International Brain Research Organization

Pictured above (from left): Marta Hallak, IBRO Senior Director of Grants; Ovaldo Uchitel, FALAN Chair; Lino Barañao, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovative Production (Argentina); Carlos Belmonte, IBRO Past President; and Mario Guido, Vice-President of the Argentinian Society for Neuroscience (SAN).

The first IBRO-Latin America Regional Committee (LARC) Global Advocacy Workshop successfully concluded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 29, 2014. This advocacy event was the second in a series of IBRO Global Advocacy Workshops planned to raise awareness and increase dialogue about regionally relevant neuroscience issues. The Buenos Aires workshop was organized by IBRO-LARC and the Federation of Latin American Neuroscience Societies (FALAN).

This one-day workshop focused on neuroscience research funding in Latin America, one of the most pressing concerns for neuroscientists in different parts of the region. As funding is primarily provided by governments, the workshop took a first step in examining the current regional funding environment and to identify short and long-term funding needs across various countries.The main workshop objectives were to inform government representatives of the need for additional support, determine potential regional collaborations and to locate and encourage any non-government sources available to Latin American researchers. Click here to see the full program (in Spanish).

It was an informative and constructive meeting that included presentations by Lino Barañao, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovative Production (Argentina); Omar Macadar, President of the Uruguay Agency for Research and Innovation; Jorge Guimaraes, President, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Brazil); and Miguel Ángel Laborde, CONICET (National Advisory for Scientific and Technology Research, Argentina) Governing Member.

Government representatives as well as researchers and university leadership all agreed that more funding was needed in support of Latin American neuroscience and that this will only occur through coordinated multi-stakeholder financing, multi-scale partnerships and increased advocacy.

The next workshop is being organized by the IBRO Asian Pacific Regional Committee (APRC) and will be held in Mumbai, India, from February 3-4, 2015. The theme will be "Frontiers in Neuroscience" and reports from 12 members of the IBRO-APRC region will be presented. For more information about the IBRO Global Advocacy Initiative, please contact Tasia Asakawa at  ibro.tasia@gmail.com.