Bi-annual conference of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) took place on 25-29 June 2024 in Vienna, Austria. The FENS Forum 2024 was attended by ~8000 participants, representing all diversity of neuroscience research from all over the world.
Two years ago in Paris, the COST Action TEATIME introduced itself to the neuroscience community. Our social event there was attended by less than 50 people. Since then, the Action has gained momentum and visibility with several tangible outcomes achieved and we were happy that FENS accepted our proposal for another networking event in 2024, with a focus on our online discussion forum, www.TheBehaviourForum.org. This forum was launched a year ago with a goal to develop a platform for sharing information on behavioral research in laboratory animals. It includes discussions around experimental protocols, research equipment, data interpretation, animal welfare, training opportunities, conferences, job announcement and more (https://www.cost-teatime.org/about/thebehaviourforum/). The social event in Vienna aimed at promoting the use of this resource by the scientific community, attracting new active contributors, and encouraging exchange among attendees. Thanks to the activity of TEATIME members in organizing webinars, training schools, attending conferences with talks and posters, and publishing papers promoting and advocating the novel technology and best practice in monitoring the laboratory animals we have expanded the network substantially and at 7 pm on July 25 the room was fully packed with more than 150 people!
Christophe Lamy (University of Geneva, Switzerland) kicked off by informing the audience about the COST Action TEATIME (https://www.cost-teatime.org/). He was followed by Otto Kalliokoski (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) who gave a brief insight to the BehaviourForum – presenting the interface, the categories and discussion topics, with practical notes on how to get started and engaged in the discussions. Finally, Hamid Taghipourbibalan (The Arctic University of Norway in Tromso) shared his experience from two special tools that COST Actions offer for young researchers – training school and short-term scientific mission. Hamid also gave insight to his own research, where home-cage monitoring is applied in studying how the brain controls appetite and food intake.
The presentations were followed by lively informal networking that didn’t stop until the doors were closed and crowd was forced to leave the rooms. Clearly, it was a place for meeting other members of the Action, many participants of the TEATIME schools showed up and brought their colleagues along – it also meant that there was a lot to share about the basic principles of COST Actions (openness – it’s never too late to join, inclusiveness – promoting geographical diversity and gender equity, opportunities for young researchers for training and career development). Throughout the FENS conference (where several of our members presented their posters, and industrial partners were present at their exhibition booths), it became quite clear that there is still a lot to do in promoting and applying home-cage monitoring as a method to collect more data for describing and understanding the animal behaviour and physiology, at the same time ensuring good animal welfare. Also, dialogue and connections between laboratory animal scientists, data scientists and neuroscientists need to be strengthened.
It was indeed a great meeting of old friends and colleagues, but also making new connections and keeping TEATIME spirit high!
