Reconciling Genes and Contexts

This years’ Jacobs Foundation Conference is themed “Exploring the Genomic & Environmental Headwaters of Early Brain Development”. It calls together leading international scientists and junior researchers from the field of child and youth development at Lake Constance, Germany, this week.

The Conference provides a platform for scientific exchange at the highest level and dynamic interdisciplinarity. The fading conceptual and functional division between genetic and contextual influences on early brain development has created a critical scientific moment in which a new, radically interdisciplinary field could emerge. As the conference brings together a diverse assembly of scientists like biologists, social scientist, mathematicians, research, methodologists, and philosophers one of the organizers, Marla Sokolowski, Professor at the University of Toronto, says: “The idea is that the most interesting questions and answers come from working on the edges of disciplines. Pushing people out of their comfort zone to learn and think about ideas that they are not normally thinking about.”

At the conference, participants will take part in lectures, open space sessions and group discussions. Its unique format offers young scholars the opportunity to spend two days in discussions with leaders in their fields, to benefit from feedback on planned projects, and to get to know one another in an informal setting.

The annual conference will take place from the 25^th to the 27^th April 2018. It will bring together more than 60 researchers and professionals.

Read more about the Jacobs Foundation Conference