Our partner organisations
Festival Friends
The Guarantors of Brain is a charity that aims to promote teaching, education and research in neurology and related clinical-academic disciplines, funded by the publications of the Journal BRAIN and BRAIN Comms. The Charity was founded in 1955 with a body of Guarantors drawn from leading British Neurologists, Psychiatrists, Neurosurgeons, Neurophysiologists and Neuroscientists. They work in partnership with the Association of British Neurologists for the Brain Clinical Research Fellowship Scheme.
Session information:
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Best of Brain and Brain Communications
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Advanced therapies for brain diseases
Plenary information:
08:30 - 09:30 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
Professor Masud Husain
Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world. Around 153,000 people in the UK have Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s UK supports everyone affected by the condition and funds research towards better treatments. The charity is currently funding over £13m towards 39 research grants. And through its drug discovery programme, the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech, it's committed £30m towards new drug discovery and development projects for Parkinson’s.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Endolysosomal and lipid metabolism dysfunction in Parkinson’s - from dysfunction to therapeutics
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
Gut brain axis in Parkinson’s - factors promoting propagation of pathology from the gut to the brain.
Plenary information:
11:50 - 12:50 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Professor Christine Klein
Partner Organisations
Association of British Neurologists
The Association of British Neurologists' mission is to improve the health and well-being of people with neurological disorders by advancing the knowledge and practice of neurology in the British Isles.
Plenary information:
15:45 - 16:45 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
Professor Tony Marson
Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity. Dedicated to causes, diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cure. Their mission is to bring about the first life-changing dementia treatment by 2025. Their vision is a world where people are free from the fear, harm and heartbreak of dementia.
British
Association of Cognitive Neuroscience
A leading focal point for researchers in the field at all stages in their career. Working to promote awareness and discussion of the latest research findings and research methodologies in cognitive neuroscience and reward outstanding talent in the field through Early and Mid-Career Prizes.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
Neural mechanisms of novel mental health interventions
British Associa
tion for Psychopharmacology
The BAP is a learned society and registered charity. It promotes research and education in psychopharmacology, neuroscience and related areas, and brings together people in academia, health services, and industry. Formed in 1974, it is the largest such national association in Europe, and the second largest in the world.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
The role of corticostriatal circuits in schizophrenia and depression
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
BBSRC, part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body, and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific research institutes and university research departments in the UK.
Session information:
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Building mechanistic understanding of the bidirectional interactions along the gut-immunology-brain axis and the relationship with brain and physical health, cognitive function and mental health across the lifecourse.
British Pharmacological Society
The British Pharmacological Society (BPS) is a charity with a mission to promote, support and advance all areas of pharmacology.
BPS brings together over 4,500 scientists from around the world to accelerate drug discoveries, improve how medicines are used, and support the next generation of scientific explorers.
Briti
sh Neuropathological Society
The British Neuropathological Society provide a friendly and active forum for both clinical and experimental neuropathology. Through regular meetings, their Journal, and educational activities they are bringing people together to understand diseases of the nervous system.
Session information:
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Advances in the application of neuroscience and molecular techniques in CNS tumours
CURE-NDCURE-ND stands for Catalysing a United Response in Europe to Neurodegenerative Diseases, and is an alliance between the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Mission Lucidity (ML, a partnership between imec, KU Leuven, UZ Leuven and VIB in Belgium) and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI). Together, these partners embrace a joint effort to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and nurture breakthroughs in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.
Session information:
9:30 - 11:15 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Harnessing synaptic mechanisms and network dynamics to tackle neurodegenerative disorders
European Brain and Behaviour Society
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS) promotes the interaction and exchange of information between scientists in Europe with a common interest in the brain mechanisms of behaviour.
