The launch of large international initiatives for brain research (Amunts et al., 2016; National Institutes of Health, 2014; Yuste & Bargmann, 2017) and the availability of digital education platforms have facilitated the development of collaborative bottom-up approaches for neuroscience training. Within the HBP Education Programme, collaboration among ECRs, senior scientists, and other neuroscience training initiatives has been a core element of the educational offer. In the following section, we provide an overview of the diverse mechanisms implemented to increase collaboration inside and outside the HBP community through education.

HBP Education Community

The involvement of students and young researchers in the HBP education activities was a substantial part of the Education Programme, with students playing a pivotal role, especially in shaping the format and content of education events. In particular, student representatives (SR) and ambassadors (SA) represented the interests of the student community within the HBP. They played a crucial role in strengthening the community by promoting awareness of the HBP Education Programme, and facilitating communication between students and members of the whole HBP community. Their main activities included (HBP, 2017a, b):

Representing the student body during HBP Education Programme committee meetings and distribution of information within their respective network.

Contributing to shaping the strategy for the HBP’s Education Programme in its operational phase by providing valuable input from a student perspective.

Acting as a bridge between different groups within the HBP’s ecosystem by connecting the growing student community with the Education Programme Office and senior scientists, as well as fostering collaboration with the broader HBP consortium.

Co-organising the annual HBP Student Conference with the EPO and voluntary students to facilitate networking opportunities and knowledge sharing among students involved in the programme.

Organising networking events and student gatherings at the HBP Education Programme events, promoting a sense of community and fostering connections between participants.

Organising student community contributions and side events at major HBP events like the annual “HBP Summits”, which were large conferences with hundreds of participants – an opportunity for students to get visibility for their work early on in their careers and to meet with their peers in the community.

Over the course of the three funding phases, lasting from 2016 - 2023 (SGA1-3), 14 men and 11 women participated as SA and SR. SRs were periodically elected by the ECR community for a voluntary duration.

To further develop and maintain the community, the HBP Education Programme Office maintained various communication channels to multiply the Programme’s reach, including a monthly HBP Education newsletter with 3, 800 subscribers, social media presence reaching more than 14, 000 followers across platforms by the end of the HBP, and an open HBP Student Community Slack Channel with more than 600 members.

Fig. 8

SGA1 and SGA2 HBP Student Conference survey results. Entries below \(5\%\) are omitted

Fig. 9

SGA3 HBP Student Conference survey results

HBP Student Events

All student events, including the HBP Student Conferences, the Young Researchers Events and the Tea & Slides webinar series were organised by the SA for students inside and outside the HBP community. The scientific content was designed to encourage collaboration across disciplines (see Section Value of an Interdisciplinary Approach) and discussion with peers and principal investigators. Hands-on workshops and interactive sessions were organised for learning new skills and giving students new networking opportunities with other users and developers of tools.

HBP Student Conferences

Seven HBP Student Conferences (Simidjievski et al., 2017; Santuy et al., 2018; Urbain et al., 2019; HBP, 2020; Bogdan et al., 2021; Covelo et al., 2022; Cano-Astorga et al., 2023) were organised by ECRs for ECRs with the aim to encourage collaboration and scientific exchange across the fields of neuroscience, brain medicine and computer science. The idea was that student-organised conferences allow bottom-up perspectives and innovative ideas from the young scientific community, while providing a supportive environment for students presenting their work, often for the first time. ECRs had the chance to present their own research and engage in extensive discussions with peers and principal investigators from within and outside the HBP, often in an informal environment.

The event quality (scientific content, programme schedule and interactivity) and the organisational aspects (communication before the event, assistance from the organisers and usability of the event tool in case of virtual/hybrid events) were rated and assessed in post-event surveys. The mean outcome of the first four conferences is depicted in Fig. 8 (SGA1 – SGA2), and the 5th to 7th conference (SGA3) in Fig. 9. Between the 4th and 5th conferences, the survey format was changed to consolidate and simplify the questions, which reduced the number of questions and provided a streamlined polling process. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from the 5th conference onwards, a virtual or hybrid question format was implemented. The number of survey participation for the SGA1 and SGA2 phases and for SGA3 is further detailed in the Supplementary material, Section B.

Importantly, most respondents had a positive impression of the conferences (see Overall Satisfaction in both plots). According to the poll, many students may have used the conferences to learn more about other disciplines than their own (Broadened your overview). Based on the received feedback, student-led conferences represented a highly educational experience for ECRs gaining new knowledge (e.g., New skills and Acquisition of new information in Fig. 8, A) and know-how in highly rated lectures (e.g., Scientific Content in Fig. 9, B). Many students indicated that they gained many new ideas (see Fig. 9, A, New ideas for my research), particularly during the SGA3 phase. This may correlate with the increased networking possibilities provided. Furthermore, another aspect which may influence new ideas is that the students may appear more engaged when interacting with and between early-career researchers like themselves. An indication of this is reflected in Contact with other young scientists, in Fig. 9, A. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is visible in Fig. 9, B with a lower response rate for Network opportunities. This decline can be attributed to the online/virtual format, as networking was not as easily facilitated compared to in-person meetings (Karl et al., 2022; Standaert et al., 2023).

