Goals and Objectives
The Lemanic Neuroscience Doctoral School (LNDS) aims at providing students with broad background knowledge in neuroscience, irrespective of their thesis topic. That is, it offers courses and training events ranging from cellular and molecular to cognitive, clinical and computational neurosciences.
After completing the doctoral training program, the PhD candidate will have demonstrated that he/she is able to:
- independently plan and execute an original research project.
- use and apply the acquired knowledge and technologies to design a novel scientific study in order to answer preclinical or clinical questions.
- effectively communicate, written and orally, about his/her research with the scientific community and the general public.
- integrate his/her research topic with other domains of neuroscience, make connections between the fundamental and cognitive/clinical neurosciences, and acknowledge the benefit of transdisciplinary interactions for scientific advancement and innovation.
- critically discuss their own as well as others’ research.
- act and react promptly in scientific discussions and contribute to resolving problems in scientific projects.
- efficiently organize his/her own as well as group-wide projects, and recognize a possible necessity of additional resources.
- engage into scientific discussions in English.
- write and successfully defend a doctoral thesis.
LN students are welcome to play an active role in the doctoral program and scientific outreach events. Every year LN students get involved in organizing the LN Annual Meeting, the Brain Awareness Week and other outreach events for youngsters. In 2016, they organized with their “Brain Me Out ” initiative social activities for the visitors of the Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) in Geneva.
At the FENS meeting in Geneva (July 12-16, 2008), they organized and hosted the successful Jump-the-FENS’08 evenings for their European and world-wide colleagues. Between 2006-2013, many LN students have also supervised international PhD students and postdocs in lab projects at the FENS-IBRO Imaging Training Center.
A bit of History
In 1994-95 the University of Geneva organized for the first time a “Programme d’enseignement plurifacultaire de neurosciences cognitives“, involving the faculties of Medicine, Science and Psychology. In Lausanne, since 1996-97, a “Certificat d’études complémentaires en neurosciences” (CECN) was offered by the same three faculties.
In October 2002 these six faculties joined forces to create the Lemanic Neuroscience Doctoral School and deliver a common PhD degree in Neuroscience. The EPFL Neuroscience Doctoral School (EDNE-EPFL) started in 2003-04, offering an independent diploma in neuroscience but sharing courses with the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne.
Research labs and PIs of the Lemanic area and beyond (independent of the training facilty of their PhD candidates) reunite under the umbrella of the NeuroLéman Network.