Past events: Joseph T. Devlin. Academic-Corporate Partnerships in Cognitive Neuroscience

What: Academic-Corporate Partnerships in Cognitive Neuroscience

Where: BCBL auditorium

Who: Joseph T. Devlin, PhD, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology Department, University College London, London, UK.

When: 12 PM, noon

The fact that industry is interested in cognitive neuroscience came as a surprise to me. How would understanding the mechanisms of mind help anyone make better widgets?  On the other hand, a better understanding of customers and employees has clear potential benefits and cognitive neuroscience offers novel approaches that go well beyond traditional corporate methods (i.e. focus groups).  In this talk I will share my personal journey in this arena, focusing on how academia and industry can help one another.  I highlight the challenges we face including getting started, developing clear communications, working to different time frames, and resolving conflicts of interest.  I will use case studies to illustrate these problems and introduce methods for addressing them.  To my mind, there are substantial benefits to academic-corporate partnerships including access to unique, real-world data sets, novel research questions, wider opportunities for students and post-docs, and, of course, potential funding opportunities.