Fig. 10

Young Researchers Events satisfaction survey results from the early SGA1 and SGA2 funding phase. Entries below \(5\%\) are omitted

Fig. 11

SGA3 Young Researchers Events satisfaction survey results present highly positive summary statistics during SGA3 that included virtual events. Overall satisfaction results improved

Overall, there is a noticeable rise in overall satisfaction across the conferences, as reflected by an increase in the response rate for the Excellent category for all questions (see Fig. 9). A potential source for this improved satisfaction may relate to increased experience and continuous consideration of feedback and suggestions from participants, as well as the expansion of the HBP research network, in terms of new scientists with a higher variety of backgrounds and experiences.

HBP Young Researchers Events

Seven free-of-charge events lasting from one to two days were organised collaboratively by senior researchers and ECRs for ECRs. These “Young Researchers Events” were held in person/hybrid in Budapest (Hungary), Geneva (Switzerland), Sofia (Bulgaria), Belgrade (Serbia), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Zadar (Croatia), while one was a virtual event.

Various scientific topics were addressed in interactive plenaries and hands-on workshops. The events offered ample networking formats for participants to connect with peers and experts, like the Science Bazaar, where event participants, including some senior researchers contributing to the event, were organised in groups discussing different topics. As displayed in Figs. 10 and 11, opportunities to meet with ECRs and speakers were highly valued (Contact with other young scientists together with Contact with other early carrier scientists). In contrast, contact to senior researchers was less well received (Contact with senior scientists). These satisfaction surveys indicate that, in line with the aims, these events helped broaden the perspective for almost all respondents (Broadened my overview) while providing only limited benefit to individual skill acquisition as per the feedback (see New skills in Fig. 10). This issue may stem from either the broad or specialised nature of the course contents. To mitigate this problem, it is essential to consider the diverse backgrounds of all participants, even before designing the course, which poses a considerable challenge (see also the lessons learnt box in Section Towards Integrated Neuroscience Education). While individual topics were rated more highly for SGA3, the overall satisfaction did not change between SGA1-2 and SGA3, especially in the Excellent class. With the possibility to join virtually in SGA3, the number of participants increased (see Supplementary material Section B). The fewer response categories and slightly different questions may influence the outcome as well. Additionally, Overall Satisfaction was an individual question, thus, participants may have based their answer on different factors rather than summing up their ratings of the individual categories. This could have resulted in the individual categories being rated more positively in the SGA3 period, without changing the overall satisfaction.

HBP Tea & Slides

During the pandemic, the HBP SA & SR, invited the science community to 16 virtual talks (HBP Tea & Slides) by HBP ECRs. Each session included two 10-minute talks followed by an interactive Q&A session with the audience. Speakers were encouraged to present their work to gain experience and to receive valuable feedback from their peers. The speakers could also request a certificate in order to add this experience to their CV. Particularly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the years of 2020 and 2021, with restricted networking and travel opportunities, this format was a simple and effective method to enable ECRs to publicly present their work in an interactive and informal manner to an international and interdisciplinary audience, as indicated in Fig. 7.

Set and Setting Strategies to Increase Engagement

One aspect of the programme that contributed to its success and is often overlooked is the organisational setting of the events. While formal education elements, such as lectures and poster sessions, and the choice of topics and lecturers are undoubtedly the focus of most programmes and conferences, the space and social context in which they take place is equally important, especially from the networking and collaboration perspective. One reason why these aspects are often overlooked could be that their success is predicated on their subtlety and passiveness. One cannot assume researchers will socialise. Poster sessions are often thought to achieve socialising opportunities, and indeed, they do invite people to interact with each other and discuss each other’s work to a certain degree. However, participants often tend to visit posters that are at least somewhat related to their studies while avoiding those that are far outside their own expertise. This creates a feedback loop where, for instance, physicists will tend to exclusively interact with other physicists, if poster sessions are the only means of socialisation. Approaches such as moderated introduction rounds often do not achieve the aim to familiarise participants and to lower the social barrier.

HBP Education Programme events created increased opportunities for networking across very different fields. Being set in comparably remote places like secluded mountain locations, such as Alpbach or Obergurgl in Austria, helped retain participants at the venue. Moreover, decreasing the attendance numbers deliberately increased the opportunities to socialise and form deeper connections. Barbecues, hikes and social evening can encourage communication in a very informal setting, fostering the building of relationships between the participants, both at a personal and professional level.

These factors, which seem at first glance to be inconsequential, must be given special attention in the planning phases of events. Creating quality opportunities to socialise is an important factor in building lasting collaborations (Aicardi, 2014), and should not be perceived merely as a means for increasing the enjoyment component (see Lesson 5 in the box in Section Towards Integrated Neuroscience Education).

