunities of millions of children worldwide. For several decades developmental psychologists, neuroscientists, and economists have studied these influences at different neural levels (i.e., molecular, behavioral, cognitive and systemic).
In this context, the 2017 Mind, Brain and Education course is aimed at (1) updating the state of the art concerning primary hypotheses and available findings (impacts and mechanisms), (2) discussing the primary conceptual and methodological challenges facing the field, and (3) proposing next steps for innovation at multiple levels, from research to translational approaches (e.g., evidence-based interventions).

We expect to have some twenty-five participants in our course. Both senior and junior researchers from several countries of America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific are being invited to join this academic experience. We will invite each participant to give a 30- minute talk (a detailed program and agenda will be announced in 2017).
In addition, we plan to prepare a post-meeting volume based on the presentations. We hope to enjoy generous time for debates and friendly exchanges in the beautiful environment of old Erice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erice), and also have planned excursions to the ancient Greek ruins of Selinunte and Segesta.

To stimulate discussion and allow for a deeper examination of the issues, we kindly request that each speaker provide one published or unpublished manuscript, related to the theme of this course and of the presentation to be given, to share with other participants. This manuscript should provide an overview of your work, and the presentation should preferably highlight some recent relevant work or results and/or future directions for your work in this area.

The Erice Center will cover the costs of your stay during the Course and the transportation to and from Palermo Airport. Participants are asked to cover the costs of airfare. The tentative date of arrival is September 1 for our reception dinner, and the tentative departure date is September 7. These dates will be confirmed in September 2016, after the end of the Eleventh school. The cost for room and board for accompanying partners is 100 Euros per day.