GRK 1901:  The Brain in Action

• Subject Area: Neurosciences
• Term: from 2013 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 220482592

The key goal of this interdisciplinary project "The Brain in Action" is to deepen our understanding of the neural systems and processes that underlie human perception and action in everyday living, its disturbance in patients and its comparison with the neural underpinnings in the animal model. The following three interrelated aspects of these processes will be at the scientific core of our IRTG: (i) Action in (virtual) reality, (ii) Interaction of sensorimotor control and cognition, and (iii) Comparative and translational aspects in vision and sensorimotor research. The IRTG brings together leading researchers from behavioral and systems neuroscience. It is based on the conviction that future progress in the field will critically depend on researchers with an in-depth training in promising experimental techniques and a broad knowledge of pertinent theoretical frameworks. To this end, German and Canadian partners will continue to join forces to combine top-level interdisciplinary research with state-of-the-art training of doctoral candidates. As in the first funding period, a significant part of each research project will be performed at the partner site. The study program will encompass a reasonably sized portfolio of specifically dedicated courses (scientific training and key skills courses), which will be personalized with respect to the individual needs of the trainees. This training and research will provide our graduates with the central concepts and methods of modern behavioral and systems neuroscience and hence prepare them for a high-profile career, either within or outside academia. Already prior to the IRTG, the teams at both sites had a successful history in collaborative research and training consortia. These previous consortia had been an instrument to foster the establishment of relevant infrastructure (e.g. graduate centers) at UMR and JLU. Accordingly, systems and cognitive neuroscienceincl. psychology have been identified a joint key area of research at UMR and JLU, resulting in turn in significant support of the IRTG by the governing bodies of both universities. The establishment of the IRTG had a comparable impetus: at UMR, two MSc-study programs in the Neurosciences were established, and the Marburg Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, MCMBB, was founded. This launch will be paralleled by JLU, allowing us to form a joint CMBB in the midterm. In addition, both universities have and will take action to promote gender equality and to ensure family friendly structures, especially in support of early career researchers. In summary, the continuation of the IRTG will further strengthen the research in the field of behavioral and systems neuroscience at UMR and JLU and the sustained professional research training of the doctoral candidates at an international level.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: Canada
• Applicant Institution: Philipps-Universität Marburg
• IRTG-Partner Institution: Queen's University; Western University; York University
• Co-Applicant Institution: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Frank Bremmer
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dominik M. Endres, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Katja Fiehler; Professor Roland William Fleming, Ph.D.; Professor Karl Reiner Gegenfurtner, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Tilo Kircher; Professor Dr. Jörn Munzert; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Oertel; Professorin Dr. Anna Schubö; Professorin Dr. Gudrun Schwarzer; Professor Dr. Alexander Christian Schütz; Professor Benjamin Straube, Ph.D.
• IRTG-Partner: Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Gunnar Blohm; Professorin Dr. Jody Culham; Professorin Denise Henriques, Ph.D.