Established in 1968, EBBS is the oldest society in the world focused on the interrelationship between brain and behaviour and is a founding member of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
Session information:
14:00 - 15:45 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
Bridging Animal and Human Studies in Episodic and Spatial Memory
Epilepsy Research UK is the only charity exclusively dedicated to driving and enabling life changing, life saving research in the UK. They play a key role in bringing the epilepsy research community together, inspiring collaborations and driving further investment for research into epilepsy.
Session information:
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Radically advancing research into epilepsy
Contact: [email protected]
Medicines Discovery Catapult is an independent, not-for-profit drug discovery innovation centre. MDC supports drug discovery innovators by providing world-leading scientific and drug discovery expertise, state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and infrastructure, with advanced technologies and analytics.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Strengthening Industry-Academic collaborations and accelerating innovative drug discovery with the Psychiatry Consortium
Motor Neurone Disease Scotland is the leading charity in Scotland providing care and support to people affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND), as well as funding vital research into finding a cure.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) funds research, improves care and provides support for people with MND, their families and carers. They are a membership organisation with over 10,000 members forming a powerful national and local network that provides information and support.
The My Name'5 Doddie Foundation work in partnership with existing frontline care providers to ensure the holistic needs of patients and their families are understood and met.
Session information for all MND charities:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Wednesday 30th April 2025
New approaches to diagnostics, biomarkers and trial drug selection in MND – highlighting UK MND translational research
Neuroscience Ireland (NI) was established in 2005 as Ireland’s National Neuroscience Society, and is a registered charity in the Republic of Ireland. The aim of the Society is to advance research and education in the neurosciences in Ireland, and to represent Irish neuroscience researchers both nationally and internationally.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Novel electrophysiological approaches to study disordered brain networks
S
ociety for British Neurological Surgeons
The purpose of the Society is the study and advancement of Neurosurgery. This is achieved through the scientific meetings of the Society, through publications arising from deliberations about aspects of Neurosurgical practice and delivery of Neurosurgical services, through fostering professional relationships amongst neurosurgeons and through engagement with the public and bodies involved in the provision of care to patients requiring Neurosurgery. The Society promotes safe and effective Neurosurgical treatment for patients throughout Great Britain and Ireland.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Monday 28th April 2025
Augmented Reality, Robotics, Neuroprosthetics and Incisionless Surgery…Is neurosurgery approaching “the technological singularity”?
Simons Iniative for the Developing Brain
SIDB is a research centre based at the University of Edinburgh, bringing together around 40 research groups across six research sites. The centre was founded in 2017. SIDB is a sister centre of the Patrick Wild Centre, and together their mission is to understand the neurological basis of and to test new therapies for monogenic forms of autism and intellectual disability.
e Physiological SocietyThe Physiological Society promotes physiology and support those working in the field by organising world-class scientific meetings, offering grants for research, collaboration and international travel, and by publishing the latest developments in their leading scientific journals, The Journal of Physiology, Experimental Physiology and Physiological Reports.
Session information:
09:30 - 11:15 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Touchy-Feely: Exposing the Hidden Languages of Our Skin
UK Dementia Research Institute
The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the UK’s leading national biomedical research institute dedicated to changing the outcomes of people living with or at risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Established in 2017 by its principal funder the Medical Research Council, in partnership with Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, the multi-million-pound Institute is hosted across six leading UK universities and focused on developing new treatments, technologies and diagnostics for people with all types of dementia and neurodegenerative disease.
Wellcome funds curiosity-driven research, and we’re taking on three of the biggest health challenges facing humanity – climate change, infectious disease and mental health.
With a £36.8 billion investment portfolio, we give researchers the time and resources they need to make breakthroughs.
We also work with policy makers, run advocacy campaigns, and form partnerships with other organisations to ensure everyone, everywhere benefits from advances in health science.
Session information:
15:20 - 17:05 BST, Monday 30th April 2025
Animal models in mental health research
Plenary information:
11:50 - 12:50 BST, Tuesday 29th April 2025
Bringing lived experience into foundational and translational neuroscience