The HBP Mentoring Programme

To guide ECRs in their careers and potentiate the connection between them and senior researchers, the HBP offered a high-potential mentoring programme, developed by the Diversity and Equal Opportunities Committee. This was a mentoring partnership between an ECR and an experienced researcher (mentor), such as a group leader or someone already experienced in guiding students through their academic careers. One of the goals of this programme was to shape the mentee’s career goals with a clear and guided orientation, including the focus on successfully performing future tasks in an independent manner. The programme followed recommendations given by Colantuono (2012); Grasenick and Trattnig (2019), emphasising ways to mentor students based on inclusiveness while building self-confidence, self-reflection, and courage. Structured guidelines (Grasenick, 2017) helped the mentor-mentee pairs to formulate personalised goals that they worked towards over 6-8 weeks.

Collaboration with Other Initiatives

The collaborative approach of the HBP Education Programme also aimed at creating and fostering bridges to other initiatives active in interdisciplinary research and education. From the outset, collaboration with international organisations, such as the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), was initiated for joint workshops, cross-promotion and knowledge exchange (Saria, 2018). These initiatives enabled the multiplication of the HBP Education offers as well as the tools and services offered by the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure. A train-the-trainer style Master Class Series co-organised with the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) gave the opportunity to senior scientists from Africa and the Asian-Pacific region to adopt EBRAINS tools for their own teaching and researchFootnote 8. As a result, collaboration with other initiatives facilitated the integration of new audiences, both geographically and disciplinary. The Young Researchers Event series contributed to fostering collaboration with researchers from countries not formally associated with the HBP (such as Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary, or Serbia) by co-organising the events with local universities or neuroscience associations and giving both HBP and local scientists space to present their research. Co-organised workshops with actors from associated fields, such as a collaborative workshop between the HBP and the European Academy of Neurology (EAN)Footnote 9 helped to broaden the disciplinary audience. Collaborations were also useful as a standing exchange on strategies, methods, and ways to increase the impact of educative actions. HBP Education Programme members have been recruited as Observing Members at the INCF training and education subcommittee to provide input to INCF educational activities (Saria, 2018). Further, a collaboration with the International Brain Initiative (IBI) included participation of the HBP Education Programme representatives in the Training Task Force of the IBI Data Standards and Sharing Working Group, together with other IBI member organisationsFootnote 10. The main mission of the task force was to increase the impact of data generated by the international neuroscience community on science and health. This was achieved by ensuring that community members had access to training resources that promote data standards, facilitate data sharing, and provide guidance for obtaining and analysing these data sets. This mission was also multiplied during conferences, for example, at a SfN 2022 Satellite Symposium organised by the Training Task ForceFootnote 11.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Responsible Research and Innovation Training

The major aims of the HBP Education Programme included a dedicated focus on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This focus was in line with the overall approach of the HBP, which maintained a strong commitment to RRI and ethics. The initiative engaged a large team of social scientists and humanities researchers who collaborated closely with neuroscientists, computer scientists and engineers (Aicardi et al., 2020; Stahl et al., 2019; Ulnicane et al., 2023). A critical element of the RRI approach is aligning research with the needs and values of society. This alignment is facilitated through broad collaborations, bringing together a range of disciplines and stakeholders with an aim to anticipate, reflect, engage, and act on social aspects of research and innovation.

Members of the HBP RRI team worked jointly with the HBP Education Programme to ensure that topics of RRI and ethics were an integral part of the HBP education events. In addition to a dedicated three-day HBP Education workshop on RRI and ethics in 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden, training on social aspects was part of regular HBP Student Conferences and Young Researchers Events. Social science topics were also discussed at other events, such as during the HBP Tea & Slides webinar series. A unique feature of these RRI and ethics trainings in the HBP was that they were co-created within a long-term collaboration among HBP researchers from SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines as well as students, to make sure that the needs and questions of interdisciplinary brain research were addressed.

During the final years of the HBP, the RRI team developed an RRI capacity development programme offering training on topics such as data governance, dual use, neuroethics, and public engagement for HBP researchers, students, EBRAINS users and a wider audience (Ogoh et al., 2023). Some of these training elements, for example on dual use, was offered during the HBP Student Conferences and Young Researchers Events. The dual use workshops were developed in collaboration with the project-wide HBP Dual Use Working Group and regularly updated in line with students’ feedback (Ulnicane et al., 2023). These workshops introduced students to the key concepts of RRI, dual use of concern, and misuse and provided examples and ways to address dual use issues. The major emphasis during these interactive workshops was on student group discussions and plenaries, where students discussed how the issues of dual use and misuse might apply to their own research and how to address them. In this way, workshops encouraged reflection, mutual learning, and creation of collaborative networks of responsibility for thinking and dealing with social aspects of brain research.