Conference: 2023 Neuroethology: Behavior, Evolution and Neurobiology GRC Linking Diversity in Cells, Circuits, and Brain Architecture to Ecologically Relevant Behaviors

This project provides funding to support a conference focused on the neural mechanisms of natural behaviors, or neuroethology. The conference sessions focus on a broad set of principles by which the brain works, spanning development, evolution, and physiology of nervous systems that relate to variation in behavior. The conference includes extensive opportunities for training the next generations of scientists and particularly focuses on increasing the diversity of researchers in the field of neuroethology. A pre-meeting for students and postdocs allows newcomers to the field a chance to meet mentors and develop peer networks. The intimate size and remote location of the main conference promotes many opportunities for early career scientists to meet luminaries in the field, allowing students to develop a sense of belonging and develop collaborations with cutting-edge scientists around the world. Given the increasing appreciation among neuroscientists that studies of natural behavior offer uniquely powerful insights into fundamental of brain function, this conference brings together interdisciplinary researchers to tackle key questions that will advance our understanding of neural circuits. This project supports the Gordon Conference in Neuroethology, a venue to discuss innovative and interdisciplinary work into the neural circuit basis of behavior. The Gordon Conference structure promotes networking and collaborations across fields, and the program brings together researchers focused on natural behaviors, neurophysiology, molecular and cellular neuroscience, and computational neuroscience. Sessions cover broad topics relevant to leveraging neural circuit variation to understand fundamental principles of brain function, and the conference structure promotes discussion and interchange of ideas across disciplines. The conference leadership also has a strong plan for developing mentorship networks and sense of belonging for early career researchers that will increase diversity and inclusion in the field. This conference provides a key opportunity for leveraging the newly developed cutting edge technical and computational tools to devise key insights neural circuit function impacting behavior. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.