As a long-term and large-scale research initiative, the Human Brain Project (HBP) has pioneered digital brain research by gaining an in-depth understanding of the complex structure and function of the human brain by employing highly advanced methods from computing, neuroinformatics and artificial intelligence. This unique interdisciplinary approach at the interface of neuroscience and technology also necessitated a unique approach to education, which is why the HBP Education Programme has been an integral part of the flagship project since its beginning.

An interdisciplinary approach to educating brain scientists

Coordinated by a team at the Medical University Innsbruck led by Prof. Alois Saria (2013-2020) and DI Tina Kokan (2020-2023), and in collaboration with the University of Heidelberg, the HBP Education Programme has offered innovative learning packages and organised interdisciplinary education events for early-career researchers working in and across the fields of neuroscience, information and communications technologies, and medicine. After the Ramp-Up phase, during which the Education Programme was conceptualized, the programme became fully operational in 2016 and since then offered a coherent framework of event formats that addressed researchers at different skill levels to establish contact with the HBP research results, and in particular the tools and services offered by the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure (EBRAINS RI). While the HBP Curriculum on Interdisciplinary Brain Science offered introductory courses to the HBP research subjects for non-specialists, more specialised workshops, schools, and training events introduced participants to the research themes of the HBP and the opportunities provided by the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure. The Young Researcher Events and HBP Student Conferences on Interdisciplinary Brain Research provided opportunities to encourage collaboration and scientific exchange across the HBP’s research fields and gave early career researchers a platform to present their own research and engage in extensive discussions with peers and principal investigators from within and outside the HBP.

The Covid-19 pandemic that greatly affected the project in 2020 and 2021 turned out to be the pivotal moment for the HBP Education Programme to explore ways for delivering 40 impactful virtual and hybrid education events. The HBP Tea & Slides series, initiated together with the HBP student ambassadors in spring 2020, proved to be crucial in keeping the student community engaged in times of social distancing by offering a regular virtual coffee and tea break featuring talks by early-career researchers about their current work and projects. Later on, successful editions of fully virtual events, such as the 5th and 6th HBP Student Conference and hybrid events such as the Young Researcher Events in Denmark and Croatia in 2022 and the EBRAINS Workshop BASSES in Rome helped to broaden the reach of the HBP Education Programme and made the events more inclusive, geographically spread and accessible for early-career researchers who couldn’t otherwise travel to such events.

In the seven years of the HBP Education Programme being fully operational, over 6200 attendees, on average coming from 12 different countries per event, attended the HBP Education Programme Events. The regular monthly HBP Education newsletter reached almost 4,000 subscribers and the Social Media channels of the HBP Education Programme constantly grew reaching more than 14,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. A dedicated HBP Students Slack Channel additionally provided a platform to connect more than 600 students and early-career researchers within and beyond the project. As a lasting legacy of the HBP Education events, 714 recordings of lectures, talks and demos have been published on the HBP Education E-Library.

An effort carried by the entire HBP consortium and beyond

Delivering such a huge programme within a seven-year period has only been possible due to the broad and continuous support by the entire HBP consortium. Colleagues from all work packages, disciplines and all career levels were frequently involved in the events as programme committee members, speakers, tutors, and moderators. The HBP Education Programme Committee members representing the HBP work packages as well as all relevant infrastructure platforms and scientific disciplines acted as advisory body by steering the content of the programme and evaluating event proposals submitted via the Education Programmes Open Calls.

To ensure the integration of horizontal topics into the HBP Education activities, the Education Programme also closely collaborated with various other teams, such as the Innovation and Exploitation team, the Diversity and Equal Opportunities Committee, the Dual Use Working Group and Ethics Rapporteurs Programme or the Community Building Team. 

Beyond the HBP network, collaborations with external stakeholders such as the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO), the International Brain Initiative (IBI) or the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) were established for a plethora of events and helped to enlarge the audiences of the HBP Education Programme. 

Building an empowered community of early-career researchers

Apart from organising educational events, a key pillar of the HBP Education Programme has been the forming of an active and engaged student community. Students and researchers at an early stage of their career make up an important part of the scientific community. By exchanging their knowledge and innovative ideas across disciplines, their contributions and engagement to the development of new structures and connections between the various research fields must not be underestimated. The HBP Education Programme has therefore early on introduced HBP Student Representatives, who speak for the Project's student community in the HBP Education Programme Committee, as well as HBP Student Ambassadors, who represent each Work Package of the Project and serve as a mouthpiece between the Student Community and the Student Representatives. This network of highly engaged early-career researchers not only served as an important voice for the HBP’s student community, but played a pivotal role in the organisation of the HBP Student Conferences and were responsible for a range of other student community activities, such as the HBP Tea & Slides series.

For the students involved in the ambassadors programme, the work in the programme has been a chance to enlarge their own and other early-career researchers’ networks and bridge gaps to other disciplines, thereby fostering the interdisciplinary nature and enabling long-lasting collaborations within the project.

“The main reason for applying for the student representative was bridging the gap and improving the communication between students from different research domains in the HBP community. [….] On one hand, I focused on creating a network of students from different domains, and on the other, it was an additional challenge to propagate the ideas and needs of this backbone of young researchers.”

Nikola Simidjevski, Jozef Stefan Institute Slovenia, Student Representative during SGA1

“I have enjoyed this time very much, it has been a pleasure to work with the EPO, and great opportunity to meet both top-notch scientists and students, I can say without any doubt that it has enlarged my network. Working with Nikola has been very interesting, coming from different backgrounds we had different perspectives which forced us to learn about other points of view, which at the end has enriched the project.”

Andrea Santuy, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Student Representative during SGA1

“Being in the HBP student faculty as a student ambassador I experienced a lot of new insights in neuroscientific research. Due to the HBP Education Programme I was able to get to know a lot of young researchers, which helped me not only to acquire a good insight on the ongoing and novel research, but also find a lot of new friends over the world. In my time as a student ambassador, I was able to connect people and create collaborations between young researchers in the HBP community and I hope these connections will be fostered for a very long time.”

Alper Yegenoglu, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Student Ambassador for WP5

"Multidisciplinary training, community and enthusiasm: these are the keywords of my experience within HBP Education. As a PhD student in a small computational neuroscience group, HBP education gave me unique opportunities to attend amazing training activities and feel part of a community beyond the borders of individual institutions. Later, as a student representative and ambassador, I was part of a fantastic team organizing educational activities and acting as a voice of the young neuroscientists community always with enthusiasm!"

Alice Geminiani, University of Pavia, (now Fundação Champalimaud), Student Representative during SGA3

The HBP Education Programme, set out as one of the key features of the Flagship Action Plan has proofed to reach its goal of educating hundreds of researchers from various disciplines within Europe and beyond and helping to train a new generation of highly skilled researchers in academia and industry. We are proud to look back on this decade-long joint consortium effort to educate the next generation of brain scientists.