Body-Brain Waves
June 2027, Sicily, IT
WAVES ’27
Waves is a series of scientific events focusing on modulatory interactions between the Body and the Brain
We critically evaluate if and how neural excitability, information processing, and overt behavior can be influenced by the body and its peripheral physiological activity: breathing, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal activity, oculomotor dynamics and circadian rhythms complement the assessment of Brain Waves, informing and advancing our understanding of how we perceive, act, and evaluate the dynamically changing environment we live in.
In 2027, Waves offers a Summer School + Conference.
Summer School: how to measure Body-Brain Waves and how to investigate Body-Brain interactions?
During the Summer School, we will learn how to expand our experimental setups so to include bodily physiological signals next to brain activity and/or behavior. We will learn best practices in acquiring multimodal peripheral signals from body, and how to holistically examine dynamic Body-Brain interactions and their modulatory role in cognition.
The Summer School will be followed by a 3-day Conference featuring talks and workshops on Body-Brain research.
IMPORTANT DATES
- Summer School: 2-4 June 2027 (tbc)
- Conference: 7-9 June 2027 (tbc)
- Submissions: October – December 2026
- Notification of Acceptance: 31.01.2027
- Early-bird Registration: 01.02.2027 – 28.02.2027
- Late-bird Registration: 01.03.2027 – 31.03.2027
Organizing
Team
Max Planck Institute
for Biological Cybernetics
Dynamic Cognition Group
Dynamic Cognition Lab
Università di Bologna
Eating Attitudes Team (EATeam)
Maastricht University
Basic and Applied Neurodynamics Laboratory (BAND-lab)
Program
Program will be shared here
Invited speakers
Professor of Computational Psychiatry,
Institute of Clinical Medicine,
Aarhus University, DK
The Embodied Computation Group is a multidisciplinary research lab located at Aarhus University and Cambridge Psychiatry, led by Dr Micah Allen.
The lab investigates how our decision-making, emotion, and conscious perception are shaped by visceral and embodied processes.
Group leader
Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, IDIBPAS
Hospital Clinic Barcelona, ES
Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, IDIBPAS
Dr Mariana Babo-Rebelo is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research explores the neural mechanisms of self-consciousness and their link to brain-body coupling.
This includes work in memory, spatial representations, subjective experience, bodily perception, brain-heart coupling and the motor system.
Group leader
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive
and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, DE
Mind-Body-Emotion group
The group investigates the interaction of the brain and other bodily systems during emotional processing – with a special focus on potential modulators of cardio- and cerebrovascular health. We use psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods in classical lab-based experiments but also run studies with real-world and naturalistic stimulation (e.g., immersive virtual reality).
Principal Investigator
University of Lisbon, Portugal
University College London, UK
I aim to investigate (i) what is self-consciousness and how it develops in relation to our body and our physical and social environment; (ii) the effect of interacting with humans versus artificial others on the human mind and body. To this end, I use conceptual and psychophysiological methods, together with behavioural testing and advanced neuroimaging techniques (fNIRS) to map changes in behaviour, phenomenology, and brain when people interact with humans versus artificial others in natural and in virtual environments.
Associate professor
University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, ES
Active Cognition, Embodiment and Environment Lab
Our research examines the dynamic ways people actively sense and interact with stimuli. This approach departs from the traditional view of organisms as passive agents. We are particularly interested in examining how the active sensing of the environment is shaped by our internal bodily signals (interoception).
SOCIAL EVENTS
Social events will be posted here.
city
Info on the city, touristic attractions, cultural events and travel tips will be shared here.
Call for Applications
Summer School
We encourage researchers at any career stage to apply by
submitting a 3-page *.pdf file organized as follows:
- 1st page: Abstract / Overview of ongoing work.
Provide: title, authors and affiliation; 400-word max abstract
(references are optional); - 2nd page: A short bio with research interests and motivation;
- 3rd page: Express if you are proficient with any coding language(s),
your expertise with body-brain signal acquisition and analyses, and if there are specific analyses you would like to implement in your body-brain project.
The abstract should shortly summarize ongoing experimental research and research lines, but can also include planned studies in various fields of neuroscience.
On each day, there will be time reserved for Q&As and for working on your individual research questions with the tutors. If you would like to bring your own data to work on, please briefly describe the analysis approach you would like to implement in the 3rd page of the application.
