Alumni Week: What if, after 60 years of brain research, you look both back and forward?
Saturday 3 October | 13:00-14:15 | Science Park C1.110
- Date
- 3 October 2026
- Time
- 13:00 -14:15
- Location
- Science Park 904
- Room
- C 1.110
Looking back on 60 years of brain research while also looking ahead, several things stand out:
- Brain research has permeated every aspect of our society - for example, juvenile justice, environmental pollution and brain development, and heading the ball in football.
- Research techniques have advanced to such an extent that the subtle brain changes underlying psychiatric disorders—such as depression, suicide and eating disorders - can now be investigated.
- The Netherlands Brain Bank now provides exceptionally well clinically and neuropathologically characterised brain tissue, which is being studied by numerous research groups in 25 countries.
- At best, animal models of psychiatric disorders can represent a single symptom, rather than the full clinical picture as observed in humans.
- It is also striking that research in the United States, which has traditionally been at the forefront, is now being systematically dismantled by the government, while brain research in China- which was barely present 25 years ago - is being strongly encouraged and is already leading the world in many respects.
- In the Netherlands, collaboration with China and the exchange of materials and knowledge are being impeded by higher authorities.
It is now important to shift the focus of brain research: from studying visible abnormalities to investigating the basis of psychiatric disorders; and from research using animal models to first identifying the crucial changes in post-mortem tissue from psychiatric donors, and only then studying the mechanisms in relevant animal and cell models. We should also shift from collaboration with the United States towards collaboration with China.
Speakers
Dick Swaab is a physician and emeritus professor of neurobiology at the University of Amsterdam (AMC). He studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam, obtained his PhD in 1970, and served as director of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience from 1975 to 2005. He also founded and directed the Netherlands Brain Bank. He has published more than 650 scientific articles and 200 book chapters, and is the author of several books, including the bestseller We Are Our Brains. His biography was published in 2026.
Fleur Launspach is a journalist specialising in international news. She is the NOS correspondent for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and heads the NOS bureau in London. Before moving to the United Kingdom, Launspach worked as a producer and reporter for Al Jazeera English. Earlier in her career, her work took her to some of the world’s most remote and challenging regions. Launspach holds a Master’s degree in Journalism and a Master’s degree in Media and Culture from the University of Amsterdam.
