Develop your career at BNA2023

Career speed-dating

Are you ready to take your career to the next level?

The International Festival of Neuroscience, BNA2023, is the perfect opportunity for you to make connections, discover opportunities, and build skills that will enhance your employability.

We're proud to offer a number of sessions and activities that are carefully designed with students and early-career neuroscientists in mind. From career speed-dating to mentoring sessions and CV speed-clinics, to speaking opportunities and the chance to win prizes, there are plenty of ways for you to make contacts, discover new avenues open to you, and build your career - in neuroscience or beyond.

How we're providing Early Career Researcher (ECR) career development opportunities at BNA2023

  • All our sessions will be co-chaired by a student or ECR alongside a more senior colleague, providing a superlative opportunity to gain experience of organising and chairing at an international conference, building your skills and CVs. 
  • We also have ECR representatives on the BNA2023 Organising Committee.
  • Every symposium has at least one student or ECR speaker, meaning nearly 25% of all speakers at the Festival

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Networking opportunities

It’s easy to get connected at BNA2023 and meet a wide range of people from different stages in ttheir own career:

  • BNA2023 Careers Zone, featuring CV speed clinic, career pathways, and the chance to meet people from different professions
  • BNA2023 Exhibition, with more than 50 different organisations from publishers to lab suppliers to funders.
  • Opening Reception, giving you the chance to network with other neuroscientists over a drink or two
  • Plenty of opportunities to connect via events, activities and socialising with others around Brighton 

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Careers Zone (1st Floor of the Brighton Centre)

The BNA2023 Careers Zone will feature:

CV Speed-clinic: Get *individualised advice* on your CV from potential employers

New for 2023 and a direct request from our Student and ECR Committee Reps!

Recruiters spend an average of 7 seconds reading a CV. Make sure yours gets noticed by visiting the CV speed-clinic and get *individualised advice* on your CV.

What makes a good CV? How should an academic CV be constructed?  What about other jobs? What are narrative CVs? Does mine work? 

The CV Speed-clinic invites you to bring along your CV and have five minutes with someone experienced in recruiting and appointing people, who will then spend 1-2 minutes reading your CV and then 2-3 minutes giving feedback or ideas on how you could improve it.

Just bring along (on paper or device) and have five minutes with someone with experience of appointing people.

A time-table of people with varied careers ready for you to meet 

Meet people from varied careers across academia, charities, and commercial companies. Check who you can meet and when on the event app, or displayed at the Career Zone. 

Pin badges and stickers! 

Come to the Career zone to pick up your #opentowork or #hiring stickers so you can add to your lanyard or badge, and open a conversation with your next employer or employee!

Lots of information

Find out about jobs, Fellowships, the BNA Scholars programme, different career pathways and much more.

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Posters

Presenting a poster at BNA2023 provides be a valuable career experience, and poster sessions have not only been given ample time in the programme but also benefit from 'Poster preview' sessions, where attendees can make an early start on posters they want to visit.  The host of features available on posters include:

  • Rapid Fire poster talks - 30 x 3-minute poster talks, selected from across all topics on offer at the Festival. Get a taste of all types of neuroscience in a single session
  • Six categories of poster prizes, with cash rewards! Student and ECR categories for Traditional and Preregistration posters, plus a new 'Open Science' poster prize. 
  • All accepted poster abstracts will be published in the Gold open access journal, Brain and Neuroscience Advances.

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Career speed-dating

Your opportunity to pick the brains of those working in academia and other professions via an ever-popular session of multiple short meetings across the space of an hour . Quiz the experts about their own career success secrets, get some hot tips, gather valuable contacts and use the event as a springboard to future career success.

Career speed-dating is exclusively for students and early career scientists.  Delegates will be placed in small groups and designated to an expert for 5-10 minutes at a time. When the bell rings, the groups simply rotate to the next speaker and so on until the end of the session.

Limited places - book NOW to reserve your place! 

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Jobs board

For current job opportunities and internships, there will be regularly updated positions across all sorts of fields and career stages on the BNA Jobs Board.

(Why not take the chance to check out some tips and guidance on careers in neuroscience here.)

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Bursaries and subsidised registration fees

The deadline for applying for a BNA bursary has now passed. However, look out for other companies and organsitions offering bursaries to students and early career researchers to attend the Festival. 

We are committed to making BNA2023 as affordable and accessible as possible, and always heavily subsidise student fees. This year, student prices have been held at the same cost as 2019 representing remarkable value for money. 

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Joint logos for the Federation of Royal Colleges of PhysiciansCPD certification

We are delighted that the Festival of Neuroscience has gained accreditation for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) from the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in the UK.

Delegates can earn up to 30 category 1 (external) CPD credits by attending the full conference.

If you require a certificate of attendance for CPD purposes, please contact [email protected] after the Festival.

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Career Pathways

Whilst you're here, check out the career journeys of a range of professionals involved in various aspects of neuroscience and across various working sectors. *Accessible to members only*

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With special thanks to Biotechne - our Careers sponsor - find them at Stand 31 at BNA2023