Mission

The TübingenNeuroCampus (TNC) was founded on July 19, 2018 by speaker Prof. Dr. Thomas Gasser (left) with the support of Prof. Dr. Peter Grathwohl (right - the Vice-President of Research and Innovation) of the University as an initiative of the TübingenResearchCampus. The TNC will serve as an overarching umbrella structure and communication platform for neuroscientific research groups and institutions in Tübingen.

The main goals of the TNC are to identify synergies and foster communication and exchange within the neuroscience community and adjacent research fields, to coordinate the education, training and promotion of students and young scientists, and to increase visibility of neuroscience in Tübingen by setting up an internet portal for researchers, students and the public. New research areas and methodologies with relevance to the neurosciences, such as artificial intelligence / machine learning will be strengthened. Based on its long tradition, Tübingen’s status as one of the top international neuroscientific centres of excellence will be secured and further enhanced.

The neurosciences in Tübingen with more than 100 active research groups have the potential to rank among the most successful neuroscientific sites in Europe. Scientists in Tübingen pursue theoretical, system-neuroscientific, molecular, and clinical research approaches in their entire breadth using a wide range of methods. The TNC would like to ensure the optimal use of Tübingen‘s potential with respect to research, education, and application.

Priority Goals:

In order to help create the best possible environment for excellence in the neurosciences, the TNC identifies several priority goals for its activities in the next two years:

1. Improving communication and exchange within the neuroscience community and adjacent research fields with the objective of a strategic development of Tübingen as an internationally recognized research hub through regular events in various formats (lectures with external speakers, symposia, and workshops).

2. Coordination and harmonization of graduate training in Tübingen. The Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience (GTC) and other graduate programs will be further developed, so that they each retain their characteristic profiles but together provide a broad portfolio of educational opportunities for the entire neurosciences in Tübingen. A short-term goal is a common web-presence and improved interoperability of programs.

3. The TNC will promote the development of novel experimental methodologies and innovative research strategies across the entire spectrum of the neurosciences. It will implement novel means of exchange between groups on the campus, exploiting the unparalleled diversity in methodologies and research topics in Tübingen.

4. Translation & Innovation. The TNC will foster developments in diagnostics and therapy as well as support technological innovations and industry cooperations.

Governance:

The TNC relies on the self-motivated activity of neuroscientists in Tübingen, who are expected to form Neuro Campus Initiatives (NCIs) in order to promote the priority goals of the TNC as described above, as well as their own research fields. These activities are supported by a small management bureau that will help to organize meetings and foster exchange and communication.

The Neuro Campus Initiatives (NCIs) are expected to:

• identify research topics that offer prospects to apply for collaborative research grants (SFBs, Forschergruppen, ERC Synergy grants, EU-funded networks) and to actively work towards those applications,
• identify gaps and opportunities in methods and topics in the Tübingen Neuroscience community to direct strategic recruitments across all career stages (from junior groups to Humboldt professorships),
• actively contribute to lecture series and other communication activities to improve coherence and synergies within the TNC.

Neuro Campus Initiatives regularly report to the TNC community at large and to an Institutional Supervisory Board (ISB) consisting of representatives of the major TNC institutions.

The Institutional Supervisory Board (ISB) serves as an intermediary structure to implement initiatives and ideas of the TNC within the participating institutions of the University and other research institutions and also to convey institutional strategies to TNC members. The ISB is also expected to work towards providing financial, organizational and institutional support for NCIs.