End of FUNDING:Twelve years of successful work on “Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes”

Collaborative Research Centre 874 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum says goodbye with a final conference

The research question meaningful, the results insightful – the team of the Collaborative Research Centre 874 “Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes” worked so intensively and successfully that the German Research Foundation (DFG) extended its funding again and again: first from four to eight – and finally to twelve years. At the end of December 2022, the funding period will have reached its maximum and the work of SFB 874 will come to an end. Time to say goodbye and take stock: Around 100 participants came to Ruhr-Universität Bochum for the SFB’s big final conference on 30 November 2022.

Better understanding of memory formation and cognition

A little melancholy and a lot of pride were in the air as the SFB 874 was officially sent off. Among the participants at the conference were not only active members but also many alumni who had supported the SFB in the first or second funding period. Since 2010, the SFB 874 at the Ruhr-Universität had dedicated itself to the topic of “Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes”. The objective was to apply a system-oriented neuroscientific strategy to research essential aspects of sensory processing in memory and cognitive actions.

“Seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing and feeling – sensory impressions are experienced by all creatures – at all times and everywhere,” explained Prof. Dr. Denise Manahan-Vaughan, spokesperson of SFB 874: “Thanks to the research successes of our interdisciplinary team, we now understand much better how these sensory signals are subsequently processed and lead to complex behaviour and memory formation.”

Outstanding scientists with brilliant ideas

While welcoming the participants, the Rector of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Paul, emphasised the contribution the SFB 874 has made to the outstanding position of the Ruhr-Universität in the field of neuroscience. He also emphasised the commitment of the SFB spokesperson, Denise Manahan-Vaughan, who had mastered the task of channelling brilliant ideas, bundling them and bringing them together to form a meaningful whole for twelve years.

In addition to the presentations by current SFB members, the conference programme also included external contributions by Prof. Dr. Christian Bellebaum (University of Düsseldorf, “Sensory processing and cognition: From agency to semantic memory”), Prof. Dr. Matthew Larkum (Charité – University Medicine Berlin, “The semantic memory loop”) and Prof. Dr. Heiko Luhmann (University Medicine Mainz, “How early activity shapes a developing network”).

Doctoral training raised to a new level

During the breaks, many topics were discussed in more detail at the presentation stands of the individual sub-projects, and the supervising doctoral students of the SFB 874 provided more detailed information. In this context, Denise Manahan-Vaughan pointed out another focus of the past twelve years: “With our Integrative Research Training Group, which was run under the umbrella of the International Graduate School of Neuroscience, we have raised the training of doctoral students to a new level. For example, we organised international conferences designed by the doctoral students, offered career workshops for neuroscientists and explicitly focused on the working world outside academia. We can take away many ideas for the future from this, and in the meantime some of our former junior researchers are already professors and renowned researchers.”

Best practice example in the area of public relations

The SFB 874 also set new standards in the area of public relations: its sub-project ‘Public Relations’ was one of the first in Germany in 2012 and became a best practice example of the German Research Foundation. “We launched the Brain Day, which attracts interested members of the public to the Ruhr-Universität every year and has already reached around 4,000 visitors since 2010. Our painting and writing competitions for Bochum pupils are now even being copied in Australia! The monthly Brain Café has given hundreds of neuroscientists at the Ruhr-Universität the opportunity to explain their research to people,” explains Denise Manahan-Vaughan.

Promoting women in neuroscience

In 2019, the SFB spokesperson initiated the career platform Neuronexxt together with SFB coordinator Dr Sabine Dannenberg. Since then, the “Network for Women in Neuroscience” has been increasing the visibility of female scientists in neuroscience research and taking action against the discrimination of women in science.
“In the twelve years of SFB 874, fantastic projects have come together,” concludes Denise Manahan-Vaughan. “None of this works without a great scientific and administrative team – and we’ve been able to score points with that at all times.”

And so, although SFB 874 will be history from 2023, its achievements on the topic of memory research and numerous forward-looking projects have laid the best foundation for itself to be remembered by the scientific community for a long time to come.

Photo: RUB, Marquard