Please, submit your application via the online submission portal.
Should you have further questions, please send an email to antonio.criscuolo@tuebingen.mpg.de
The submission deadline is provided in ‘Important Dates’ above.
Topics of interest (but not limited to)
Body-brain interactions, neural oscillations, body physiology, sensory processing, perception, action, learning, memory, emotion processing, consciousness/awareness, sleep, social cognition, methods development.
Fields of research (but not limited to)
Fundamental neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, translational neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, experimental psychology, network science, and network physiology.
You do not have to pay the registration fee at this stage.
Wait for the notification of acceptance.
For inquiries and questions, contact: antonio.criscuolo@tuebingen.mpg.de
Call for Applications
Conference
We encourage researchers at any career stage to submit an application and express preferences for a
5, 10, 15 or 20 min talk. If you wish to join as a listener only, that is possible as well.
Symposium proposals are also accepted, and should be planned to fit within 1h,
including a max of 4 talks and 15min of Q&A.
The application should shortly summarize ongoing experimental research and research lines, but can also include planned studies, literature reviews and novel frameworks (including theories and opinions) in various fields of neuroscience.
For the submission, please prepare a 2-page *.pdf file organized as follows:
- 1st page: Title, authors and affiliations; preference for a talk of 5, 10, 15 or 20 min or a Symposium;
max 300 (single abstract) and 500 (symposium) words abstract with references (optional); - 2nd page: A short (150-word) bio per speaker.
Please, submit your abstract via the online submission portal.
Should you have further questions, please send an email to antonio.criscuolo@tuebingen.mpg.de
The submission deadline is provided in ‘Important Dates’ above.
Topics of interest (but not limited to)
Body-brain interactions, neural oscillations, body physiology, sensory processing, perception, action, learning, memory, emotion processing, consciousness/awareness, sleep, social cognition, methods development.
Fields of research (but not limited to)
Fundamental neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, translational neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, experimental psychology, network science, and network physiology.
You do not have to pay the registration fee at this stage.
Wait for the notification of acceptance.
For inquiries and questions, contact: antonio.criscuolo@tuebingen.mpg.de
Summer School
registration
Early bird (01.02.2027 – 28.02.2027):
- MSc and PhD students: €300
- Others: €400
Late bird (01.03.2027 – 31.03.2027):
- MSc and PhD students: €400
- Others: €450
Discount codes:
for Italian Institutes and researchers in Italy:
- MSc and PhD students: €200
- Others: €300
for international research teams (>4 people):
- MSc and PhD students: €200
- Others: €300
Registration fee includes
- access to lectures, workshops and materials;
- coffe breaks
- lunch.
IF you register for the Summer School AND also want to attend the Symposium,
you can do so with a reduced fee of €100.
Enthutsiastic researchers who would like to join but currently have no budget: get in touch, we’ll find a solution.
Student volunteers call is open.
Note that you can attend Waves only if you have paid the registration fee.
Check travel grant opportunities like this one.
follow the registration link here
Conference
registration
Early bird (01.02.2027 – 28.02.2027):
- MSc and PhD students: €200
- Others: €300
Late bird (01.03.2027 – 31.03.2027):
- MSc and PhD students: €300
- Others: €350
Discount codes available for Italian Institutes and researchers in Italy.
Discount codes available for research teams (>4 people).
Registration fee includes:
- access to lectures and workshops;
- coffee breaks.
IF you register for the Summer School AND also want to attend the Symposium,
you can do so with a reduced fee of €100.
Enthutsiastic researchers who would like to join but currently have no budget: get in touch, we’ll find a solution.
Student volunteers call is open.
Note that you can attend Waves only if you have paid the registration fee.
Check travel grant opportunities like this one.
follow the registration link here
SPONSORS
The time is ripe for a fundamental shift in how we study human brain and behavior: a more holistic, dynamic, mobile and individualized approach to the study of brain and bodily physiological signals will critically advance and foster the study of neurocognitive functions from health to pathology. However:
- Do we have the adequate research and medical equipment?
- How hard is (mobile) body-brain imaging?
Do you want to support and contribute to our Symposium?
The call for talks, demonstrations and workshops is open.
Get in touch!
CONTACT
Antonio Criscuolo
antonio.criscuolo@tuebingen.mpg.de
WAVES 